Page 109 of Suddenly Dating
They talked baseball for a while as father and sons will do when everything else requires too much emotion. His mother suffered in silence, her arms folded tightly across her body. But she couldn’t stay silent for long. At dinner, she made the mistake of bringing up Melissa.
“Hazel said that you ran into Melissa recently,” she said. “I hope you’ve realized your mistake there.”
Harry’s temples began to throb.
“She’s perfect for you, Harry. Such a lovely young woman with a great job, a great future. Think how beautiful my grandchildren would be.” She flashed a cool smile.
“Melissa and I are through, Mom,” Harry said evenly. “We’re never getting back together. I need you to accept it.”
His mother didn’t accept it. She put her fork down and glared at him. “I don’t know where we went wrong, I honestly don’t,” she said. “You’ve had every advantage—great schools, great opportunities. You had a fabulous woman who would have been a devoted wife. You had a fantastic job that would have made you partner. And now, you’re living in someone else’s house, throwing your life away. And for what? For a couple of bridges?”
“Beth?” his father said, his voice light.
“What?”
“Shut up.”
His mother shrieked, and Harry’s gaze flew to his father. He had never heard him speak like that to his mother, not once.
But Dad was on a roll. “This fine young man,” he said, pointing at Harry, “has set his sights on a goal. He hasgoals,Beth. He has dreams, and by God, he is pursuing them. I’ll be damned if I am going to listen to you run him down for it one moresecond.”
Harry’s mother stared at her husband in shock. “Howdareyou, Jack!”
“No, Beth, how dareyou.How can you not be bursting with pride? He is the man I wish I had the guts to be! For God’s sake, let him live his life! Let him be his own man! Stop...motheringhim to death!”
His mother’s face crumbled. She grasped the table, and for a moment, Harry thought she might faint. He came partially out of his chair, but his mother abruptly pushed herself up out of her own chair, and with an acid glare at her husband, she stormed out of the room. They heard her sob just before they heard the slam of her bedroom door.
Harry turned a wide-eyed gaze to his dad.
His father shrugged. “She had it coming,” he said, unapologetically. “Listen, Harry, don’t do what I did. Don’t marry for the sake of marrying. Don’t take a job for the sake of the money. Keep doing what you’re doing, son. I’m proud of you. Now, I better go and make sure she doesn’t fling herself out the window.” He stood up and paused next to Harry, put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed affectionately.
Harry stared down at his plate, amazed by what had just happened. “Mr.Harry? I make you a drink?” Dosia said from somewhere in the kitchen.
“A double, please,” he said. “And make yourself one, Dosia. I’ll join you in the kitchen.”
Harry tried to say good-bye to his mother the next morning, but she would not come out of her room. “She’ll be fine,” Dosia said. “Go now, Mr.Harry. Call her this week.”
He attempted to get Lola on the phone again on the drive to East Beach, but again, she didn’t answer. That was odd—he could understand that she hadn’t answered yesterday. She’d probably been in Long Island all day. Had something happened? He hoped her mother was all right.
He was ruminating when he coasted down the drive of the lake house, and curious when he saw a Mercedes in the drive. Probably Mallory or one of her friends. At least it meant that Lola was here.
He parked, grabbed his bag, and walked into the lake house, expecting to find women on the terrace or in the pool. The door was not locked; he pushed it open, dropped his bag, and said, “Lola?”
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Zach’s voice startled Harry; he gasped at the sight of his friend sitting on the couch, his arms spread out across the back of it.Shit.“Zach,” he said.
“Yeah,Zach.Your friend, remember? The dude who lent you this awesome house when he shouldn’t have? And you repay me by bringing some chick in here with you?”
Harry’s heart suddenly began to race. “Where is she?”
“Fuck if I know. Why didn’t you tell me about her?” Zach demanded, gaining his feet. “You just abuse my hospitality like that?”
“Where is she, Zach?” Harry said again. His heart was pounding in his chest now. “What did you say to her?”
“What did Isay?I told her to get the hell out of my house.”
Harry looked wildly about. Lola was gone? The kitchen was a mess, as usual. He stalked to the master bedroom and looked inside. The bed was unmade, and there were towels piled on the chair. But her clothes were picked up off the floor. He whirled around and stalked back to the living room. Her computer was gone, too.
