mom did all day. I knew she had a job, but it was a stay-at-home job, and
having her kids gone all the time seemed to kind of defeat the purpose of getting
a stay-at-home job. And so I finally proposed that Jake and I go over to Tyler's
for once. I didn't want to invite myself, but Tyler showed up at our door at
random times and didn't seem to think his house was even an option, so I figured
it was time I spoke up. "Hey," I said as all of us stood around our kitchen counter,
eating chips and guacamole, "How about we go to your place today? I'd like to see
your new house. And I've never really formally met your mom." I had sort of met
Tyler's mom a couple of times in car drives and such, but we had never really
gotten to have an actual conversation. Not that Tyler had ever had a real
conversation with my parents, either- but his mom kind of seemed like the type
of person that I could have a conversation with. Tyler seemed to hesitate for a
moment at this idea, but then he agreed, "Yea, Ok. Sure."
Angela had already met my mom, and she must have been fine with her if she
wanted to "formally meet her". So I had nothing to worry about. Still, I was
worried. I couldn't help thinking about what Angela would have thought if she had
met her years ago, when she was just a teen- when she met my dad, when she had
me. Would she have blushed at her ragged appearance or coughed because of her
cigarette smoke? Would she have tried to keep a safe distance from her when she
was leaning against our van in a gas station, worrying that she might get
pick-pocketed? Of course, these were all things I shouldn't have been worrying
about. She wasn't that girl anymore, that teen smoking under the bleachers. But
yet, I still worried. Because I knew this woman better than almost anyone else,
excepting two other women, both of which would be with me this afternoon. I
knew this woman, and I knew that she really was still that girl. No matter how
much she tried to grow out of that stage, she would forever be that girl.
Tyler's mom opened the door and smiled widely at us. She had on a pair of
sweatpants that made it obvious that she had stick legs inside them, and a loose
dark green wide V-neck top that hung off one of her shoulders, revealing an
extremely accentuated collarbone. My collarbone was pretty dominant, when I
leaned forward just slightly there was practically a little miniature bowl right
there. But this woman's shoulders had deep bowls just standing straight, and the
collarbone itself looked like a tiny tree limb, it stuck out so much. She was small,
probably 5'2'', at least two inches shorter than me. Her hair was wild and messy
but somehow still looked soft. She had thick lips, the kind that you would swear
were injected with collagen if they weren't so perfectly shaped. But the most
prominent feature anywhere on her person were her incredibly blue eyes, which
were huge and sparkled with excitement- I recognized them. I looked back for a
moment and Tyler and Milly both smiled at me as I saw replicas of those eyes in
both of their faces. I had seen her in the car a few times already, but she had
always been wearing sunglasses and huge sweatshirts. "Hello," she said, "Nice to
see you again, Angela." I smiled widely, because it seemed impossible to not smile
at this woman as she smiled up at me. "You, too," I replied.
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