Page 37 of The Through Duet
My mother grinned again as she looked over at Rya.“You’re far more accepting of idiots than I am, dear.”
“I’ve had an incredibly amount of time to get used to it,” Rya replied, and it was wild how she didn’t sound bitter at all, but I knew for a fact that she carried some serious scars from the cruel world around her.
“Well, I hope this doesn’t discourage you guys from attending the Autumn Banquet next week,” my mother said, deciding to move on from the unfortunate topic of society in general.
“We haven’t decided yet,” I told her.“Rya wanted to check the place out first.”
“Smart girl,” my dad said as he shot her a wink.
“Truth be told, I wanted to check out the menu first,” Rya quipped, grinning.“I’m a taco truck kind of girl, and I’d hate to have to starve all night long because they’re serving stuff that I can’t pronounce.”
“I miss good tacos,” my mom sighed.“Half the time, I’m too tired by the end of the day to hunt a good taco truck down, and then when I do have the presence of mind to order some, they’re always cold.”
“You...you like taco-truck tacos?”Rya asked, and you could tell that she was genuinely surprised that my mother would ever eat at a taco truck.
“Are you kidding?They’re the best,” my mother answered.“Well, unless you have a Hispanic grandmother who loves to make all your troubles go away with homemade Mexican food.”
Just then, Kelly came back with our drinks, and still ignorant of her rudeness showing, she got my parents’ orders first, then treated me and Rya like the afterthoughts that we were.Honestly, if Rya decided that she didn’t want to ever come back here, I wouldn’t blame her.
Once Kelly left to go put in our lunch orders, Rya asked, “Can you point me to the restrooms?”
“Oh, I can show you the way,” my mother quickly offered.
“No, please,” Rya rushed out.“No need...I’ll just be a minute.”
“They’re left of the mural,” I told her as I stood up to pull out her chair.“Just go down the hall a bit, and you’ll find them to your right.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed before making her way to the restrooms.
I watched her go until I couldn’t see her anymore, and when I looked back at my parents, they were both grinning at me, and I knew those looks.They always looked at me like that whenever they were proud of me, and so it was clear that they approved of Rya wholeheartedly.
“She’s absolutely lovely, Koen,” my dad said.“An absolute doll.”
“I love her already,” my mother announced.“She’s sweet, spunky, and refreshing.”
Though it warmed me that they liked her, I felt that I needed to be completely honest with them.“Yeah, but she still has a problem with the money.I know you can’t tell now, but she was really nervous when we got here.”
“Just give her some time, son,” my dad advised.“Once she sees that it really doesn’t define us, maybe she’ll feel better about it.”
“And even if she doesn’t, there’s no reason why we can’t make allowances for that,” my mother added.“If she’d rather eat in the city at a taco truck, their food is better than what they serve here anyway.”
This was probably a good time to mention just how much I loved and respected my parents.
