When You Least Expect It (36 page)

             
“I'm off to breakfast, with my daughter and sister.”  Why was Ray always asking where she was going?

             
“Ah, sounds fun.”  He was relieved it wasn’t with the roller coaster guy.  “How were the roller coasters yesterday?”

             
Amanda rolled her eyes; she definitely didn’t want to start this conversation right now.  “It was fun. Look, Ray, Alex is finally here, we’re late, and so I have to go.  I’m sorry to always be running, I promise tonight will be different.  We’ll have one of our marathon calls, okay?”

             
“Okay, I’ll call you about eight your time?”  Ray liked to be the one paying for these marathon calls.

             
“I have no plans, so that sounds great.  Talk to you then, Ray.”

             
She hung up the phone.  She felt irritated with him and was unsure why. 

             
“Let’s go Mom!”  Alex was finally ready.  She would have to analyze her irritation with Ray later.

             
They all arrived at the same time at the pancake house they all favored.  Elisa looked as if she’d been through a rough night, and Hilary was energetic as usual.  They all hugged and were happy to see each other.  Amanda was especially happy to see Elisa and gave her an extra squeeze.  She held her at arms length and asked her why she looked so bad.

             
“Mom, one of the good things about living on my own is that I don’t have to explain everything to you.  I’m fine, not sick; let’s just leave it at that.” 

             
“Well excuse me for living.  I was just concerned, that’s all.”

             
“Whatever.  Can we get some coffee?”

             
Hilary was enjoying the mother-daughter exchange.  “Sometimes, I’m totally relieved that Susie is only a little girl.  I’m not ready for these in-depth conversations.”

             
“Very funny, Hil.  I need that coffee now, so let’s go in.”

             
Alex rolled his eyes at the women.  “Exactly, why aren’t I at home sleeping right now?”

             
The family went into the restaurant and got a table right away.  They loved this particular breakfast place.  It had a country home kind of feeling to it, with a fireplace and rustic tables, and the food was great.  They each ordered their favorite breakfast, and then settled down with their coffee to catch up. 

             
“Elisa, if I’m not being too nosy, what’s new with you?”  Amanda was still stinging from her daughter’s earlier comment.

             
Elisa rolled her eyes.  She had a horrific hangover and was in no mood for her mother.  She should have gone with her gut instinct and cancelled this morning.  “Nothing is new Mom…same old thing, work, school, and play.”  Elisa was slumped on her arm, talking in a monotone voice.  She drank her coffee, wishing they would just leave her alone.

             
Hilary finally asked the obvious question.  “Exactly how much did you drink last night?”

             
After giving her aunt a murderous look, she opted to plead the fifth. 

             
Amanda shook her head and decided to let it go.  She was living on her own and an adult, even though she was not of legal drinking age.  She’d been young once too, and had done the same thing.  She changed the subject.

             
“Hilary, how’s Susie?  I haven’t seen her in a while.”

             
“She’s adorable and cute, and never hung over.”

              Elisa shot her aunt another murderous look.

             
Hilary laughed out loud.  “Oh come on, if
I
can’t give you a hard time, what fun are these breakfasts’?”  She reached over and mussed Elisa’s hair.

             
“They are no fun at all!”  Hilary’s teasing had broken the tension and Elisa had even smirked a little.

             
Hilary didn’t stop there.  “So Mandy how’s the internet murderer?”

             
Amanda’s eyes almost popped out of her head.  Why would she bring that up in front of the kids?

             
“Yeah Mom, how’s good old Ray?”  Elisa was ecstatic to get the heat off her and onto her mother.

             
“Ray’s fine.  We still talk from time to time.”  She said this as casually as she could. 

             
It was Alex’s turn to add something.  “Does time to time mean every day?  I see his name on our caller ID.” 

             
Hilary and Elisa’s head turned at the same time.  “Every day?”

             
As if this conversation wasn’t bad enough, Amanda looked up and saw Dan walking into the restaurant.  Talk about bad timing, there was no way she wanted to go from talking about Ray, to introducing Dan to this bunch.  She looked for an exit to run out through.  Unfortunately, there was none, so she had to hope Dan wouldn’t see her.  She tried to hide behind Elisa who was sitting across from her. 

             
“What are you doing, Mom?” 

             
“Nothing...why?”  She looked over and saw Dan looking her way.  She looked away, praying he wouldn’t recognize her.  Of course, that was too much to ask.

             
“You’re acting weird.  What’s wrong?”

             
Dan was at the table.  “Mandy? Hi!  This is a nice surprise.”  He stood there smiling at the group.  He waited for Amanda to introduce them, but as of yet she hadn’t even said hello.  In fact, she seemed to have paled.

             
Hilary was looking up at Dan, and then seeing how uncomfortable her sister looked, took it upon herself to save her.  “I’m sorry; the cat seems to have cut my sister’s tongue.  I’m Hilary.”  She extended her hand, which Dan took warmly.

             
“Hi Hilary, I’ve heard a lot of nice things about you from Mandy.”

             
Hilary looked at her sister with surprise.  “Is that so?  I wish I could say the same.  These are her children, Elisa and Alex.”

             
Amanda hadn’t even moved a muscle.  She couldn’t believe this was happening.  She wasn’t ready for her family to know she was dating someone.  Next thing she knew, Hilary was inviting him to sit down.

             
“Are you here alone, Dan?  You’re welcome to join us.”

             
Dan had noticed how uncomfortable Amanda was.  He’d also noted the fact that Hilary hadn’t heard about him.  Plus, the look she gave her sister when she extended the invitation to join them.  “I don’t want to intrude.  Listen, Mandy, call me when the cat returns your tongue.  Nice meeting everyone.”  Dan gave them his warmest smile, his eyes resting on Amanda for an extra second, then turned and walked away.

             
He was barely out of earshot when Hilary started in on her.  “Who was
that?
He’s absolutely gorgeous!”

             
Amanda sighed.  “I guess if I said I didn’t want to talk about it, that wouldn’t work, huh?”

             
Elisa took a turn.  “No it wouldn’t.  What gives Mom?  Who was that hunk?”

             
Amanda took one more stab at getting the subject dropped.  “Does the comment you gave me about being an adult, blah, blah, blah, work in this situation too?  After all, I’m even older.”

             
In unison, they all said
no.

             
Amanda gave them the brief story about Dan.  How they met, about their dates, and how really it was no big deal.  He was a nice guy, she liked him, and they had a good time together; that was it.

             
“Will you be seeing him again?  That is, if you didn’t scare him away with the mime impression you put on for him.”  They all laughed at Amanda’s expense. 

             
“Yeah Mom, you were like a deer in the headlights”.  More laughter. 

             
Amanda turned beet red.  They were right.  Dan probably thought she was a big loser after that performance.  “I don’t know it just caught me off guard.  I didn’t expect to see him here, in my private life”.

             
Hilary looked around.  “Wow, I didn’t realize you owned this place.”

             
Amanda groaned.  “Can you all just shut up for one minute?  I’m so embarrassed right now, and you’re right, he probably won’t call me anymore, and I kind of liked him!  So just shut up and give me a minute to regroup.”  She stood up.  “I’m going to the ladies room”.

             
Elisa stood up.  “I’ll come with you”.

             
“No!”

             
Elisa sat down.  “Fine, then.”

             
Amanda walked through the restaurant, and of course saw Dan.  He was sitting alone at the table; he looked up and saw her, but looked back down at his plate immediately.  She felt horrible.  She wondered if she should go talk to him, she obvious had hurt him, but she didn’t know what to say.  Obviously, he didn’t want to talk to her, so she decided to leave him alone. 

             
She went into the ladies room and stared at herself in the mirror.  She didn’t like what she saw.  Why had she acted like that?  She liked Dan, why would it embarrass her that she was dating him.  She shook her head; she’d really blown it.  She hoped she could get him to forgive her, but somehow, she doubted it.  She went back out, planning to sit with him for a few minutes, and try to explain her action.  She went towards the table she had seen him at, but it was empty.  She looked out the restaurant window and saw his truck pulling away.

             
Feeling even more disheartened, she returned to her family.

             
                                                        ~~~             

             
Dan also was feeling disheartened.  He thought things were going well between them, why would she treat him like that.  Did he embarrass her?  Was she using him?  He didn’t understand that whole scene, and at this stage of the game, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.  This is why he hated dating, why he didn’t want to get involved with women.  He barely knew her, although he liked her a lot, and now she was hurting him, for no apparent reason.  No thanks, he thought.  He got up, left a twenty on the table, and made his exit before Amanda could come out of the bathroom.  He had nothing to say to her.

                                                                      ~~~             

             
Amanda finished leaving her third message on Dan’s answering machine.  She felt horrible that he wasn’t picking up, nor returning her calls.  She’d apologized profusely on all three messages, stressing the fact that she didn’t know what had come over her, but she had a feeling it was falling on deaf ears.  She had blown it.  She wasn’t sure where their relationship would have led, and now she’d never know. 

             
She poured herself a glass of wine and sat in the dark listening to music, willing the phone to ring.  Around eight, it finally did.  She stared at the phone for a minute before picking it up.

             
“Hello?”  Her voice sounded timid.

             
“Hey there, are you ready for our marathon phone call?”  It was Ray.

             
Amanda didn’t know if she should be happy, sad or what.  “Hi Ray, how are you”.             

“I’m fine, how are you doing?”  Ray could tell something was wrong.

              “Okay, I guess. I’m feeling a little down tonight.”

             
“Do you want to talk about it?  After all, that’s what I’m here for.”  He hated how sad she sounded.

             
She considered this for a minute.  How would he feel if she confided in him about this situation?  He’d been jealous of Dan, so maybe he’d just be relieved and give her bogus advice.  She opted to bring out the ‘friend’ card and go for it.

             
“Remember when I asked you if I could talk about my dates and you said yes?”

             
Ray hesitated.  “Yes.” 

             
“Well, I really need to talk about this.  It’s about the guy I went to Western Playland with.”

             
“Mr. ‘Nobody Special’?”

             
“Yes, well he still is that, only now he’s just in the past tense.”

             
Amanda had been right, Ray was relieved, but he tried not to show it.  “Oh?  What happened?”

             
Amanda recounted the scene at the pancake house.  She offered no explanations, since she had none.  She wanted to know what Ray thought from the male perspective.