A Different Kind of Forever(10)

Diane returned to the stove. “He was sweet. If I weren’t old enough to be his mother, I’d say yeah, I fell for him. So, want to come with me? Friday night? I am going to need help keeping these girls on a leash.”

“Sure, I’d love to go, but I think you need a date, maybe with a real man? When was the last time you saw a little action, anyway?”

“I had a perfectly nice dinner with a perfectly nice dentist a month ago and he never called back. You know I can never manage to get past a third date.” Diane glanced over her shoulder. “Please? We’ll get to go backstage.”

“Sure, I’ll go. I used to be quite the groupie.”

“I never was, but I figure I’m scoring big with my kids, especially Em. It’ll be nice to be the Mom that got her backstage, instead of the Mom who can’t do anything right.”

“I hear you there. You seem terribly pleased with the whole thing. You haven’t stopped smiling since I got here.”

“Because I didn’t expect him to come through with the tickets, and I’ve been kind of beating myself up all afternoon thinking he was going to flake out. It’s nice to meet somebody who does what they say they’re going to do.”

Sue moved closer and leaned back against the counter. “Did you have, like, a real conversation?”

“Yeah, we did. A lot of conversation.” She looked to make sure the girls were still upstairs. “We had lunch.”

“He bought you lunch? Wow. Where?”

“Chickies.”

Sue snorted. “Oh, you’re kidding!”

“He wanted to go to Weatherby’s, but I had class, and there was the dog. So we sat outside at Chickies. It was fun.”

“What a cool thing to happen. And now we can all stop listening to that god-damned radio station.” She stepped back into the hall. “Griffen kids, let’s go.” She yelled, then winked at Diane. “Way to go, kiddo.”

After Sue left, Diane finished making dinner, calling down her daughters. They set the table, noisy, happy. Emily actually gave her a hug and a thank you. The meal was eaten quickly, and the girls cleaned up as Diane went back into the den, laying out her books, getting ready for the work ahead for the night. Finals were coming up, and she had lots of prep work to do. She would have to call Kevin about the concert.

“Kev, hi, it’s me. How are things?”

“Good. Victoria is a little out of sorts, but that’s expected. What’s up?”

“Believe it or not, we have tickets for the concert next Friday night.”

“Good Lord, Di, how did you manage that? Emily must be ecstatic.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, she is. Is it any problem?”

“Oh, of course not. Victoria will enjoy a quiet Friday evening. We may even go out. Are they around?”

“Sure. Hold on.” Diane called upstairs, waited to hear the upstairs line pick up, then sat down to work. She accomplished quite a bit, her mind very clear. The girls said goodnight at ten, and she settled herself into the couch and began proofreading the freshmen final. When the phone rang, she was startled. The girls’ friends knew not to call this late.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Is Diane there?”

She recognized his voice. “It’s me.”

“It’s Michael. Did you get everything okay? Dave said he sent a packet over.”

She sat up, feeling herself starting to smile again. “Yes, we got it. I can’t tell you how excited they are. You have scored major points here. Seriously. If there’s such a thing as the karma scale, you are way on the plus side. You can be miserable to the next ten people you meet, and you’ll still be ahead. Thank you again.”

He started laughing.“Is there really a karma scale?”

“Oh, I haven’t a clue. Maybe. But my daughters are grateful, and so am I.”

“So, about the concert,” Michael began, “you don’t have to worry about any crazy shit backstage. We’re pretty boring after a show, actually. We’re generally too tired for anything more than a chicken wing and a beer.”

“You’re sure you won’t mind us back there? I mean, these girls are going to ask for autographs and all that.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Look, it’s part of the game. We love it, all of us. Besides, all the guys will have people there, it’ll be fun.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.”