by Brandy Bruce
“Explain that to me,” he said gently.
After a moment, she sighed and started talking. “My mother is a talented cook. She can make the most delicious meals out of anything. She’d whip up a gourmet meal out of whatever we had in the pantry when I was growing up. She’s also a perfectionist, which means her expectations for her children are extremely high. I was expected to be a certain weight, which I exceeded. I was expected to be a certain height, which I never reached. I was expected to marry someone right out of college. Unfortunately, no one asked me. I was expected to live out her dreams, none of which included writing a column about food and living alone.”
Leo didn’t like the flat, despondent tone Mandy’s voice had shifted to while talking about her mother. The bright, excited look in her eyes she’d had as they’d shared dinner and laughed back and forth vanished as she talked about falling beneath her mother’s expectations.
“What were her dreams?” Leo wondered. Mandy looked confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Your mother’s dreams for herself—what were they?”
Mandy was thoughtful. “That’s a really good question. And I can’t believe it, but I haven’t really thought about it before. I know she always wanted to travel. But she and my dad never did—I don’t really know why. I’m sure they could have afforded to. My dad’s a whiz with budgets and he loves making plans and budgeting and saving for things.”
She paused for a moment and sighed. “I think she wanted a more glamorous life than the one she ended up living. My dad loves small-town life. And my mom loves him, so they settled in Evergreen. I think she wanted a big, grand house where she could host dinner parties. They have a beautiful home, but it’s older and sort of rustic. And she never hosted any grand parties.
“My mom was one of those really beautiful, popular girls when she was in high school. She was homecoming queen and all that. And in college, she always had lots of friends. She was the girl all the boys noticed. Getting older seems to be difficult for her, though I think she’s still very beautiful. But she equates beauty with youth. She also equates it with being thin. I’m not thin enough for her. And I’ve always looked more like my dad—I’ve got brown hair like him, while my mother has blond hair. I’ve got brown eyes—she’s got blue eyes. I’ve got freckles—she’s got a perfect complexion. She married young. I loved college and ended up getting my master’s in creative writing. She had children young. I’m, obviously, not at that place in my life yet. I’m just an all-around failure in her eyes.”
Leo winced at the pain lacing that statement.
“You’re not a failure, Mandy,” he told her. She placed her napkin on the table and shrugged, keeping her gaze on the tablecloth.
“No, I’m not. But when I look at her, I can see that’s what she’s thinking. And it’s not easy to be a failure in your parent’s eyes.”
Leo nodded with complete understanding. “I know. I’ve been trying to avoid that my whole life.”
“And succeeding, I would imagine,” Mandy said, but her voice held no malice. Leo wished he could somehow erase the hurt in her countenance.
“Mandy, I...”
“If you don’t mind my asking, what happened with your engagement?” she asked.
Leo’s mouth tightened. She couldn’t know, of course, that talking about it never seemed to help. That he always felt worse afterward.
Still, he figured that Mandy was entitled to know at least some of the details—after everything she’d just shared with him
“Well, my fiancée, Carol Ann, and I had dated since our senior year of college. After college she got her master’s in business and spent a few months abroad. She had a lot of goals for herself. We stayed together through all of this. There had never been any doubt, in my mind, anyway, that we would get married. She said yes when I asked her. But six months later she told me that she couldn’t marry me, that she could see our future stretching out in front of her and it wasn’t what she wanted. She took her freedom and left me with a broken heart.”
“Oh, Leo,” Mandy whispered. “That’s terrible.”
“It certainly wasn’t what I would have chosen. But I know it would have been worse for her to have married me and buried those feelings. She wouldn’t have been happy, and I wouldn’t have been happy when those true feelings surfaced. The problem was—I thought we were happy. I wanted to marry her more than anything.”
Leo felt that he was rambling and needed to stop.
What are you doing? Crying to her about how badly you wanted to marry another woman? What’s wrong with you?
They stopped talking as their waiter came by and refilled their cups of coffee. Leo watched as Mandy carefully poured a spoonful of cream into her cup, and then two packets of sweetener. He smiled. It was obviously a system that worked for her. He’d have to remember that: one cream, two sweeteners.
He blinked at the realization that he was thinking ahead, already planning to see her again.
The thought of Carol Ann leaving him still shocked and confused him—he’d thought they had a great relationship. He couldn’t go through that again. And with that thought, Leo pulled back and began to argue with himself.
Slow down. You like her but you hardly know her. You thought you knew Carol Ann and look where that got you.
He glanced down at his watch. “It’s nearly closing time!”
Mandy looked surprised. “Really? I didn’t realize it was so late. I was so caught up in our conversation that I...” Her voice trailed off and she just cocked her head and smiled at him. That smile—hopeful but cautious—made Leo want to keep drinking coffee and talking to her over shared sopaipillas. But it was late, and he worried he’d already shared too much.
“I’ve had a great time, too, Mandy. So, third time’s the charm they say, right?”
She laughed out loud and Leo bit his lip, trying not to think about how much he liked the musical sound of her laugh.
“I think it just might be true in our case,” she said. Leo motioned for their waiter to come over as he signed the credit card receipt.
“I hope everything was to your liking, Miss Seymour,” the waiter said, taking the receipt.
“Delicious as usual, Victor. Tell Javier he outdid himself this time.”
Leo walked Mandy to her car, wondering what she expected of him at that moment. Surely she didn’t want him to kiss her...or did she? He felt more than out of practice when it came to dating etiquette.
Lucky for him, Mandy didn’t seem as anxiety ridden. She took out her keys and unlocked her car door, then looked up at him with a warm smile.
“This was so nice, Leo. I’d love to do it again sometime. But I know you have a lot going on with the restaurants right now. Why don’t you just call me when you might be available to go out again. If you want to, I mean!”
Leo wanted to laugh at Mandy’s outburst. She’d obviously tacked on that last line as an afterthought and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
But he didn’t laugh. “Thanks for understanding, Mandy. And yes, I will definitely call you.”
“Next time, the restaurant is your choice,” Mandy said, a slight tremor in her voice.
Leo had absolutely no idea what to do at that moment. She probably didn’t realize how that little tremor in her voice captivated him. They stood there awkwardly with Leo feeling like a fish out of water. So he did the first thing that came to him.
“Until next time then, Mandy.” He took her hand and kissed it.
Chapter 7
“Did you just tell me that this guy kissed your hand!?”
Mandy giggled at the shriek in Ashley’s voice. The two girls were seated side by side at Starbucks. Mandy had just a few minutes until she had to leave for work, but Ashley had insisted on meeting in person for a rundown of Mandy’s
date.
“Shh! Not so loud, Ashley. And yes, he kissed my hand. It was romantic and charming...and perfect.”
“Did you swoon?”
“People don’t swoon anymore, Ashley. People don’t even know what that word means.”
“It means—”
“I know what it means!”
“So...did ya?”
Mandy elbowed her. “Maybe a little, once I was in my car.”
Ashley burst out laughing.
Mandy thought again of dinner with Leo—the laughter, the food, the way he watched her so intently. It was quite possibly the best date of her life.
* * *
Thursday evening Leo drove as fast as he could to University of Colorado Hospital, listening to Isa talk on speaker phone.
“Dad is annoyed that we brought him in. Mom is wringing her hands with worry, and I’m going nuts trying to calm them both down. How far away are you?” Isa’s tone was calm but Leo knew she was concerned. As a nightshift E.R. nurse, Isa was comfortable in hospitals and probably the member of the family who best understood her father’s disease, but still, Leo knew seeing their dad so vulnerable was hard for her, too.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Maybe a little more. What about you? Are you scheduled to work tonight?”
“Yes, but I can be late. I’m not going anywhere until you’re here. What about the restaurants?”
“They can survive without me.”
“Okay, well, from what I can tell, they’re going to release Dad. I— Oh, here comes the doctor now, Leo. I need to talk to her. See you soon.”
The line clicked off and Leo gripped the steering wheel. He slowed his speed just a tad, relieved that Isa was with their parents and speaking to the doctor.
As he pulled into the parking lot and ran into the building, Isa texted him the room number.
So they are admitting Dad. This can’t be good.
He rushed around the corner and saw his mother and Isa arguing in the hallway.
“Ah, Leonardo,” his mother said. “Tell your sister that I am most certainly staying overnight with your father.”
Isa gave an exasperated huff.
“Mom, you should really go home and rest and come back early tomorrow. I can stay with Dad,” Leo offered.
His mother clucked her tongue and shook her head. “And what of the restaurants? No, you go and I will stay.”
“The restaurants are fine. My staff is perfectly capable of handling things without me for one night. I can stay. You won’t get any sleep on that small uncomfortable cot.”
“Dad wants you to go home, Mom,” Isa said. “I can pick you up first thing in the morning and we’ll come back together.”
His mother frowned but finally nodded. After they all filed into the room and his mother had hugged and kissed their father and tried to insist one last time that she stay overnight, Leo and Isa stepped aside and Isa hurriedly relayed to him what had happened.
“He stood up and his blood pressure dropped dramatically, so he fainted, taking a table down with him. This kind of thing—low blood pressure—isn’t uncommon for people with Parkinson’s, Leo. He cut his arm on the table. Mom was terrified and called me. When I got there, he was having trouble getting up. He was awake but groggy. I managed to get him on the sofa and wrap his arm, but we needed help so I called an ambulance. We brought him here and Dr. Rosas saw him and said she wants to adjust his medication and watch him overnight. He had to have just a few stitches.”
Leo bit his lower lip. Isa reached out and touched his shoulder.
“It’s okay, Leo. These things happen. We’ll get his meds where they need to be and we’ll move on. He’s going to be okay.”
“This time,” Leo pointed out.
Isa remained unflustered. “That’s all we can do. We have to take this one step at a time. I’ll drive Mom home. You go stay with Dad. He’s hungry so order him some food and try to encourage him. You know how frustrating these episodes are for him. He hates feeling so dependent on others.”
Leo nodded. “I need to call the restaurants and check in.”
“Do that. I’ll take Mom home. And call me if anything changes. Anything.” Isa hugged Leo tightly. “Trust me, Leo. Let’s just concentrate on helping Mom and Dad get through this.”
Leo sighed and hugged her back, knowing she was right.
He walked farther down the hallway, pulled out his cell phone and called both Jeremy and Adam to let them know he couldn’t come in. It was a Sunday night and he knew both places would be packed, but Leo trusted Jeremy and Adam to handle things as though he were there. Still, the worry of the restaurants hung over him as he walked into his father’s room.
Sitting up in the hospital bed, Leo’s dad seemed to be trying to figure out how to work the remote control. Leo walked over to him. “Let me have that thing, Dad. I’m sure I can find us an old Clint Eastwood movie or something.” His dad’s hand shook badly as he held out the remote control. Leo took the remote, sat down on the edge of the bed and looked straight into his father’s eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He could see the frustration, anger, helplessness—every emotion that he felt, as well—all over his dad’s face. His father closed his eyes.
“I don’t want this to be happening to me. I don’t want this,” Gabriel Romano, the man Leo respected and loved more than anyone else on earth, stared down at his shaking hands and drew in a raspy breath.
“I don’t want this for you, either. I’m so sorry, Dad. It’s not fair.”
His dad looked back up at him. “No, it’s not fair. That’s okay.”
But Leo shook his head. “It’s not okay. This is not okay.” he couldn’t keep his voice from rising or the emotion from filling his words.
“Son, listen to me.”
Leo didn’t want to hear his dad try to convince him that this was God’s will. That good would come out of this. He didn’t want to hear any of it. But what could he do at that moment? Leave? Argue with his father? Leo gritted his teeth and prepared to hear the platitudes he’d heard all his life. He would listen and be respectful. He didn’t necessarily have to agree.
“I’d rather be grateful for the incredible life I’ve lived, than bitter and angry over things that I can’t control. Everyone knows that life isn’t fair. But here’s what I have—a wife who has been the love of my life, a brilliant daughter who has so much strength and a son who is by my side and will be until the end. That’s more than I could have asked for.”
Leo took his dad’s hand in his, his heart heavy with hurt. “You’re right. I’ll be with you every step of the way. Good days and bad.”
“I know,” Gabriel said. “And I have a faith that sustains me when I need it most. Your faith can do the same, Leo. I know you’re struggling right now. I know this is hard for you.”
Leo didn’t respond.
Later that night, after they’d shared an early meal, Gabriel fell asleep as they watched an old Western on TV. As his father snored softly, Leo lay awake on the cot, listening to the heart monitor beeping and thinking about what his dad had said about things he couldn’t control and life being unfair. Those thoughts inevitably made him think of Carol Ann.
The fear and concern for his father outweighed the anger and bitterness he felt toward Carol Ann. Still, Leo wondered if those feelings regarding Carol Ann were really subsiding, even apart from the distraction of his father’s illness. He wanted what his father had: a devoted wife who loved him with every breath. Children who were committed to their family. A happy home. If Carol Ann couldn’t give him those things—he no longer wanted a life with her.
It was time to move on.
He thought of Mandy.
* * *
“Where are you again?” Mandy asked. She’d been thrilled that L
eo had called so soon after their date, then sad to hear that his father was in the hospital.
“I’m on my way to the Franklin restaurant,” Leo told her. “My dad is home and I’ve got a million things to do—payroll, dinner prep. I’m cooking tonight.”
Mandy could hear the strain in his voice.
“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
“No, but thank you for asking, Mandy. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed our date.”
Mandy smiled. “Me, too. I’ll be praying for your dad, Leo.”
Ten minutes later, Mandy was rushing through the parking lot to reach her car. She glanced upward, knowing that the cloud-covered sky mixed with freezing temperatures was a recipe for a snowstorm. And she fully intended to be home by the time that storm hit. Once she pulled out onto the freeway, her cell buzzed and she pushed the speaker button.
“Mandy, it’s Brian.”
“Brian! Hey, what’s up?”
“Is there any chance you can come out to Evergreen?”
Mandy’s heart jumped into her throat. “What’s happened? Are Mom and Dad okay? What about Samantha?”
“Everyone’s okay, but unfortunately, Mom slipped on ice out on the deck this afternoon and has some pretty painful bruises on her back and tailbone. She’s going to need to take it easy for a few days. And even more unfortunate, Dad had to fly to Dallas today for a business deal. He’ll be back Tuesday. If you could come out for the weekend, that would be great. Sam would go stay with her but she has a really bad cold right now and there’s no way she has the energy to deal with Mom. I can only go over there so often while Sam’s sick.”
“Of course I’ll come,” Mandy said, but even as the words left her mouth, snow started coming down fast, powdering her windshield. If she took the time to go to her apartment, the roads might be too bad to make it to Evergreen. “I’m on my way,” Mandy said before hanging up, switching lanes and leaving for Evergreen.
An hour and a half later, she pulled into her parents’ driveway, glad she’d made the decision to head straight over. Traffic had been heavy and visibility became worse the closer she got to Evergreen. Brian opened the front door and she stepped inside the warm house. Mandy stopped for a moment to compose herself. The sound of crackling wood and the smell of her mother’s favorite vanilla-scented candles were so familiar to her.
