Bang (Club Deep #3)
“I like it,” I say, leading them into the living room. It’s not a lie. I do. I push what I think their judgements might be out of my head. It doesn’t matter what they think. “So, what’s the plan for the…fridge?”
My mother nods. “New ice cream freezer for the store. Bigger than our last one. This one has sliding doors and everything.”
“That’s great.”
“They wouldn’t deliver it to Aguila. God forbid a delivery person drives a little way.”
I clear my throat. “That’s a three-hour drive, mom. They probably need him for other deliveries.”
She waves her hand like that doesn’t matter. “It’s bad business. If the fridge hadn’t already arrived here you better believe I would cancel. When you say your company services the Greater Phoenix Area, you should actually service that area.”
“Okay.” I press my lips together, knowing that me saying the has unreasonably high expectations for deliveries isn’t going to get me anywhere. “So what’s the plan for the fridge?”
Catherine leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees. “We can pick it up in a couple of hours and then we can do whatever.”
“Whatever?”
“Yeah!” My mom says chirpily. “I thought we’d just hang out with you, do what you’re doing.”
“Okay,” I say slowly.
She nods, even though I can tell it’s overly enthusiastic. She’s trying my mom, even if she doesn’t agree. “What would you be doing if we weren’t here?”
“I’d probably be out taking pictures.”
“Let’s do that then!”
I give her a look. “You want to come with me? It’s not going to be interesting for you.”
“Don’t be silly,” she waves her hand again. “I’ll be with you. And if it’s important to you, I’m sure that it will be interesting.”
Why, oh, why, didn’t I just lie and say that I’d be going to the park? Or the mall? Or anything that doesn’t end with my mom and my sister somewhere in Phoenix while I’m trying to take pictures? “Okay. We’ll go when you get back from picking up the fridge.”
I resist the urge to slam the door behind me as I close it. My mom and Catherine are already in the living room, but I don’t stop. I head to my room and put down the equipment that I’m carrying. It was a disaster. A total, huge, all-encompassing disaster.
We went to this location that I’d mapped out about a month ago—a beautiful broken down fountain. I’m going to have to go back because it’s beautiful, and once I get the perfect frame and turn it black in white I think it will be one of the best images I’ve ever gotten. But I’ll have to go back. I set up the camera and mom tried to ask questions and I tried to answer them. But my photoshoots are usually just me and my camera and an empty space, and me moving the camera a hair this way or that, or trying a different angle. Mom asked if a model was going to show up more than once. And by the time an hour had passed, I could feel both her and Catherine simmering with frustration. So I stopped, and now we’re back here. I should have insisted we do anything else.
I take a breath, trying to calm myself, and head back to the living room, leaning against the doorway. “Do you guys want something to eat?”
“What do you have?” Catherine asks.
“I have stuff to make chicken and pasta. We can order take-out. It’s up to you guys. Maybe we can watch a movie or something.”
My mom stands and crosses to the kitchen. “I can cook something.”
“You don’t have to do that, Mama.”
“It’s fine,” she says, a tired smile on her face. “I’m happy to.”
My mother always does like to be productive. She probably is actually happy to do it after an hour of doing what she views as nothing.
“So why have you been dodging my calls?” Catherine says, looking up from her phone.
Trust my sister to bring up something like this. “Because I didn’t want to be set up on anymore surprise dates.”
“Whatever,” she says. “That was for your own good. And seeing what I just saw, I don’t see that you’ve been too busy to pick up the phone.”