“Only if you want me to lose my job.”
“We don’t want that. What do you say, Flygirl? Eat or face the firing squad?”
“Let’s get it over with,” she answered.
“Back to your room, then?” Tom asked.
Alegria sighed. “Yes, please.”
Her stomach was in knots by the time the elevator opened on the third floor. Whatever relief she felt by not seeing her parents waiting in the hallway was soon replaced by dread that they were camped out in her room.
When Tom wheeled her in, she saw her mother, but not her father.
“Manon,” she said, nodding her head.
“Maman. You know Mantis, and this is Tom.”
Alegria almost giggled when Tom walked over to shake her mother’s hand.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” he said. “You have a beautiful daughter.”
Her mother looked at her as if to confirm what Tom had said. Why did her own mother make her so uncomfortable?
“Thank you,” she heard her say. “She is very beautiful.”
“Thanks, Maman,” she said, wondering briefly if this was just another crazy dream. Since when did her mother acknowledge something positive someone said about her?
“Bye now.” Tom waved behind him, but then stuck his head back in the door. “I’ll be back later to take you down to the cafeteria if you want.”
Alegria looked up at Mantis.
“I’ll see if I can spring her myself, but thanks, Tom.”
“Your father is arranging to have lunch brought in.”
Now Alegria was sure she was dreaming, and it pissed her off. She really wanted the words she and Mantis had said to each other to be real. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I do love you, Mantis.”
“And I love you. What’s this about?” he whispered.
“I don’t want this to be a dream.”
He smiled and scrunched his eyebrows. “What makes you think you’re dreaming?”
“Did you hear my mother say she thinks I’m beautiful and that my father is arranging for lunch?”
“Yeah,” he grinned, “but did it occur to you how easy that would make it for him to poison me?”
—:—
Alegria was mostly quiet until after her parents left, telling her they’d be back later.
“Thank God they’re gone,” she said once they walked out the door.
Mantis had to admit they made him uncomfortable too, but at least they’d made some attempt to be civil. He certainly wouldn’t have predicted their behavior after his confrontation with her father earlier.