All or Nothing (2 page)

It took Jen only a heartbeat to see where this was going and how a little white lie could be useful. “Maybe I'm not sure.”

Her mother exhaled with impatience. “Then you aren't. There's no middle ground with sexual orientation. And for what it's worth, I don't think you are, anyway.”

It seemed that Jen's inability to bend the truth was one constant in her universe. In a way, she was glad. “How would you know?”

“Hello. Don't you remember who caught you kissing Mark Desilvo behind the garage on your thirteenth birthday party?”

“Maybe I was curious.” Jen glanced up. “Maybe he wasn't very persuasive.”

“That would explain why you cried your heart out every night for three entire weeks when Drew MacPherson broke up with you to date Annemarie Schultz instead?”

“That was pride,” Jen insisted. She rinsed her dishes in the sink. “Drew didn't break my heart.”

“Maybe it was Joel, then?” Her mother asked lightly, continuing before Jen could answer. “Or was it Steve?”

Jen caught her breath and was glad that she had her back to her mother. “You remember everything.”

“I'm your mother. It's my job.”

Jen pivoted to face her mother, feeling annoyed and defensive. “Is there a point to this? I need to get to work.”

Her mother shrugged. “I just asked you a question. Are you gay or not?”

“It seems as if you've worked that out for yourself already.” Jen dropped her mug and plate into the dishwasher, then let the door slam a bit more assertively than she'd meant to do. She felt like a cornered teenager, although that scenario was years behind her.

Maybe moving back home had stirred up a lot of old behavior patterns, like her mother meddling in her life and Jen resenting it. Unfortunately, waiting tables wasn't going to be the key to her financial freedom anytime soon.

Not with those medical bills still unpaid. One of her chemo buddies—they'd had a similar schedule and had quickly realized they were both uninsured—had joked that if the cancer didn't finish you off, the debt would. Now that she was healthy, Jen found the dark joke less funny.

Her mother, meanwhile, persisted in the day's theme of choice. “If you're not gay, when are you going to start dating again?”

“Maybe never.” Jen strode to the door, wanting this conversation over ASAP. She picked up her avocado and her needles and decided that she could stop into that yarn shop on her way to work.

Her mother smiled the sweet smile that made people—other people—underestimate her. Jen folded her arms across her chest in anticipation of a direct hit to the heart.

It was too late to run for cover.

“Steve wasn't worth the trouble...”

“Forget Steve.”

“Maybe you should forget Steve, Jen.”

Jen had to admit that there was truth in that, but she wasn't going to admit it at this particular moment. “Do you want me to move out? Is that what this is about? Because I don't have to get married to move out of here.”

“No, you don't.” Natalie was annoyingly serene. “That was what I had to do, but you have a thousand choices. If you want to move and you want my help in any way, you're welcome to it. But that's not what this is about.”

“You aren't going to tell me that I can't be happy without a man in my life, not you.”

Natalie put her mug down on the table. “No, that's not what I'm going to tell you. We both know that I'm not a really great source of advice when it comes to men, at least when it comes to marrying them. I like men a lot and do think that they do add something to your life, but that's not what this is about either.”

Jen held her ground. Running away probably wouldn't work. Her mother would follow until she'd had her say.

“What then?” Jen asked, hearing surly sixteen in her voice again. “What's it about?” She fully expected a lecture on being purposeful or finding herself or getting in balance again, so her mother surprised her.

“It's about being alone. I don't care who you're with, or for how long, I just hate to see you alone. Maybe lonely.” Her mother smiled softly. “You're too wonderful a person, Jen, for me to keep you all to myself.”

Jen said nothing. She stood there and kept her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She felt her tears rise and wondered how the hell her mother could always see right through her.

Maybe that was her job, too.

Natalie got up and came to stand beside her. She raised one hand to Jen's face and caressed her skin, her words as soft as her fingertips. “Look at your hair. It's come in all curly.”

“I know. Might not last.” Jen's voice was thicker than she'd expected.

“I thought for a long time that I'd never see you like this again.”

“Yeah. Me, too.” Jen met her mother's gaze and the compassion she found there eliminated her frustration.

Just like that. It was a trick of her mother's. Natalie knew how to give Jen's sucker heart a squeeze and she did it now.

Natalie sighed. “And I don't know what to say to you. I don't know what to advise you to do, or even if I should butt my nose into your business, but it seems to me that you're just counting off the days, Jen. You seem to have insulated yourself from the world in a way I don't understand.” Jen dropped her gaze. “It seems to me that—I don't know—maybe you don't believe that you've got this second chance. Or that maybe you're afraid everything will be snatched away again.”

Jen swallowed, painfully aware of what cancer had stolen from her. It hadn't been just her breast. It had been her optimism and her sense of the future and her confidence; all of those had been sacrificed to the knife.

Every night, she looked in the mirror and saw the scar that would never stop reminding her of everything that was gone.

Every day, she walked among people who had no idea what it was like to have the foundation of your world ripped away.

Much less to fear that it could happen again.

Her mother touched her chin, compelling Jen to meet her gaze again. “But you've got this chance, Jen!” she said urgently. “It's all yours. I don't want you to miss out because you're afraid to live.”

Jen took a shaking breath and tried to make a joke. “So, I should find a man and get married and have babies? You sound like Gran.”

“No, no, that's not what I'm saying. I think you should get a date and have sex, lots of sex, because that will remind you that you're alive and well.” Her mother grinned, looking young and mischievous. “I doubt your grandmother ever recommended that to you.”

“No, I think I'd remember if she had.”

“Sex is good therapy, Jen. I can recommend it on the basis of experience. An orgasm always makes me feel better about life, the universe and everything. And the ones you give yourself don't have that same element of surprise.” Her mom smiled and returned to her mug, filling it from the teapot.

Jen had always suspected that other people didn't talk so frankly to their mothers, and even after all these years of open discussion, her mother could still astound her. “So, Natalie's tip of the day is that sex is better than masturbation?”

“Provided you orgasm, yes.” Her mother winked. “Get a date; you'll see. Just let me know if you plan to bring someone home and I'll make myself scarce.”

Bring someone home.
Jen's mind stalled on that concept. The thing was that she and her mother didn't work with the same set of assumptions. “Mom, I'm not going to have casual sex in your house.”

“Then have formal sex. I don't really need to know the details.”

“I mean, I'm not going to have sex with someone unless I'm in a serious relationship.”

Her mother sighed and frowned, then shook her head. “I should never have let your grandmother read you all those fairy tales,” she muttered, then looked up, her face pale and delicate within that halo of reddish curls. There had been a time when Jen had thought her mother must be an angel.

A thrice-married and thrice-divorced angel, with a child from each marriage and one son from before any of those marriages; an angel who was honest, creative, clever, and worked to her own unique moral code.

Maybe a naughty angel.

“Jen, this whole soul mate Mr. Right thing is a notion created by and encouraged by men to ensure that women remain virginal until they're married, then chaste except when their husbands want something from them. It's a notion that serves men, not women, and one that is—or should be—deader than a doornail. You can have sex with someone without an ironclad guarantee that you'll be spending the rest of your life with him. Trust me. I know. Try it at least before you decide it doesn't work for you.”

“Just because I can doesn't mean I want to. I mean, what about sexually transmitted diseases?”

“You can spell condom: I know because I taught you.”

“When I was twelve.”

“It's always better to be prepared.” Her mother rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Jen, I just want you to have some fun.”

“I am having fun.”

Her mother gave her a cutting look. “Do not lie to me.”

“Okay, maybe I'm not having that much fun. I just like to believe that I'm having fun. And I'm knitting up a storm. The avocado is my biggest project yet.”

Her mother heaved a sigh. “Lying to yourself isn't any better than lying to me.”

“But it's not that simple, Mom,” Jen said, feeling dragged into a conversation she wasn't sure she wanted to have. “It's hard to meet people, to meet men.”

“No, it's easy to meet men. Your problem is that you're trying to meet your so-called one and only, and you want to recognize him on sight.” Her mother came to her side again, and put a hand on her shoulder. “You can't always tell a book by its cover, Jen, that's all I'm saying. Just to mix our metaphors here, you need to get into the pool, if you're going to prove that you can swim.”

“What if I don't feel like doing any laps right now?”

“Then when will you?”

“Some day.”

“Prove it,” her mother said, challenge bright in her eyes. “Bring a date to Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Mom! I can't just order up a date, like you order a salad.”

“You don't have to marry him, Jen. Just bring a date, a man who is reasonably presentable, to Thanksgiving dinner at your grandmother's. That's all.”

“No, that's not all. I know you better than that.”

Her mother contrived to look innocent and failed. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Bring a date or else what?”

Natalie grinned. “Or else I'll start fixing you up myself.” Jen knew her horror at that prospect showed because her mother tapped the side of her mug with a fingertip. “There's a very nice, if somewhat hirsute, young man working at the Birkenstock store, for example. I understand he writes poetry...”

“Nooooooooooo!” Jen shouted and flung herself out of the kitchen, only half-joking. She heard her mother laughing, but knew that this was a threat her mother would act upon. Jen made an escape to work as soon as was humanly possible, though her mother still got in one last shot.

“Remember that boy at the natural food store? He's always asking after you...”

Oh no. Not the bass-player-whole-grain-aficionado who never cleaned his fingernails and wanted to walk to around the world to protest the living conditions... somewhere. No, no, no. Anyone had to be better than that. Anyone had to think more clearly than that.

Jen had to be able to find a date somewhere. She'd ask her older sister for help, just like she always did.

Cin would know what to do.

* * *

Jen had one smidgen of time to call Cin before things got crazy. She'd taken a bit too long at the yarn store, seduced by a nubby dark green wool and silk blend that would make perfect avocado skin but which was shockingly expensive. After much deliberation, she bought it—she only needed one ball, after all.

So she scrambled at work to get her tables set. Mulligan's was still empty and her section was ready by five to twelve. Jen knew that the place would be packed by quarter past.

She asked the older waitress Lucy to cover for her and called, praying that Cin would answer quickly.

“Nature Sprouts. How can I help you?”

“Cin, I need your help big time. Mom wants me to bring a guy for Thanksgiving dinner at Gran's or she'll start fixing me up.”

“Oh no!” Cin laughed and it wasn't a sympathetic sound. “Not the guy with the greasy little soul patch at the natural food store? Hasn't he left to walk to Chile yet?”

“I don't know. I don't want to know. Cin, you've got to help me.” Jen tapped her toe and watched the door swing open. Two guys came in and headed for the bar.

Not her section. She was free for another minute or two.

“Cin? I don't have a lot of time.”

“No, you don't. It's next Thursday.” Her sister was gleeful, instead of taking this seriously as Jen thought she should.

“Cin, this isn't a joke.”

“You sure sound worried about it.”

“I don't want to be fixed up. With anybody.”

“You'd rather knit.”

“What's wrong with that?”

“Okay, okay, no spinster-watching-the-world-go-by jokes from me. Hey, I have an idea. Remember how Mom hated Steve?”

“I am not calling Steve,” Jen said firmly. Why did she have to hear that jerk's name so many times in one day? “I am not going to grovel for anything from that...”

“No, no, no. What I'm thinking is that you need to find a guy like Steve.”

“I don't
think
so.”

“You don't have to marry him, Jen. You just need to bring him to dinner once. Three hours, tops.”

“Just enough time for Mom to hate him. What's your point?”