Aww man. “Dad…mom’s gonna be crushed.”
“Yea, that’s why I called you.” He sighed. “I’m hoping that gift you bought her will cushion the blow.”
I raised mom’s gift with my left hand as I took a look at it. But then the subtext in dad’s last sentence suddenly dawned on me. “Wait a minute. You want me to tell her?”
“Do me this favour, bud.”
Aww man. Could this day become any more challenging? I sighed and dropped my head before I said, “Fine.”
“That’s my boy. I’ll make this up to you. I promise.”
“Cool.”
“Hopefully, I’ll see you in a month’s time…when business is a little bit better. Oh yea and Nick, tell Rachel I said I’m sorry.”
Once I said goodbye to dad and put my phone away, I pulled out a cigarette and sparked it in my car as I mulled over how I would break the news to mom. I also called Matt and told him I wouldn’t be able to make it to the party. I thought it was a better idea if I spent the night with mom, instead of her having to sit at home alone on the night of her anniversary.
I felt so sorry for her. And right then and there I made myself a promise; I’d never do what dad was doing to mom, to whoever my future wife would be. I extinguished my cigarette, took a swing of my Red Bull and grabbed mom’s gift before I climbed out of the car. Then I headed back upstairs, took a deep breath and exhaled before I knocked on mom’s door.
“This is gonna suck,” I muttered.
As soon as mom told me she was decent, I pushed the door open and stepped into her bedroom. I found her sitting at her dresser, dressed in a large light green robe. In addition, she was fixing her makeup in the mirror. I swallowed my spit and walked further into the room.
“What’s that in your hand, hun?” Mom placed her blusher back inside her makeup kit as I took a seat on the edge of her king-sized bed.
“Umm.”I rubbed the back of my neck. “…It’s umm…it’s a, it’s…it’s-”
“Honey, spit it out.” She picked up her eyeliner and began applying it as I took a deep breath and cleared my throat.
“It’s a necklace…a diamond necklace.”
“A diamond necklace?” Mom continued to apply her eyeliner. “What are you doing with a diamond necklace? Planning on giving it to the girlfriend you never told me about?”
“No. It’s…it’s for you.”
“For me?” She put her eyeliner down as she turned to face me. She was smiling in a subtle manner. “Since when has it been customary for a son to buy his mother an anniversary gift?”
Aww man. I hated having to do this with all my heart. “I didn’t buy it for you. Well, technically I did, but…it’s not from me.” I shook my head.
Mom grew a confused facial expression. Then it turned into one that looked like a light bulb had suddenly switched on in her head. “No,” she started shaking her head, “no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…tell me…your father did not cancel on me.”
I opened my mouth to confirm that he did exactly that. But I couldn’t bring myself to say it, so I just dropped my face into my hand. The room seemed to grow more silent with each long second that went by. You could hear a pin drop.