Chapter 107: Two Birthdays

Friday, June 11, 1982

Angie and I watched to make sure Mom didn’t start dinner. We’d already wished her a Happy Birthday, of course, and given her cards, but hadn’t let on about the rest of the plan.

Once Dad got home, and before he came into the house, we went into action. “Mom?” Angie said.

“Yes, honey?

“Surprise! We’re taking you out to dinner tonight!”

“I ... really? You are? Or your father is?”

“Us,” I said. “It’s our plan.”

“We missed Mother’s Day because of rehearsal. We wanted to do something special,” Angie added.

“That’s too much!”

“Nothing’s too much, Mom,” I said.

“We love you,” Angie added. “Very much.”

“I should change! I’m not dressed to go out.”

“That’s why we’re telling you now. Dad’s home and we’ll go soon. No rush, though. We don’t want you feeling stressed just getting ready,” Angie said.

“Oh, my! What should I wear?”

“It’s a casual restaurant, nothing fancy. Dad will be just fine in his work clothes,” I said.

“Thanks, honey,” she said, heading off to their bedroom.

We headed to the back door. Dad came bustling in through the door as we got there.

“Did you tell her?” he said, chuckling.

Angie grinned. “We did. She’s off changing. She was too surprised to even protest all that much.”

He chuckled a bit more. “I’ll go join her. Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Not yet. But think casual, and something we’re pretty sure you’ll like,” I said.

“Casual is good. Thanks, kids. Just wanting to do this is special, and I know your mother will love it.”

“Mom is special,” Angie said. “We want her to always know that’s how we feel.”

“She is. Showing her that is the least we can do,” I added.

Half an hour later, we were in the car. More specifically, Angie’s car. Since we were taking Mom to dinner, it seemed like one of us should drive, and she’d won the coin flip.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going now, honey?” Mom asked.

“Nope,” Angie said with a giggle. “We get to plan surprises, too, sometimes.”

“You know how annoyed I got with your father when he did that!”

“We know,” I said. “We also know you liked it.”

Mom harrumphed. “That’s not fair!”

“True, though,” Dad said with a chuckle.

“And that is even less fair!”

After a short drive, we pulled up to Steak and Ale. Mom smiled. “Oh! I do like this! I worried that it’d be something ... you know ... new. Not that you’ve steered me wrong, but...”

“But it’s your birthday. It should be something you know you like,” Angie said.

“And I know I like this. Thanks!”

We headed in and got seated. After a bit, I excused myself to run to the restroom. Along the way, I tracked down our waitress, whose nametag said ‘Maggie’.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Maggie looked like she was afraid of what I might say. I hoped she wasn’t expecting a pickup line. She was most likely Mom’s age or so. Pretty enough, especially if I still engaged my fifty-whatever-year-old attitudes, but still.

“It’s my ... our ... Mom’s birthday. We just wanted to make sure she got fussed over a bit. Also, the check goes to me, or my sister, not the grown-ups.” I winked. “It’s our plan. I think our Dad is thinking he can intercept the check.”

She got a big smile at that. “Why, isn’t that the sweetest thing! I’ll be more than happy to play along. That’s very special and thoughtful of you both. Thank you for letting me know.”

I smiled and headed off to the restroom, then back to the table. We got notably good service — all of us, but particularly Mom. Glasses were promptly filled, nothing was forgotten, extra rolls arrived unsolicited, and so forth.

Mom and Dad ordered steak, which didn’t surprise me. Sirloin for Dad, petite filet for Mom. Ang and I both had chicken dishes. Everyone had salad, of course. And no one had ale. I wondered how much ale they sold. Probably a fair bit, but who knows?

After they’d cleared the dishes, our waitress appeared with several other members of the waitstaff and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Mom. We sang along, of course. Mom wound up blushing and with tears in her eyes. Happy ones, I was sure.

Maggie came over afterwards and presented Mom with the dessert menu. “Whatever you’d like, just order it. And of course, I’d encourage everyone else to have something, as well.” She grinned and headed back.

Mom looked at the menu. She finally decided on a brownie sundae, after making sure Dad would split it with her. Angie nodded to me. “We should split one, too.”

“Sounds good, sis.”

Maggie was right back to take our orders. She gave me a wink as she headed off.

“I never expected anything like that. This is such a surprise!”

“You deserve it, honey,” Dad said, giving her a hug.

“We love you, Mom!” Angie said, getting up to hug her as well.

I joined in, hugging. “We love you very much.”

“Aww!” She was crying again.

Once she settled down, we shifted topics to the trip, not wanting her to get too embarrassed.

Desserts came, and we all enjoyed them. Maggie dropped the check off with me. I was right — Dad had clearly planned to intercept it. I got out my wallet and paid in cash, giving Maggie a generous tip.

Dad and Mom both looked on, bemused. “You can afford this?” Mom said. “You’re taking Jasmine to Dallas, too!”

I nodded. “I’m very careful with money — we both are — and I’m doing just fine. We’re doing just fine.”

Angie nodded. “We’re like a little company, the two of us. We both make a little from chores and odd jobs and our allowances and gifts, and then there’s my inheritance allowance and the money we found, and it’s earning interest. We do just fine.”

Mom shook her head. “I can’t believe it, even knowing you two. It’s amazing! But I love it, and I really, really, really want to thank you for this. Both of you! It’s ... it’s so sweet and so special.”

“Compared to all you’ve given us, it’s nothing,” I said.

“You’re the best Mom I could ever have hoped for,” Angie added.

That set off a bunch more tears, from both girls. And a few from me. And I think Dad wasn’t very dry-eyed either.

The phone rang around 8pm.

“Hello?”

“Steve?” She sounded much more settled.

“Hi, Jessica. Feeling better?”

“I’m a bit surprised, but, yes. I guess ... nothing’s resolved, but I’ve convinced myself it’s not the crisis I thought it was.”

“That sounds better.”

“I ... well. You’re going out of town in a few days and I know you have plans. We weren’t going to see each other anyway. I think ... I think I’m fine with sticking with the plan and just talking in a week. Maybe I’ll have my head a bit more together.”

“I’m here, and we have an answering machine, or Angie can take a message. She’ll be able to reach me during the trip.”

She chuckled, softly. “Just like you. You’re a very good friend, and ... and I need to remember how good that is, not what we can’t have.”

“It’s a very good thing.”

“I...” She hesitated. “I need to spend some time thinking, but please, don’t worry about me. Maybe I’ll get to talk to Sheila some more. We can discuss you behind your back.” She managed a giggle on that, one that didn’t even sound forced.

“Take care, Jessica. I’ll see you in a week.”

“Yes. Yes, you will!”

10:15pm

Angie smooched me, rubbed noses, and slipped into bed, snuggling. She’d hit the lights on the way in.

“How’s Jessica?”

“Confused and sometimes upset, but better than she was.”

“Not a crisis?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Good! Well, then ... dinner was awfully sweet,” she said.

“And very special.”

“Very.” She gave a deep sigh and snuggled in. “Why couldn’t ... you know. Why couldn’t she even try? Even a little? I ... it’s ... just ... it’s so...”

“I don’t know. I can’t know. Mom is great, and she’s been great, and she must have been great for you your first time.”

She nodded hard at that. “I wasn’t ready for it then, not at first. I didn’t trust her. By the time I did ... it was kinda too late. We were good, but not like this. I learned my lesson and got to do it right. I just...” She sighed again. “I never wanted to hate... her. I didn’t. I don’t. But she just ... she never...”

“I have very little respect for her, Ang. You know that. You know why. But I guess I have to say, we don’t know her.”

Angie started to say something, but I shushed her. “No, let me say what I’m saying.” She nodded. “Okay, I mean, I really don’t know her at all. But you just think you do. You lived with her, but you don’t know her. You were, what, sixteen, maybe seventeen, the first time? Thirteen this time, and this you never actually met this her. Not even once, right? Add to that ... she’s got to have her own reasons. Her own demons. Those are probably her fault. I doubt anyone forced her to get into drugs or whatever. But, for me ... I never even put a foot on that path, so I don’t know what it’s like. I just know it’s easy to get hooked.”

Angie nodded. “It is. I won’t. I mean, I won’t. Not like before. Not again. I know enough to know how to say no and when. I’m sure I do. And not, like, ‘Oh, I can do that, I know how to quit.’ More like ‘I can’t do those things, because I won’t be able to quit if I start.’ But that’s because I did, and got a free pass on getting clean.”

“Anyway, however it happened, she let herself go down that path, and, once on that path, she let herself be awful to her daughter. So, still. It’s not a justification, at all, so much as ... we don’t know. Neither of us. So we can’t know why she couldn’t be there for you.”

“I’ve been meaning to work on this more with Jane. It’s hard. I wanted to hate her. I did hate her, I mean. But I didn’t want to forgive her. But I think I have to, and I’m trying to. It’s hard.”

“Slow and steady. It doesn’t mean anything to say it if you don’t feel it.”

“Jane’s told me that a few times. Like, a dozen. I get it. I’m trying. I just...” She sighed. “I’m her, you know? I mean, half of me is.”

“Ang, half of me is from a father who, almost certainly, got someone pregnant he couldn’t support. Maybe not, but most likely. And half of me is from a mother who gave me up. I’m certain that was the right thing to do. But, still, it means she can’t have been in a good situation. And I was a good dad, loved my kids, took care of them, did all the stuff that dads supposedly don’t do, like the diapers and the 2am bottles and all that stuff. I don’t think her issues are yours, unless you let them be yours.”

“That helps. I mean, I knew that. Repeating it still helps.” She hugged me tight. “I don’t get bummed about her all that often. But, today, celebrating Mom ... it hurts. Even if I wanted to celebrate her birthday, not only do I not know, but I can’t even contact her, because ... I mean ... I guess it’s legal for me to send her something but it’s illegal for her to write back, or however that works.”

“Yeah.”

She shifted and snuggled in tighter. “Good night, big brother. I love you.”

“I love you, little sis.”

“Always.”

“Forever.”

Saturday, June 12, 1982

We both slept a bit late. Angie headed for the shower around 8am, with me following once I knew she was out of there. Mom gave me a warm smile when I came out. I’m sure she still wondered, a little. Worried, a little. But not that much. We were, and meant to stay, on the cute and sweet side of that, not the suspicious, creepy side.