Annie looked out the window for
Jake. He wasn’t late. He said he’d be there around 11 am and that was still a half hour
away. She’d decided to wait until the
last minute to tell her parents that someone was coming over. But she didn’t want to wait until he was pulling
in the driveway either.
It wasn’t that she was worried her
parents would embarrass her, or Jake.
They were fairly reasonable people.
Coming to meet the parents gave a date vibe to the situation that she
didn’t want because it wasn’t a date.
She wished she’d been clearer with Jake about that. Now she was hoping that if she waited long
enough to say something, the rest of her family would conveniently need to run
an errand right before he showed up.
Annie came away from the window and
soon found her mom flipping through the pages of a magazine. Her ten-year-old brother was slumped against
her arm, sound asleep. Annie took a seat
across the room from them and picked up a puzzle book from the coffee
table. Restlessness kept it closed in
her lap. She fiddled with the cover as
she watched the minutes slink past. If
she waited much longer, Jake could be early and show up before she warned
anyone.
“Mom?”
Diana looked up at her daughter.
“I just wanted to let you know that
I’m going out for lunch. A friend from
school is coming to pick me up soon.”
“Oh!” Diana smiled with interest. “What’s his name?”
Annie wanted to scowl at her mom for assuming
the friend was a guy. But she was trying
to act as though that didn’t matter.
“Jake,” she said.
“How long have you know him?”
“He’s part of the study group we
started from church this year.”
“And what is he studying?”
“Mom, you don’t have to grill
me. He’s just a friend. We’re just having lunch. Please don’t treat him like a date when he
gets here.”
“When who gets here?” Annie’s dad, Cliff, had walked into the room
while she was talking.
Diana smiled up at her
husband. “A boy from school is coming to
take Annie out to lunch.”
“Really?” Cliff pulled himself up straight as he folded
his arms across his chest. “Do I know
this boy?”
“You can meet him when he gets
here,” Annie said, “as long as you don’t act like that.”
He breathed in to puff up his
chest. “Like what? I need to be sure this boy knows how to treat
my baby.”
“I’m not a baby. He’s a nice guy. And it’s not
a date.”
Diana reached up and patted her
husband’s arm. “It does sound as though
she’s known him for a while.”
Annie’s dad continued his
intimidating posture. She thought he
might only be doing it to tease her, but she wasn’t positive. Before she could decide which approach to use
to get him to cooperate, another person entered the room, her 13-year-old
brother William.
“Hey,” he said. “A car just pulled into the driveway.”
“Annie is expecting a friend to
take her to lunch,” Diana explained.
“Can I come!?”
His mom chuckled. “I don’t think Annie wants you tagging along
on her date.”
“It’s not a date,” Annie
hissed. And it certainly wouldn’t be if
she brought her little brother. “Sure,
William, you can come.”
“Cool,” he said. “I got to find my shoes.”
The doorbell rang as he ran up the
stairs.
“I’ll get it,” Annie said, before
anyone else could make a move. Her eyes
pleaded with her dad to relax as she walked away. He frowned a bit deeper.
The first thing she noticed when
she opened the door was that Jake was holding a bunch of small colorful
flowers.
“Hi,” he said. He seemed to follow her eyes and lowered the
bouquet to make his other had more prominent.
It was holding a package of M&Ms.
“These are for you.” He handed
her the M&Ms, which she knew he got because he’d seen her snacking on them
at the study group.
“Thanks,” she said.
“You didn’t sound excited about
flowers, but I brought some because you said it was your mom’s birthday.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Does she
like flowers?”
Annie nodded. It wasn’t going to do him any good to
ingratiate himself with her parents. But
her mom did like flowers. “Come on
in.” She motioned Jake to follow her to
the living room. She made very quick
introductions before she said, “And he brought birthday flowers for mom.”
“Oh, how nice.” Diana got up to take the flowers. Michael woke up as she pulled herself out
from under him.
Cliff had refolded his arms after
he shook Jake’s hand. He was silently
staring at him.
“Dad,” Annie said, “can you please
tone it down? I’m sure Jake would answer
a few questions if you like and that would be more productive than you trying
to look scary.”
Cliff slowly cracked a smile as he
lowered his arms. “I suppose I don’t
need to be intimidating since you’re bringing a chaperone.”
Jake looked at Annie for
clarification.
“My brother wanted to come with
us,” she said, “and I told him that was okay.
I hope you don’t mind.”
“No. No, that’s fine.” Jake looked at Michael. “You’re coming to lunch with us?”
Michael grinned as he said, “I’m
hungry.”
He was still rising from the couch
as William bounded into the room and flung open a hall closet to grab his coat.
Jake glanced between them and
seemed to realize his mistake.
Annie smiled as his expression
seemed to waver between overwhelmed and entertained. “I guess we’re all going,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for the boys.”
“No, I can—”
Jake was cut off by Annie’s
mom. “Michael and William can stay
home.”
“But Annie said I could go,”
William protested.
“I think taking both boys is a
great idea,” Cliff said.
Diana shot him a disapproving look.
“So do I.” Jake nodded as he caught up with the
situation. “I’d like to know Annie
better, and I’m sure her brothers have lots of good stories.”
“Oh, I can tell you about the time
Annie dropped the lasagna on the door of the oven,” William said. “Face down.”
Annie had already grabbed her coat
and Michael’s. She was helping Michael
into his. An afternoon of listening to
William list her mistakes didn’t exactly sound fun. But it probably wasn’t what Jake had in mind
either. Surely this would give him the
hint to back off.
Diana handed Annie a small
envelope. “You’ll need his noon pills if
you’re sure you want to take him.”
Jake and William were halfway out
the front door, chatting like old friends.
Annie put on her own coat and pushed Michael’s meds securely to the
bottom of her pocket. Her mom was
looking at her with great sympathy. Her
dad was nodding approvingly at the turn of events. Annie couldn’t decide which of them was being
more annoying. She put on a big smile
and waved at both of them.
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