Our Reflection

18• Break Your Heart Right Back

Cheryl Blossom POV

The Cheesecake Factory was particularly busy for a Christmas morning.

With a little patience and a few dollars, I easily got a table for three.

Theo and Melissa kept chattering about the gifts they had received the night before, and that just reminded me that I hadn't bought anything for the little ones.

While the two looked at the menu between laughter and comments about some people who were in the restaurant, I took my cell phone out of my pocket and called my dad.

After two attempts, his sleepy voice invaded the other end of the line.

"Good Morning."

"Dad! It's me."

"Marjorie?"

"Tell me you're screwing with me."

"Sorry, Cheryl, your voices has always been very similar."

I rolled my eyes and snorted, listening to what my father would be doing.

"Very well, to what do I owe the honor of the call?"

"I need a favor."

"If you are going to buy a gift for your son and your niece, don't worry, I already did that."

"Really?"

"I know you live stuck in your work, thousands of things in your head and I would certainly forget to buy something for them. Well, your mother and I managed to both think that the extra gifts were yours."

"Wow ... yeah ... thanks, dad."

"Ah, no need to thank. Well, now that you woke me up, I'll try to get ready to go out with your mom. See you soon?"

"Yeah"

"Kisses daughter, Merry Christmas."

Before I could reciprocate, my dad ended the call and I had the device stuck to my ear feeling like the worst person in the world.

I mean, what kind of mother forgets her son's gift ?!

I put the device in my bag just as a waitress of apparently forty years old came to see us with a yellow smile on her face, the kind that the person would not want to be there with.

I watched Theo and Melissa place the order and was content to just ask for still water.

The woman shrugged and turned her back on us, making her heavy way to the kitchen.

"Mom?"

I turned my attention away from one of the figures hanging on the wall and looked into Theo's beautiful blue eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course I am son, why the question?"

"You look kind of airy."

"I'm always like this and ..."

"That's true."

That voice. A low tone accompanied by a mocking laugh.

I closed my eyes at my son, who huddled in his chair and tried futilely to hide behind Melissa.

"Merry Christmas, Cheryl."

"What are you doing here?!"

"My son invited me."

"What?", I jumped up from the chair and some people who were eating near us started to pay attention to the scene, "With what right did you invite this man to lunch with us, Theodore?!"