“Are you wondering whether one of my parents is remarried?” Luke asks with a laugh.
“Sort of,” I confess. “It’s a pretty huge age difference.”
“Yeah, it is,” Luke says. “My parents had me young.”
“And they decided to have more kids later?”
“Yep,” Luke says. “They divorced and remarried each other. Then had the twins.”
I must still have a funny look on my face, because Luke keeps talking.
“I know it’s weird. Want to hear the saga?”
“Yes,” I say enthusiastically.
“Okay,” Luke says, smiling. “So, we lived in Chicago when I was born. My parents were high school sweethearts. They got married young, right after graduation. Can you imagine?” he asks, but doesn’t let me answer.
“Anyway, they had me when they were twenty-five or something. They were superpoor, so we lived in my grandparents’ basement. My dad was in law school and my mom took care of me and worked nights to help pay for it. I guess they were pretty happy despite the no-money thing.
“After school my dad got recruited by a big law firm in New York. We moved there when I was around five or so.”
“You lived in New York? That’s so cool,” I say, remembering the city from visits I’ll have as an adult. I can’t wait to go.
“Yeah, it was. I mean, I was young, but I remember a lot of it. My mom used to take me around the city. It was really fun. You know how some childhood memories just stick with you?”
“Yeah,” I lie, trying to plaster a nostalgic look on my face. Luke pauses and smiles at me. He looks like he wants to ask something, but he doesn’t. Instead, he continues his story.
“Anyway, the fun didn’t last long. Dad made partner and my parents started fighting because he spent a lot of time at work. Like, a lot. I don’t remember him being home much for a few years.”
At least you remember him at all, I think.
Luke exits the freeway and turns right, toward the newer housing development across the highway from mine. I am happy to discover how close we live to each other.
Luke goes on. “So when I was about ten, they got a divorce. For two years, I didn’t see my dad at all. He sent cards on my birthday and stuff…”
Cringe.
“… and I know he paid child support. We moved to Boston. My mom took a job at a furniture store. She worked a ton and so I spent the summers with my aunt and uncle.”
Luke pauses again, as if he’s waiting for me to say something. Unsure how to respond, I look back until he is forced to return his eyes to the road. He continues.
“Then one day Dad showed up with flowers and begged Mom to take him back. Eventually, she did, and he took a job in Boston at a smaller firm and came home at five thirty every night. It was like New York had never happened.
“It was all pretty weird, but that’s my parents. Then one day they shock me with news that they’re having twins.”
“Wow,” I say when he’s finished.
“I know, sorry. That was really long and boring,” Luke says.
“No, not at all. It sounds like a movie.”
Luke laughs and says, “Oh, I’m sure we all have our movie dramas,” in a way that makes me think he can see into my soul.
“What about your parents?” he asks casually.
“My mom sells real estate,” I say, eyes on the houses we’re passing.
“What about your dad? What does he do?”