“Thanks,” she whispers, her face torn between astonishment and bewilderment.
“You have a good day now,” the sweet, gnarled old man says before he slowly shuffles off with his cane.
I’m still trying to put an end to the eye leakage with the wad of napkins and much softer tissue when a masked server comes over. She’s wearing all black like all the servers, her hair is swept up in a dark ponytail, and she’s holding a plate with a slice of blueberry pie on it.
Hmmm. Something that’s not lobster.
“In my experience, it’s always better to eat your feelings. This one’s on the house,” she says, leaving the plate there with a sympathetic smile.
A second server—a blonder, middle-aged woman wearing an identical outfit—sets a massive platter down in front of us. I can only eye the pile of lobsters as well as the small bowls of garlic butter set on it like garnishes in absolute speechlessness.
“Also on the house,” this server says sweetly. She studies us. I think she’s older, just based on the fact that her hair is gray, but with everyone dyeing things in strange colors now, I’m not entirely sure. One thing I do know is that she has a nice smile. It makes the hole in my belly feel not so hole-ish. “Don’t worry. You look like you’ll work it out. Things often seem rosier after a big feed of lobster. It gives you the calories to fight off the blues.”
I can kind of see why Luna wanted to come here. Not that she’ll ever be able to have a repeat experience. She’ll probably forever be known as the lady with the secret baby and the asshole ex-boyfriend she made cry. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t pop up in some of today’s reviews of the place. This has gone so freaking sideways.
When I glance around, a little more under control now, I notice a few people shaking their heads. Some are giving us sympathetic looks, a few are glaring at us, and some are even giving Luna the stink eye, which just won’t do. I really don’t need things to get worse.
I clear my throat, swipe at my eyes again, and say in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “You’re right. Everything you just said was absolutely correct. I did all that. You couldn’t have thought any different because I was an ass. The biggest ass. I said and did all that, and I made you feel like less than nothing. You had no reason to tell me or think I would want to be a part of it. You did what you thought was best, and you did it out of love. Thank you for being the most amazing mother to our son, even before he was born.”
I’ve stunned her. Now her eyes are welling up, but she’s better at controlling the leakage since she just shoots her gaze up to the lights. I try and come up with a plan on the spot. As in, how I see my life playing out now that I found out I have a son. I truly, truly want to know him. I don’t know how Luna is going to take it, so I’m going to have to slowly break her into the idea.
Suddenly, her phone rings sharply between us, and it takes us both a second to realize the ringing sound is coming from her purse. She snatches up her phone, and either the call is one of those save-me calls from a friend which she timed exactly right for the perfect escape, or it’s truly important because she immediately puts it up to her ear.
“Charlotte. Yes, I…yes. Wow. No, no, I can handle it. What! Tomorrow? Oh. Oh, wow. No, don’t worry. I’m not mad. I understand these things happen. If your parents want to move, there isn’t anything you can do about it. I get that last-minute stuff sometimes comes up. Yes, and no, we’ll be fine. We’ll miss you too. We’ll do something special this afternoon, just you and Milo as a send-off.”
While Luna continues talking to Charlotte, which my brain processes to be her nanny/babysitter, I realize that just possibly, this is the opening I need. As soon as Luna hangs up and sets her phone down, I reach for a lobster, set it on my plate, and launch into the new fly-by-night plan.
“Your nanny just quit,” I say somewhat hesitantly because I don’t want to be wrong about that and look like an even bigger donkey than I already am. Not after the entire restaurant just saw us air out some extremely dirty laundry, then watched me break down and blubber all over myself.
Luna nods. Her eyes flick to the nearest window before she shakes her head, but I don’t know what that means. Luckily, she clarifies, saying, “Her parents are moving. Her dad got a last-minute job, so they’ll need her at home to help pack. They only have a week to be out of the house. I’m guessing they put it up for sale yesterday, and it already sold. Crazy. Anyway, uh yeah, so I’m now without childcare. Thank goodness I run my own business, and I’m my own boss, which means I can be flexible. It’s happened before. I can watch Milo until I find someone else to do it. It should only take a couple of days or a week. I’ll be fine.”