Shattered Pieces

Six

Spencer
My heart is racing as Ms. Laura and I sit at the table, waiting for my mom to arrive. In my mind, this was a good idea, but now I'm realizing why my wife normally handles everything with the families. I am in way over my head here.

"This is nice, Spencer. You and I haven't really had a chance to get to know one another since you and Liv got together. I mean, everything did happen incredibly fast."

"The timing felt right for Olivia and me," I answer curtly.

I find Ms. Baker to be a little passive-aggressive. It's no secret that she had different plans for her daughter, but we're three years and a baby in at this point. It's time to move on.

"I've noticed you always say Olivia. I'd think after three years, you'd realize she prefers to be called Liv. Just some friendly advice." She forces a smile in my direction.

"Liv is what everyone else calls her. Olivia is mine. I know exactly what my wife prefers to be called."

We stare at each other, the surface tension daring to break.

"Thanks for the uh... friendly advice." I shoot the same disingenuous smile back at her.

This is going worse than I could've imagined. My wife is going to kill me, and we haven't even gotten to the surprise of the night yet. My phone buzzes, and I pray that it's my mom telling me she's outside or something.

Little Tiger: Why is the bag I packed in the guest room? Why did you tell my father I requested a father-daughter night that I don't recall mentioning? Why did you need to get my mother alone?

I begin typing, but before I can respond, my phone buzzes again.

Little Tiger: I don't even care for your answers. Bring her back, NOW! Then get your crap, or don't. Either way, my mom needs to be back here, and you'll be leaving the moment you drop her off.

I change my mind about responding and instead turn off my phone all together. My wife is already royally pissed off at me. I genuinely don't think I can make it worse.

When I look up from my phone, I finally spot the last person in this party of three. She narrows her eyes at me when she spots Mrs. Baker's blonde hair but continues in our direction anyway.

"Spencer. Laura." My mom greets us as she takes her seat next to me at the table.

Mrs. Baker's hand tightens around the napkin she's holding as she avoids my mom's gaze. I don't see this dinner lasting very long. The best possible outcome is complete silence. The worst case... well, that ends with us being escorted out of this very nice restaurant.

"Look, before this goes completely off the rails, the two of you need to talk. I understand there are real and justified issues between you two, but this feud is taking a toll on my wife and me. Eventually, Grayson will want to know why his grandmas can hardly stand to be in the same room as each other. So, this needs to end today."

"Well, that's easy. You can tell him that the woman he's named after likes to sleep with happily married men. I'm a huge proponent of the truth." She exaggerates her last word before bringing her glass to her lips and taking a sip of water.

"The truth." My mom scoffs.

I know I should put an end to this, but I have a feeling it's about to get good. They need to let it all out.

"For a month, an entire month, I received calls from a bar in Crenshaw asking me to come pick Billy up. Where were you, Laura?"

"Excuse me?"

"His entire world turned upside down when he blew his knee out and lost his professional football career. How many times were you his listening ear? How many times did you offer him words of encouragement?"