Know I love you

10. Dinner with the parent

It's around 5:58 when I hear Mum and her new partner arrive, I hear her light knocks on the door I thought I'd dress up so I'm wearing a dress that has pink roses on it, My hair is curly and I have a bit of makeup on. I open the door and Mum looks beautiful she's wearing a silky red dress with her hair flowing behind her, I hug her and invite them in.

"Hello darling, you look beautiful," she says sweetly.

"Thank you Mum so do you." I reply as sweetly as possible.

"Dani this is Jacob. He's my new partner."

"Hello Danielle, It's nice to meet you"

"You can call me Dani Jacob," I say. My Mum looks at me confused, I can't figure out why. 

"Well dinner is ready, If you wanna come through," I say. But as we are walking towards the dining room Buddy comes running out and jumps up onto Jacob.

"He obviously likes you," I say.

Buddy says hello to Mum and she's growing to love him as he licks her face and cuddles her.

It's really sweet.

We finally get to the dining room and I put Buddy in the living room so that he doesn't disturb dinner. We sit down and Mum looks at the food.

"You made all this Dani?" She says.

"Yeah, spent an hour and a half making all of it," I look up at her. "I hope you enjoy it."

We all grab a plate and fill it up with mountains of food. We sit there and enjoy the food I finally get a good look at Jacob. He's quite handsome; he has neat brown hair and grey eyes. His eyes intrigue me.

"So Dani, how have things been since we had lunch?" Mum attempts to start up a casual conversation. 

"It's been really good, Buddy had a bit of an accident...he got into my chocolate."

"Oh no!" They both exclaim. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine yes." I smile. "I had a bit of an accident as well, I tripped over running to Buddy when he was sick in the backyard: I had to get 14 stitches." I say worried about how my Mum is going to react.

"Oh, are you okay?" She asks, not as worried as I thought she would be,

"Yeah it's fine, So Jacob tell me about yourself."

"Ok well, I'm widowed like your Mother," he says not knowing about my past with my Father.

My fists are clenching.

My anger is seeping through.

I miss him.

Jacob looks at me with worry, "I'm sorry Dani, I... I.. didn't want to upset you."

"It's fine really." I look away sharply, I can't cry in front of these people. 

Mum looks at me with concern, I keep eating, looking down. I tell Mum and Jacob about my job and we laugh and eat. I really enjoy this.

We finish dinner and I clean up while Mum sits with Jacob and slowly falls more in love with him. I find it cute how happy she is, I'm really proud of how far we've both come.

We sit down in the living room and chat a bit more until Mum finally asks the million-dollar question, "Any guys come into your life?--Since I last saw you, I mean."

"Umm maybe...there's this one guy, I keep bumping into him a lot." I say.

Mum looks at me excitedly, "Oh Dani, that's great I'm so happy for you!"

"Mum I've met him twice, were not married!" I laugh uneasily.

We laugh a bit more and I turn some mellow music on, Mum looks at me happily but directs her eyesight toward the envelope.

Fuck.

She looks at me sharply, all the happy feelings vanishing as the room temperature drops ten degrees. "Danielle, what's in that envelope?" Jacob is now looking at it too.

"Danielle bring me the envelope please."

I try to fight my battle telling her it's none of her business, but I give up after I see that look on her face and give her the envelope. She opens it and all the papers fall out, her gaze follows something as it falls to the ground. 

The photo.

I watch her look at it, Jacob looks at the registration papers and the rest of it. I start to sink into the couch as Jacob shuffles through the papers but Mum is still sitting, staring at the photo.

"Danielle I think we should go."

"Mum let's talk about it--please?"

"No...No....I can't do it--I can't--I thought you got rid of that car." She sets her gaze on my face. "You lied to me Danielle again." 

"Mum. The envelope was dropped off at my door last night, I had no idea these papers or that photo still existed! I have nothing to do with any of that life anymore!" I say all this trying to calm her down.

"Jacob come on, I'm tired," She says, I can tell she desperately wants to leave, I start to cry and Mum gets up and grabs her coat and leaves. I follow them and try talking to Jacob.

"It was nice to meet you." I say desperately.

"It was lovely to meet you too Dani," he says comforting Mum with a hand on her back. 

I watch them leave, and I start to sob they drive off and fall to the ground. Sobbing and sobbing until all I see is darkness. But then, with a sharp, blue light: I see headlights.

I know those headlights.

I know that engine.

I know what's about to come around that corner,

and it won't be good.

For anyone.