“Can I have water?” My voice sounded small and insecure.
“Of course, sweetie.” Kelly Ann handed me a bottle of water while Robert poured their wine.
“I’m going to get dinner. We had the chef leave early tonight.” Robert’s face turned bright red, which most likely matched my own.
He turned abruptly and walked back inside, not finishing his sentence.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have stayed. I’m not myself,” I began rambling again. My foot moved to touch Gnomen, and for some strange reason the little guy soothed me.
“No, sweetie, this is awkward. It’s all our fault. You see we had our only son very early in life, and we became adults very young. The other night one of my friends who had too much wine was droning on about all the crazy things she did before she had children. It was one of the first times I felt inadequate.” Kelly Ann took a hefty sip of her wine before continuing. “I went home that night, also with too much wine in me, and told Robert we needed to do something crazy now that our son was older anddoing well for himself. We signed up for the site on a whim. I knew we were never going to go through with it.”
“But -” I started, not really knowing why I was arguing with her.
“I know.” She patted my hand before taking another generous drink.
Robert rolled a tray out with steaming dishes piled high. My stomach growled at the sight.
I pressed my hand to my stomach, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I haven’t really eaten.” I cocked my head, trying to remember the last time I’d eaten, and the enchilada breakup slammed into me. As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough already, tears swarmed my eyes and I was unable to hold them back.
“I knew there was a reason you were on that site.” Kelly Ann got up and handed me a cloth napkin with a higher thread count than my sheets. “That’s the reason we told you to come over. I had a feeling you needed someone.”
“But you canceled.” I sniffled into the napkin, no longer caring about how foolish I was acting. My brain and my heart were broken, and I couldn’t pretend everything was okay any longer.
“Oh, sweetie. I wanted you to come over because, like I said, I had a feeling you were in a bad place. I have these feelings sometimes. Call it mom intuition. I sent the message to cancel so you had a way out and didn’t feel stuck,” she assured me.
“I feel useless right now,” Robert announced. His face had the petrified look of a man when he didn’t know what to do with an unconsolable woman in front of him.
“Make her a plate, honey,” Kelly Ann guided him. “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Bell peppers.” I sniffled.
“No bell peppers,” Robert repeated, and began loading a plate as if his life depended on it.
“Do you want to talk about it? If not, you don’t have to, we can have dinner and watch the ocean. It is completely up to you, no pressure.” Kelly Ann soothed her hand up and down my back.
Maybe it was because I’d never see these people again. Or maybe I was just too tired to keep it in, but I did tell them. As I consumed the most delicious shrimp fettuccini and goat cheese salad, I told them all about Bradford, and how I couldn’t get a hold of Jules. I explained how I hadn’t even known what a unicorn was, until Jules showed me the website a couple weeks ago.
They listened and made all the right noises. Kelly Ann and Robert were thoroughly pissed off for me, and it was nice. My parents weren’t the most nurturing people, and when I went to college they acted like they had fulfilled their commitment. Having Kelly Ann and Robert dote on me was comforting and I wished, in a weird way, they were my parents.
Robert brought out the most decadent tiramisu, and I was practically in a food coma when I finished.
“That was incredible.” I rubbed my bulging stomach, “Thank you for this. I didn’t know how much I needed parental figures.”
Kelly Ann patted my hand. “It was nice for us, too. Our son is busy and we rarely get to see him. It’s nice being needed,” she admitted.
“Do you want to tell me what company Bradford works for? I know most of the tech companies out here and I can get him fired for you,” Robert said.
I laughed until I looked at his face and realized he was being serious. A lump grew in my throat, and I was horrified when tears slipped down my cheek.
“No, but that means a lot to me.”
We talked for another hour, and by we, I meant me. I told them about my parents and Jules and a little bit more about Bradford.
Robert yawned, and I realized how long I’d stayed. “I should get going. I took up too much of your time.”
“Oh, sweetie, don’t worry about him, he’s an old man.” Just as she finished her sentence, she yawned, too.
“Says the old man’s wife,” Robert joked.