Page 7 of Charmed Forces
“Hi, Mom,” I said.
“Hello, darling,” said Mom. “I just spoke to Daniel. He said he saw you while out having dinner last night. He said you dropped in very unexpectedly.”
I closed my eyes and released a quiet sigh as the memory flooded back.
“How sweet,” Mom continued, “you should have joined him.”
“Lily and I picked up takeout. I went back to get some chopsticks,” I said, which wasn’t totally a lie. Perhaps we wanted an extra set? Regardless, it was the first excuse to spring to my mind during my mortification and I planned on rolling it out as an excuse for however long my motivation that night might be questioned.
“He said you’ve taken up gardening. I’m so pleased you’re developing some grownup hobbies. I had fears for you for a long time,” said Mom.
“Gardening?”
“He said something about you taking a keen interest in a plant pot. Shall we go to that nice plant nursery I like and get you some lush potted plants for your house? I noticed you don’t have any and you really should have something living inside there.”
“Solomon and I are both living inside there.”
“You know what I mean. Something you can keep alive.”
“I keep Solomon alive.”
“Hmmm. It’ll bring out your nurturing side.”
“I already have a nurturing side.”
“Wonderful. This will be a bonding experience for us then. We can make a day of it. Potted plants. Lunch. Get our nails done or something.”
I smiled. “That sounds nice, Mom. Let’s do that. I’m glad you called to suggest it.”
“Let’s just make it for the two of us. We haven’t had chance to catch up. A mother-daughter outing. And I can run some ideas by you that I have about the next family dinner. I was thinking of having a curry night. We could make several curries with different kinds of rice, and all the usual accompaniments. We’ll hold it when Daniel finishes the case he’s working on. It sounds very time-consuming.”
“What case?” I asked.
“He didn’t say last night when you ran into each other? He was very scarce about the details but he said he’s away from home for a few days on an assignment. I figured you’d know more than I do about it.”
“I don’t know anything. He didn’t mention it to me.”He’d been too busy laughing.
“Anyway, he’ll need some decent food when he returns. I know what that job entails. A lot of junk food and not a single piece of fruit.”
“Does curry night include fruit?” I wondered.
“I’ll make a fruit platter for afterwards. Should I do a cheese plate too?”
“Everyone loves a cheese plate.”
“That’s settled then. I just hope you can all come. And the children will have fun trying out the new dishes.”
“Hmm.” Family dinner had been unsettled lately and it was all my sister, Serena’s fault. Not too long ago, she’d heavily insulted Lily, Jord and Poppy while irritating just about everyone else in the process. Lily retaliated by bopping Serena on the nose with a well-aimed baby bottle and now the two weren’t talking. Lily said things were beyond peaceful and she was enjoying the quiet. Serena doubled down and said she was simply “speaking her truth” and it was ridiculous to take sides. I promptly took Lily’s side since she didn’t deserve the criticism from the East Coast’s most critical and overly competitive parent.
“You don’t think they’ll have fun?” asked Mom.
“They will. They’ll love it because they love family dinner night,” I said. “We all do. You’re the glue that holds us all together.”
“Aww, honey, that’s so sweet of you to say. Well, the theme is settled then. You’ll tell Solomon, naturally. He won’t be too busy?”
“Of course not. He enjoys family dinner night a lot.” Mostly because my family were deranged, but I didn’t add that.
“Your father and I are talking about extending the house so we can be sure to fit you all in, especially with the children now all growing bigger... and if any new ones should arrive,” she added pointedly. My mom was always hopeful for more grandchildren. She said if she’d known grandkids were this much fun, she would have had them before having children.