A Mother Would Know (16)

“Sorry I’m late,” Theo says, checking the watch wrapped around his wrist as he enters. He wears slacks and a collared shirt, his hair gelled to the side. He’s good-looking, I’ll give him that. Polite, too, I think as he leans over to peck me on the cheek, thanking me for having him over.

Mason is happy to see him, kicking and smiling the minute Theo says hello. I hand the baby over to his dad.

“Dinner’s ready,” I say.

“Well, I got here just in time, then.” Theo smiles, showing off a row of insanely white teeth.

He and Hudson catch up as Kendra and I set the table. Dinner is uneventful. Theo talks a lot about work, taking up most of the conversation with things I couldn’t care less about. The world of finance isn’t something I find fascinating. The bored look on Hudson’s face as he shovels food into his mouth shows me he feels the same way. But at least he and Kendra aren’t arguing.

Thank god for small favors.

Kendra interjects a few times to share how nursing school’s going. And Mason babbles from his high chair occasionally, forcing us all to pay attention to him. When he does this, I wonder if he’s as tired of the conversation as the rest of us.

After dinner, Hudson offers to clean up while I put on a pot of coffee and get out dessert.

“I’ll take this little man, then.” Theo tosses his napkin down, walks over to the high chair and pulls Mason out.

“You have to wipe him off first,” Kendra says, her tone severe.

“He’s fine,” Theo says between gritted teeth.

“He’s gonna get food all over your shirt.”

“I don’t care,” Theo says, smiling at Mason and drawing him close.

“Oh, really? You don’t care about how you look. That would be a first.”

Hudson throws me a yikes expression as he balances a stack of plates on his arm and deliberately walks into the kitchen. I trail behind him as Kendra says, “Stop bouncing him, Theo. He just ate.”

“Are they always like that?” Hudson asks, turning on the kitchen faucet.

“Um...not always. But you know how Kendra is.”

“Yeah, I do.” Hudson chuckles, snatching up a rag.

Kendra and Theo’s bickering continues in the other room as Hudson finishes up the dishes and the coffee percolates.

“What do you think about having...” I blink. My mind is nothing but a dark, black space. Completely blank. The word is on the tip of my tongue. One I use all the time. I’m staring at it on the counter, and yet I can’t for the life of me remember the word... Oh, god. I am turning into my mom. I swallow hard, my mouth drying out.

“Yes?” One side of Hudson’s mouth curls upward in an amused way.

He’s not worried, and I get that. When the kids were younger, I did this kind of thing all the time. But that was different. Back then I was struck with inspiration, a song lyric leaping into my mind at inopportune moments, causing me to lose my train of thought.

“Umm...” I reach for a word I can remember. “Coffee and...” I point at the platter on the counter, at the thing I can’t say.

“Dessert?” Hudson helps me out, and only then do I see a slight frown, a deepening of the creases in his forehead.

To ease his worry, I let out a light laugh. “Yes, sorry, I got distracted.”

“Eavesdropping on their argument?” He smiles knowingly, his head bobbing toward the dining room, where Kendra and Theo are speaking heatedly in hushed tones.

I don’t answer, but I know he takes it as a yes by the smirk he flashes me. I smile back, allowing him to think that.

“Anyway, should we take this all out to the front porch?” I ask Hudson, thinking of evenings a decade or more ago, kids eating ice cream on the steps while Darren and I sat on the porch swing. I’m determined not to let my momentary brain lapse get the best of me.

“That sounds cool,” he says in his normal, chill tone. Sometimes I wonder what it would take to excite him at this age.

I fix a tray with a carafe of coffee, my fancy china cups and two slices of pie. I know Theo and Kendra won’t have any of the dessert. They’re always on some diet or another. Then I carry the tray out to the front porch and set it down on the wicker table next to the porch swing. The air is cool, smelling of roses and damp grass. Above me the porch light clicks on as the sun lowers. Birds chirp in the distance. Somewhere on the street I hear a cat meowing.

When everyone else joins me, I take Mason into my arms and sit with him on the porch swing. Pushing with my toe, we swing back and forth, and he lets out a squeal. Hudson digs into a piece of pie, but Kendra sticks to coffee. Theo comes out with his wineglass replenished, and I’m a little surprised. He’d had a glass at dinner as well. Apparently their no-drinking agreement has become one-sided. Kendra eyes him, raising a brow as if to let him know she notices, too.

“Do you see that bird, Mase?” I point to a hummingbird, hovering over the bird feeder hanging from the porch awning. Its feathers are red with shiny blue accents. Mason coos and smiles, his arms lifting as if to grab it.

Hudson finishes his piece of pie, discarding the plate on a table nearby.

“I’ve never understood how you can eat so many sweets and stay thin,” Kendra says, her bottom lip protruding like she’s about to pout. “Remember our trip to Disneyland when you were like eight, and you literally had a dozen churros a day?”