When it rains in the desert

Going Home

I was awoken the next day to the sound of my phone going off at 7 am in the morning. Who the hell decides to call someone at 7 am?

"Hello" i said, clearing my throat from the sound of sleep in my voice.

"Jacob, honey, hello?" I shot up in my bed, feeling panic. Why was she calling so early, something had to be wrong right?

"Mom, is everything okay?" I said trying to sound as calm as possible. "Oh, i'm sorry sweetheart, were you asleep?" she said, realizing she'd scared me.

" well ma, its 7 am on a Sunday, I was washing my cows"

She wasn't amused. "Jacob Mendoza you may be 23 but I am still your mother and you will speak to me with respect." I hadn't heard her use her "mom" voice in a good few years, it was oddly comforting.

" Sorry Ma, yes I was sleeping." I felt Celia stir next to me slowly waking up.  Recently she'd been sleeping over a lot.

"Well, I was wondering, you should come up to Pittsburgh" She paused, waiting for my answer.

"sure Ma, i'd love too, whats the occasion?"

Celia was now sat upright next to me. She kissed me on the cheek and began getting out of bed.

"Well i was thinking, it's about time we met this girlfriend of yours and your birthday is in a few weeks so we could celebrate early." Shit, was she ready to meet my parents ? i mean it had been a little under 6 months.

"I'll ask her if she can make it, but I can't make any promises, okay?" I heard her smiling through the phone, i'd never brought a girl home before, never even considered it. If she'd ever asked, i'd always made up an excuse.

"Okay, let us know when you book the flight okay, We'll pick you up from the airport."

"Okay, Love you, bye" I said eager to end the conversation. "I love you sweetie" .

Celia came out of the bathroom wearing her glasses and my t-shirt. i got out of bed and walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. I breathed her in with her head resting on my shoulder.

"Good morning my darling" I slowly let her go but still keeping my hold around her waist.

"Good morning sweetheart ." i stared at her, ran my eyes over hers, they were green and wide, looked over the nose that sat pointed on her face, just above her lips. Her top lip was fuller than her bottom one.

She noticed my gaze and said "what's wrong?" I pulled her back into a hug, knowing that she wouldn't be the biggest fan of meeting my parents. "Jacob ?" she said, pulling back to scan my face for any signs of what was wrong.

"My mom wants to meet you, she wants us to go over for an early birthday celebration." she looked at me waiting for me to finish. "I said I would let her know, I get it if you don't want to go. " she looked at me for a minute before she laughed and said "why wouldn't I want to go?" I looked at her surprised,

"you want to go?" I asked, about to combust,

"of course i want to go but i have a condition." she said moving closer to me, almost jumping. "road trip" she said smiling like a fool.

"what? we don't know how to drive" I said thinking I was stating the obvious, but I was an idiot as usual, and Celia never ceased to amaze me.

"Hey, speak for yourself, I can drive, i'm sure Aaron won't mind us borrowing his car." I looked at her for a beat too long and said

" you know that's like a six hour drive right?" she nodded and moved back. "okay then, i'll let my mom know". I didn't know how to feel. I mean I was bursting with joy, I was finally bringing a girl home, a girl I was crazy about. But I was so nervous, I mean, this was getting serious, it didn't scare me, it just made me nervous.  But on top of it all I couldn't help but smile because I knew what this meant. it meant that we were at the same point, that she felt the same as I did.