She broke off, waving a hand through the air as if she was trying to shoo away her thoughts like flies.
“Mom, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Rock,” I said.
“Goodness. Hello,” she said, leaning in to hug him. She gave me a look of shock from over his shoulder as they embraced.
I knew what that look meant: Wow, you really caught yourself a good one.
If only it were true.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Merrilyn,” Rock said, smiling at her.
Cam, Rachel, and the kids weren’t far behind. As usual, Chloe, Cooper and Dayna were a tornado of energy as they bounded through the dining room, and each of them was a little bit shy when I introduced them to Rock.
“You’re the firefighter?” Cooper asked, looking up at Rock with curious, big blue eyes.
“You got it,” Rock said. “I help protect people who need it most.”
“You have to run inside burning buildings, huh?” Cooper asked.
“Sometimes,” Rock said. “Other times, I just unplug toaster ovens.”
A small smile appeared on Cooper’s face.
“Do you guys live together?” Dayna asked loudly, running up to Cooper’s side. Rock laughed.
“Not yet. Maybe when we’re older, huh, babe?” Rock said to me.
My heart stuttered at being called babe.
“Yeah,” I said, “maybe when we’re older.”
All of the kids thought this was hilarious. Dayna giggled. “How old even are you?” she asked.
“I am thirty-six years old,” Rock said proudly.
“So old!” Dayna said, and Rock smiled at her.
“And how old are you, miss?”
“I’m eight!” she exclaimed proudly. “I’m going to be nine in four months!”
“Eight! You’re pretty old, too, aren’t you?”
“No!” she said, giving a huge smile again. “I’m a kid!”
“Dayna, let’s give Rock a little break,” Cameron said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I know I’m ready for dinner. How about you guys?”
“Is it gonna be tenders?” Cooper asked.
“There might be some chicken tenders on the menu. Let’s sit down and see.”
“Tenders are better when Uncle Perry makes them,” Dayna said.
“I’m sure the ones here are even better,” I said.
We gathered around the table, and as Rock sat down, he rearranged some of the candles in the middle of the table.
“They’re just candles,” I assured him. “They aren’t going to cause an inferno, babe.” I was trying out the word, and though it felt strange on my tongue, it instantly gave me the good kind of butterflies in my stomach.
“Just trying to keep us safe,” he said.
Soon, the menus came out. Dinner ended up being a fun game of watch Mom try to avoid the topic of divorce at all costs. Everyone here knew about the divorce, but no one wanted to talk about it. The rest of the extended family arriving tomorrow had no clue, and it was like we were all trying to practice avoiding the subject ahead of time.
Chloe and Cooper constructed a tiny fort around their plates using napkins, Cam and Rachel tried their best to avoid eye contact, and Mom pretended to be fascinated with Rock.
“You’ve been a firefighter for your entire career?” she asked.
Rock nodded. “Just about. It can be tough work, but it’s what I do best.”
“Perry must worry about you,” she said. “Don’t you, hon?”
My dining chair suddenly felt uncomfortable. “Well, Rock’s been taking time off from the job recently.”
“Right, right,” Mom said. “You’re in the boot from hell.”
I was surprised to hear Rock chuckle softly. “It really is the boot from hell,” he agreed. “I’m glad you called it that.”
She made a sour face, nodding in agreement. “I had to be in one of those things a few months ago. Only needed it for two weeks, luckily, but two hours would have been enough.”
“What?” I said. “You never told me that, Ma. What happened?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Twisted my ankle. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“I wish I had known, though,” I said. “I could have helped you out around the house, or with groceries.”
“I did fine on my own,” she said. She was always a proud woman.
“I can’t stand this thing, to be honest,” Rock said, shaking his head. “I’m supposed to be in it for another five weeks, minimum. But I’m not cool with that. My body’s made to move.”
“You look like you work out a lot,” Chloe said, raising an eyebrow at Rock.
“Chloe,” Cameron said with a warning tone.
“What? It’s a good thing,” she said.
“I do try to work out a lot, she’s right,” Rock said.
“Must be difficult to stay in such good shape when you have Perry’s delicious food around,” Rachel chimed in from across the table.
Rachel was so kind, and had been like a sister to me for my whole life. She loved my food more than anyone. She was the person who gave me the confidence to apply for lead cook positions, long before I thought I was ready to run my own kitchen. I couldn’t even imagine her not being in the family anymore.