Page 17 of Undeniably Perfect

“He works for NASA. He’s an engineer.”

“Wow. That sounds like a tough job.”

“Oh, Ted is great at it. His brain just gets numbers. He’s so analytical.” She giggles. “The complete opposite of me. But you know what they say, opposites attract.”

She looks between us and Kent coughs.

“Mom…” he starts but Mr. Wu brings us our food.

The conversation moves to a more comfortable topic of the team that Kent will be playing against this week. I learn that his family always makes sure that at least one of them is in attendance at all his home games. It’s sweet. They are like a TV family. I immediately want to meet them, want to photograph them.

“You have a big family,” I say as we pay Mr. Wu and head out of the restaurant.

“Yep. Plus, my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. There’s always someone around,” Kent answers.

I turn to Mrs. Moore. “Did you always want a lot of kids?”

Kent bursts out laughing.

Mrs. Moore smiles. “Well, I always wanted two girls and two boys. We had Kylie. Although she’s a tomboy and a total daddy’s girl, we decided that three girls and a boy were it. Then, Mr. Moore and I had a little oops baby and voila, we got that second boy.” She laughs. “Best accident ever.”

Kent chuckles. “I swear, Mom, the fact that C-Dog doesn’t have a complex from a lifetime of being called the best accident ever is beyond me.”

She shushes him with her finger on his lips. “Hush now. You know I love all my babies.”

He wraps an arm around her shoulder, and she leans into him as they walk. “Love you, Momma.”

She kisses his giant bicep. “Love you too, sweet boy.”

My heart melts and my brain seethes with jealousy. I’ve never wanted what they have more in my entire life, but having it smack in my face…it’s hard to contain the feelings I’m having. I decide I need to extricate myself immediately.

“Well, I hate to be a party pooper. But I need to go meet my insurance adjuster.”

They turn to face me.

“Oh, I can come with you, dear.”

“Mom’s in real estate,” he says.

“I had to find something to do when all my babies grew up”—she turns to me—“I used to be a school nurse, but after Clark came along, it was just too much. Then, a few years ago, I got obsessed with those home shows on TV and I decided to get my real estate license.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m fine, really.”

“Are you sure? I have my car here,” she points out.

“I can call a ride,” I say, pointing to my phone.

“I insist,” she says.

“Mom, you should be careful. It’s a bit of a rough neighborhood,” Kent says. I want to roll my eyes at Kent’s assessment of my transition neighborhood, but I decide to let it go. He may have a point.

She tosses her hand up. “Now, Kent Jason Moore, your mother is more than capable of taking care of herself. Come on, dear, I’m parked just over here.” She leans up and kisses Kent on the cheek, wishing him a good practice.

I hesitate but Mrs. Moore just grabs my hand and pulls me in the direction of her car. I look back at Kent who gives me a “sorry” look.

“I’ll see you later,” he says to me. “It’ll be late. I have a game at seven.”

I nod as Mrs. Moore drags me to the car.

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