Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
But tonight is about Mom, and as the elevator doors open and we cross the lobby, I get to give her a little of her own medicine.
"Surprise!” the two women say in unison.
“Maggie! Melinda! What are you doing here?” Mom says, looking from them to me and then greeting them each with a hug.
Melinda answers quickest. “Raven told Maggie you were coming down as a surprise, so we did a little sneaky girls’ trip planning too. I hope it’s okay we invited ourselves to your dinner, Dianne?” She gives Mom a warm look, truly okay if Mom says she’d rather it be just the two of us.
But Mom loves Maggie, treating her like a second daughter, and Melinda is basically her partner in crime, if the crime is shopping a little too often and having a Cosmo or two too many. Melinda is more a Nordstrom’s and Barney’s type, and Mom is strictly TJMaxx, but somehow, they get along well with the common denominator of their daughters being friends.
“Of course you’re welcome. The more, the merrier,” Mom tells them. “I’m excited to see you too.”
“Have you had fun?” Maggie asks Mom.
Mom sighs in bliss. “Oh, my goodness, yes. We had room service and went to the park this morning. Then, this afternoon, Raven took me to get this massage where you’re floating in water. What was that called again?”
“Watsu massage,” I reply, exchanging looks with Maggie, who gives me a little smile. She spotted me that one, giving me a coupon she’d gotten from the last time she went to her favorite salon. “And you had fun, admit it.” Mom had serious doubts about that, saying it was going to feel like a weird swimming lesson, but afterward, she’d been wigglier than a bowl full of Jell-O.
"I did,” she agrees with a laugh.
“Good. I would love to hear more about it over dinner,” Melinda says, reminding us that we should go if we want to make our reservations.
We’re going to a steakhouse in the theater district I know Mom will enjoy. It’s likely she’ll try to pay, especially when she thinks I paid for the hotel, but I don’t want her to do that. I’d love to be able to treat her to a nice meal while she’s in town. Unfortunately, I haven’t actually received my first paycheck yet, so Maggie offered to spot me and I promised to pay her back as soon as I get paid. In the end, Melinda will probably snatch the check and it will be a moot point, but I’m glad to have a plan in place regardless since my funds are running lower than they ever have before.
We take a taxi to the restaurant, and Mom and Melinda chat the whole way, rehashing the latest season of a Housewives show they both watch before switching gears to swap dessert recipes. I can’t help but crack up a bit as Melinda calls one of Mom’s classic poke cakes a ‘brilliant idea’. Delicious? Yes, absolutely. Brilliant? I’m not sure about that, but Mom’s beaming so I’m not gonna pop her bubble.
“Do you all come here a lot?” Mom asks as she sits down at our table.
“I think I’ve been here with John before,” Melinda says, mentioning Maggie’s dad, who stayed home to give us a ‘girls’ night on the town’. She looks around and confides, “Probably for some boring business meeting he had. These days, I don’t have to go to many of those dreadful things. Times change, and meetings are in coffee shops and tea houses more often than over white tablecloths.” She looks pleased at that, then laughs as she shares a story. “Oh, my goodness, he went to a meeting the other day, and they gave him boba tea!” she tells us. “He said that when he took a drink, he thought he’d swallowed a crown and nearly choked himself trying to get it back up, only for it to pop in his mouth. Suffice it to say, he was not a fan.”
She and mom laugh in full agreement with Mr. Levine’s assessment while Maggie and I share a look because we like boba tea.
A waitress comes over, taking our drink orders and telling us the evening’s specials, and when she gives us a moment with the menu, as I expected, Melinda tells us, “Dinner’s on me this evening, ladies. No arguments, it’s my pleasure.”
Maggie doesn’t say a word, knowing it’s futile, and I stay quiet, grateful for the gift. But Mom, who grew up with a lot of pride in self-sufficiency because of Gramma’s financial situation, opens her mouth, but then closes it and nods. “Okay. But you will be getting on my jelly and cookie list.”
“Jelly and cookie list?” Melinda repeats, and Maggie grins. “You know about this, Maggie?”
“You’re in for a treat,” Maggie says. “Mama Hill makes the most amazing plum and apricot jellies that she sends to Raven, and the Christmas cookies? They’re worth the New Year’s Resolution, I promise you.”