Page 82 of Take A Number
She stops scrubbing and gapes at me. “You broke up?”
I nod slowly. “Indeed, we did. So now that that’s over, you can go back to your matchmaking schemes.”
My mother stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “You never let me set you up, so why would you suggest I try now?”
“Maybe things have changed.” I shrug and force a fake smile.
“Is this one of your insipid jokes, Norah?” my mother snaps while dropping several dirty bowls into the dirty water. “Are you trying to distract me with the hope of setting you up before you tell me something truly horrible like you’re moving away or something?”
“Mom.” I steel myself to say what I need to in order to get over Dean. “I’d actually like you to set me up.”
Her eyes flare, and a hopeful smile spreads across her face. “With Nathaniel?”
“Not Nathaniel,” I groan, and my body shivers with repulsion.
“Why not?”
“He’s horrible, Mom.”
“Horrible how?”
I decide to hit her with the truth. If I’m going to give Elaine the freedom to embrace her matchmaking skills, she needs to be okay with some oversharing. “Well, when Nate and I were younger, we sort of messed around before we both went off to school.”
“Okay…” she says, nodding like she’s hip on my lingo, which is kind of amusing.
“And apparently, Nate thought it would be cool to bring that up at dinner the other night…in front of Dean.”
My mom’s nose wrinkles. “That’s obscene.”
“I know. And Dean was not cool with it. It’s why we left in such a hurry. There was no fire at the bakery. I was trying to put out a different kind of fire.”
My mother sighs and shakes her head. “I feel sorry for Nathaniel.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I nearly screech. I’m having this nice heart-to-heart with my mother, and then she totally comes out of left field with that. “How on earth could you feel sorry for Nate? He was a pig that night, Mom.”
“I know, and I’m not excusing his behavior.” She stops with the dishes and wipes her hands off before she continues. “Carol told me he wasn’t doing very well in California. Apparently, he hated his job, and then the woman he was with cheated on him with one of his colleagues. Jim was all set to sell the firm to an outside buyer, but Nathaniel told them he was moving home, and well, they kind of changed their plans to help give him a boost. It’s kind of sad. It’s why I pushed you so hard to give him a chance. Maybe he could use a friend instead.”
“Well, it’s not going to be me,” I state through clenched teeth.
“Norah…”
“What? He was horrible at that dinner, Mom. At your party, he was smug and patronizing. I don’t care if he was heartbroken or not.”
“Well, you can’t blame the man for losing his mind a little bit in front of you…you’re…you.” She folds the dish towel perfectly as she gets a matter-of-fact look on her face.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I ask, feeling strange at that remark because it’s not something I’ve ever heard from my mother.
She shakes her head and waves her hand. “Well…Carol and I have always wanted you and Nate together, so I’m sure she was bragging about you to him like I was bragging about him to you. I’m sure after all his unpleasantness in California, he thought he’d come back home and reconnect with you. Then you show up with Dean, who looks like he belongs in Hollywood a lot more than Nathaniel ever did, and he kind of lost his mind, I suspect. You’d be a hard girl to miss out on, Norah. You’re quite the catch.”
“I am?” I croak as her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve never heard my mother speak about me like this…ever.
“Obviously,” she spouts with annoyance as she helps herself to a cup of coffee that I made earlier. “You’re successful and independent. You’re beautiful with very little effort, and frankly, I’m envious of that. Plus, you’re creativeandbusiness savvy, a lethal combination. Not to mention, you’re opening a second bakery and launching a franchise. I underestimated all the hard work you’ve been doing. Dean made me see the light with everything he said about you at our anniversary party. You’ve done what others only dream of, pumpkin.”
Holy croinuts, I’ve entered the Twilight Zone.
Elaine Donahue has actually been listening. Apparently, fake-dating Dean has had some positive effects after all. My mother almost sounds proud of me. And maybe a tiny bit envious?
My voice is thick in my throat when I ask a question that’s been on my mind a lot recently. “Mom, what made you stop working for Mary Kay?”
