Page 8 of The Sitcom Star
When he arrived at his childhood house with the food in the trunk, Ryder and Colleen were outside.Ryder was now three.Fortunately, he no longer acted like he was magnetically attracted to the road.He used to run straight toward the road whenever he was outside, and if you started chasing him, he’d run faster.Just making sure he didn’t get hit by a car had been exhausting, and on multiple occasions, he’d thrown tantrums because he hadn’t been allowed to run into traffic.One time, about a year ago, he’d been particularly upset because he’d “wanted to meet the truck.”
Today, he seemed content to play on the grass.He was holding a blue ball and spinning around in circles, but he stopped when Adrian got out of the car.
“Uncle Adrian,” he said.“I got a new ball!”
“Wow,” Adrian said as he grabbed the bags of food.“That’s a big one.”
“I can kick it.”Ryder put the ball on the grass, wound up for a big kick, missed, and fell onto the ground.But he was up again a moment later.
“Hey, Adrian,” Colleen said.“I hope you brought turnip cakes this time.None of this ‘turnip cakes are the worst food at dim sum, yuck’ business.”
Ryder laughed at her exaggeratedyuck.
“Just for you,” Adrian said.“As long as you don’t try to force them on me.”
“I would never,” Colleen said sweetly.“They’re wasted on you.”
“I don’t like turnip cakes,” Ryder announced, although he’d liked them the last time Adrian had brought them for Saturday dim sum.
“That’s okay,” Colleen said.“You don’t have to eat any.More for me.”
Adrian headed inside with the food and greeted his mother.She started making tea, and Dad helped him lay out the containers of dim sum on the dining room table.Before the pandemic, Adrian would never have eaten dim sum at home; dim sum was something you ate at a loud, crowded restaurant.But takeout with his family had become part of his new normal.
Mom tried to stuff a bunch of bills into Adrian’s hand.“For the dim sum.”
“No, no,” he said, “you shouldn’t.”
Last month, Dad had given him money for the food, and Mom had also given him enough money to cover the food.So, this wasn’t necessary, but they did their song and dance of insisting and refusing until Adrian finally acquiesced.
“Good,” Mom said.“You can use the money for a date.”
“A date?”he sputtered.
“What’s so weird about you dating?”
Well, there was nothing weird about the idea, even if he hadn’t had a date since early 2020.The weird part was his mother bringing it up.Some mothers might regularly ask their thirty-three-year-old sons about such things, but his rarely did.
“Nothing,” he said.
She eyed him suspiciously.“Are you dating someone and not telling me?”
“No.”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
But he really wasn’t seeing anyone!Sure, he’d given a woman his number yesterday—after spilling a drink on her—but the woman in question was Maddie freaking Ng, and the chances of her texting him were vanishingly small.
Adrian couldn’t help smiling as he thought of her sitting at the table with him, eating popcorn chicken and drinking bubble tea.It had been surprisingly nice and normal, even if they hadn’t seen each other since grade eight and she was now a star.
“Yes, you definitely have someone,” Mom said.
“I don’t.”
Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Is that her?”Mom asked as he took out his phone.
“No, it’s…”
