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Mom nods slowly, sipping her drink. “I can imagine that is complicated.”
“It’s not just that I’m dating them,” I say. “They’re seeing each other, too. The three of us are in one relationship together.”
She sits back. I wait, twisting my hands together in my lap.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” I say, too nervous to actually be patient. “But it’s important to me. They’re important to me. Mom, please?—”
She holds up her hand. The server approaches, setting our food on the table. We settle in to eat. Well, my mom does.
“I’m glad you told me,” she says after long, interminable moments.
“Are you mad?” I haven’t touched my fork. Losing my appetite isn’t something that’s happened to me a lot. Or ever. But that’s what’s happening now. I couldn’t eat if I tried.
“Darling, of course, I’m not mad,” she says, looking up, her surprise authentic. “You surprised me, for sure.”
“I know it’s a little unconventional.”
She laughs softly. “It is. But Natalie, you realize, you three are not the first people in the world to have such a relationship?”
I blink at her. “I guess so.”
“Can I assume, since you’re telling me about your young men, that this is serious?”
“Yes.”
“And they make you happy? They’re treating you right?”
“Oh, Mom.” Tears return, catching me completely off guard. I sigh and wipe them away. “Better than I ever dreamed.”
Her smile is bright, her own eyes glistening.
“You must care about them a great deal.”
I bite my lip and nod. I can’t say it out loud. Not yet.
Mom lays her hand over mine on the table again, squeezing briefly, before turning her attention back to her meal.
“Tell you what,” she says after a moment. “If you wanted to make a splash at the ball, showing up on the arms of two handsome men would certainly do the trick.”
I laugh, the knot in my stomach unwinding enough that maybe I can eat after all.
We catch up on small talk, and I tell Mom about running into Tawdra and her friend last week.
“That bitch!”
“Mom!” She never swears. I look around, but nobody seems to be paying attention to us.
“I’m sorry, but honestly, Natalie,” Mom frowns, “what a horrible woman. Thank God you’re free of that horrible man. The things he said to you were bad enough. Now this? How despicable. Why are you smiling?”
I feel so much better. “I love you, Mom.”
“Oh.” She smiles despite her evident confusion. “I love you, too, of course. And of course, now there’s no way you can miss that ball, not if those horrible people will be there, too.”
She’s right. Jeff and Tawdra will be there, along with Tawdra’s petty friend and all the people I used to work with. Sure, some of them have seen me since I lost the weight. A few have even seen me since Moira’s makeover day a few weeks ago.
The satisfaction of showing them all, of being able to say “Look at me now”… the opportunity is too tempting to pass up.
Maybe it won’t work. Maybe Finn and Nic won’t go, especially after that bad scene with Nic’s father yesterday. Not to mention, there’s still somebody out there trying to blackmail him and breaking into the office to steal whatever’s not nailed down. My lovers may not want the attention. I shouldn’t be building castles in the sky, not without talking to them first. I shouldn’t get my hopes up.
