“What did
James give you for Christmas?” His mother asked.
“A
necklace.” James told her.
His
father smiled conspiratorially at Marie and raised an eyebrow. “Not a ring?”
Marie’s thoughts went straight to the last time she and James had discussed her desire to use adoption to make a family, and how he had, out of what she assumed was a combination of nervousness, naiveté and immaturity, shut down the idea right away. Disregarding one of her lifelong goals was not the reaction she’d expected, and it had briefly pushed the breath from her lungs.
Marie’s thoughts went straight to the last time she and James had discussed her desire to use adoption to make a family, and how he had, out of what she assumed was a combination of nervousness, naiveté and immaturity, shut down the idea right away. Disregarding one of her lifelong goals was not the reaction she’d expected, and it had briefly pushed the breath from her lungs.
She met
the eye of her boyfriend’s father and jerked her thumb at James beside her. “Psh, from Mr. Commitment over here?”
The joke
earned her a laugh.
“The gift
was dorky, a nerd necklace,” Marie sat up a bit straighter. “And it was all his
idea!”
James said nothing to imply
discomfort or to defend himself. He didn’t squeeze her knee to make her flinch.
His shoulder, relaxed as ever, barely brushed hers as he reached for his fork
and the dinner conversation changed. Nothing was different and she wasn’t sure
she liked that.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Taken from a real moment in my thing with Tom.
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