I
realized that Luigi’s was the only Italian restaurant on the island
and it was my favorite kind of food. But, despite the fact that
they had the best calamari around, I wasn’t too sure I’d be eating
much of anything at all that night.
I was surprised my mom didn’t offer to take
us out to dinner at a restaurant on the mainland since it seemed to
be Brian’s favorite thing to do lately; hop on the ferry and spend
the day in and around Portland, even in the freezing temperatures,
while I sat home with my burden of a brother.
I finished getting ready and went downstairs
to wait for our ride. I wished my mother would have driven the
three of us and that we could have met Brian there instead.
I decided to go outside to get the mail,
hoping to get a birthday card from my grandmother. She always made
sure to send me a card right on time, so that it would arrive at my
house on the exact day of the anniversary of my birth. If it fell
on a Sunday, she would send the card on Saturday and I’d have to
promise not to open it until the next day.
That’s what my grandmother would always say
to me about birthdays. “You only had one birthday, Willow. The rest
are the anniversaries of that very special day on which you were
born.”
I loved my grandma and wished we could have
lived closer to her and my grandpa, even though his health wasn’t
too good lately. She was always loving and attentive with James and
me and I missed her more recently, now that my mother’s affection
seemed to be aimed elsewhere.
I shivered against the cold and saw that the
mailbox was empty. Either the mailman hadn’t come yet or my mom had
already gotten it. I’d have to ask her later.
As I opened the front door to go back inside,
the glare of a pair of headlights shone and settled on our
blacktop. Rather quickly, the lights turned off along with the
car’s engine.
I closed the door behind me, grabbed my
heaviest winter coat and yelled upstairs to my mom, “Mr. Brian
Roberts is here!”
• • •
My mother took forever to get ready, forcing
me to make painful small talk with her boyfriend. James, as usual,
was entranced in his own video world.
“Happy Birthday, Willow!” Brian bellowed as
soon as he ducked and entered the family room.
“Thanks,” I said and wished I could have been
struck with some sort of stomach virus at that very moment. Then I
would have had no choice but to run upstairs, throw up, climb into
bed and proclaim that I needed to stay in for the rest of the
evening. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so lucky.
Ironically, my stomach rumbled loudly and
Brian pointed to it and grinned.
“Sounds like someone’s hungry,” he said
proudly, as if he were a brilliant gastroenterologist who had just
made a life-saving diagnosis.
I forced a smile, turned away and rolled my
eyes, knowing that Dr. Roberts was actually right. The growling and
churning were due to the fact that I hadn’t eaten a thing all day,
except for the lone Devil Dog I wolfed down right before my
shower.
Finally my mother slowly, and with great
care, descended the narrow old stairs, head held high, as if she
were royalty.
I had never seen a grown man gush so much.
“Laura, my dearest, you look absolutely divine.”
My mother blushed. “Why, thank you, Brian.
You look very handsome yourself.”
At that very moment, I wanted to throw up,
with or without the stomach bug.
• • •
We finally climbed into Brian’s car and
headed over to the restaurant. I assumed it was really crowded
inside because we couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere close to
the front entrance.
“Can’t you drop us off at the door?” James
whined.
My mother snapped her head, as well as her
words, at my brother. “No! Not tonight!”
Brian parked at the out-of-business gas
station next door and we all headed toward Luigi’s. I walked a few
yards ahead of them. I wanted to get in and out of there as soon as
possible and, in between, try to force some kind of food down
Robert & Lustbader Ludlum