"Why didn't you tell me you were going to Las Vegas?" I sighed inwardly at the high note of irritated anxiety in my mother's voice and adjusted my grip on my desk phone receiver.
I'd barely returned my butt to my chair when the phone had rung.
I suspected if I checked my voice mail, I'd find a message or two from her.
When she got worked up about something, she couldn't let it go.
"Hi, Mom.
I'm sorry.
I planned on calling you at lunch and catching up."
"I love Vegas."
"You do?" I thought she hated anything remotely related to gambling.
"I didn't know that."
"You would've if you'd asked."
There was a hurt note in my mother's breathy voice that made me wince.
"I'm sorry, Mom," I said again, having learned as a child that repeated apologies went a long way with her.
"I needed to spend some downtime with Cary.
We can talk about a future trip to Vegas, though, if you'd like to go sometime."
"Wouldn't that be fun? I'd like to do fun things with you, Eva."
"I'd like that, too."
My eyes went to the picture of my mother and Stanton.
She was a beautiful woman, one who radiated a vulnerable sensuality to which men responded helplessly.
The vulnerability was real - my mom was fragile in many ways - but she was a man-eater, too.
Men didn't take advantage of my mom; she walked all over them.
"Do you have plans for lunch? I could make a reservation and come get you."
"Can I bring a co-worker?" Megumi had hit me up with a lunch invitation when I'd come in, promising to regale me with the tale of her blind date."Oh, I'd love to meet the people you work with!" My mouth curved with genuine affection.
My mom drove me nuts a lot, but at the end of the day, her biggest fault was that she loved me too much.
Combined with her neurosis, it was a maddening flaw, but one motivated by the best of intentions.
"Okay.
Pick us up at noon.
And remember, we only get an hour, so it'll have to be close by and quick."
"I'll take care of it.
I'm excited! See you soon."