We stopped and said hello to many people as we wended our way through the throng to get to mom and dad. The two glasses of champagne that had been placed in our hands as soon as we entered will be the only thing we imbibe tonight.
Jenny because she’s breastfeeding our girls had expressed extra milk so she could have this one glass of bubbly tonight, and me, well, I don’t like the idea of drinking when I have two little ones dependent on me.
Thinking of the twins brought their new sitter to mind once again, and I tried valiantly to dispel her. I found myself barely paying attention to the conversations going on around me, even the ones I was directly involved in. Something was making me antsy, on edge, even to the point where I was starting to get annoyed.
I know it has something to do with that damn girl, that Jenny. The way she looked at me tonight as if she still didn’t remember me when I know damn well that she does. What about you, pal? You’re one to talk. I scolded myself.
We finally made it to mom and dad, and while I was congratulating the old man, mom and Lauren were having their own little sharing session. “Oh, I’m so glad you were able to make it after all. But however, were you able to find a sitter with such last-minute notice?”
Mom had a light in her eyes, that light she gets when she’s had a few glasses of champagne.
“Oh, we lucked out, there’s this kid in the neighborhood that everyone raves about.”
“A kid?” Mom’s eyes opened wide as if she expected that we’d left the twins with a preteen.
Lauren waved her hand with a grin, and I noticed that her glass was more than half empty. “Well, she’s not so much of a kid, she’s eighteen. You might know her; she lives just around the corner from us.” Mom’s brow furrowed as my collar grew tighter, like a noose around my neck.
I ran my finger around it, but that wasn’t much help. “Jenny Somerset, my wife, offered up her name, and I saw the moment recognition lit mom’s eyes. “Oh Jenny, Derrick’s little Jenny, I’d forgotten all about her. She used to have the most tremendous crush on Derrick.”
Mom grinned in my direction, having no idea of the dumpster fire she’d just started. Lauren looked at me with a mix of hurt and disbelief in her eyes. “I thought you said you didn’t know her, that you’d never seen her before.”
“I didn’t recognize her…at first.”
Her eyes widened, and her nose flared as mom finally started to catch on from my wife’s tone. “What? What does that mean, at first?
“Oh come on, Lauren, she was a child back then. I’m pretty sure she’s outgrown it by now. It was nothing, a harmless little girl crush on the neighborhood heartthrob. Every little girl has one of those right.”
Mom smiled at me apologetically, and Lauren also put on a facsimile of a smile as she dragged me off to the dance floor. I could see she was still mulling it over, but when she opened her mouth to continue, I cut her off.
“Babe, you’ve been looking forward to this night out for a while. Do you really want to spoil it by getting upset over something that happened more than ten years ago? Something that neither the babysitter nor I remember?” She drained her glass and reached for another one when the tray came around again. Oh, boy, thanks, mom.
Lauren didn’t say anything more about it for the rest of the night, and by the time I was passing the valet our ticket, I was congratulating myself for dodging that particular bullet. That guilty feeling I’d been carrying around was also lifted, and I didn’t have that burden dogging my heels any longer.
We were heading home a little after one in the morning with me in the driver’s seat this time since Lauren had tied one on. I’m not sure if it was the news about Jenny or just the festive atmosphere that had made her over drink, I was just glad that she’d expressed enough milk for the next few days.
“You still haven’t told me what you meant by not at first. Does that mean that you did remember her at some point and didn’t bother to tell me?” The question coming in the quietness of the dark car when I thought she was asleep jarred me.
“Well, I didn’t think it really mattered by the time I remembered who she was. We’d already decided not to use her as a sitter, so I didn’t see the need to even bring her up. It’s not like we move in the same circles.”
I looked over at her, and she wasn’t looking very convinced. She asked me a lot of questions, like when exactly I remembered, what was it that jogged my memory, how old Jenny was when she had a crush on me. How long it had been since I’d last seen her etc.