The Moment I Knew

I spent the whole next day out shopping and sightseeing around our little town with my mother, considering I haven’t had much time for her lately. We had eaten lunch at this cute pizza place called “Pazzo's Pizza”, which used to be a part of our family’s tradition ever since I was a little girl. My family ate there every Sunday after church.

“So,” My mom held the door open as we stepped out of the restaurant. “How are things between you and Dylan?”

“Things are fine. Better than usual, actually. Why do you ask?”

“Just making sure you’re alright. You don’t know how hard it is to see your own daughter hurting. It’s one of the worst feelings I’ve ever felt; besides birthing you.” She laughed. My mother’s sense of humor was something no one quite understood. “It just sucks because you see your own daughter hurting emotionally, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do to help. I mean, when you were little, and you got a little scrape on the knee or something, I could put a bandaid over it and take you to get ice cream and everything would be okay. I guess that’s just not how things work anymore.” She took a seat on a bench placed on the outskirts of the neighborhoods children’s park. “Man, things have changed.” She had a small smile placed on her lips, but her eyes weren’t shining with life as they usually do.

“Mom, in all honesty, what’s going on with you? You seem kind of... I don’t know..” I trailed off. “Depressed lately. What’s wrong?” I sat down next to her and placed my hand gently on top of hers with comfort.

“Elle,” When she looked up at me, I could see how torn apart she was. “I miss having you around the house. You used to come over every day, stay the nights sometimes, have dinner with us. I don’t know, I guess I’m just feeling nostalgic now that we’ve had some time to spend together again.” It hit me hard. Did I spend a majority of my time focusing on Dylan? Yesterday Mae seemed to imply that I didn’t have time for anyone else besides him, and now my mother made me feel guilty as if I Mae was right. I mean, I did spend a lot of time with him; but we’ve been together for such a long time, you can’t really blame me for that. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I stood up and took it out, seeing the familiar name flash across the screen.

“Hey.” I said as I answered it in a hushed tone.

“Hey babe. Do you wanna do something tonight?” Dylan asked. I looked over my shoulder at my mother.

“Uh, sure. But can I suggest something that would mean the world to me if you agreed to?” I could tell my voice sounded hopeful. I heard his cute little laugh through the phone and a smile instantly appeared on my face.

“Anything for you.”

A few minutes later I hung up the phone and sat back down next to my mother, grabbing her hand in mine for the second time.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” She nodded her head and motioned for me to continue. “Would you mind if Dylan and I come over tonight and make dinner for the 4 of us?”

“Of course!” Her eyes lit up the way I remembered. She continued babbling about how fun it was going to be and options for food for us to make, but I couldn’t pay attention to a word she was saying. I was too focused on how happy she looked. Seeing her this enthused made me so happy, I couldn’t help but slip out a little laugh. “What’s funny?” She asked, her tone suddenly getting serious.

“Nothing, I swear. I just love seeing you happy. That’s all.” She smiled and pulled me in for a tight hug.

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That night I had received a phone call from Dylan saying he’d be a little late picking me up due to work issues. This wasn’t a huge deal for me, though, considering my mom wanted us there at 4 and I haven’t even showered yet. It was now about quarter past 4 when I heard a loud knock at my door.

“Coming!” I yelled as a trampled down the stairs, stumbling into the door as I struggled to turn the doorknob. I yanked the door open and ran back upstairs to finish getting ready.

“Dang, I thought you would’ve been ready by now. I’m even late!” Dylan laughed. I could hear footsteps walking up the stairs.

“Yeah, well I got caught up with something.” I leaned into the mirror, checking if my makeup looked alright. Dylan walked in as I was observing my face.

“Well someone looks gorgeous this evening.” He leaned his torso against the door frame, looking me up and down. He looked adorable, per usual. He could make a simple article of clothing look incredible. He was wearing blue jeans, a plain grey t-shirt and the black sneakers I had gotten him for his birthday.

“Well that isn’t fair.” I moaned, pointing at him. “Now I have to change.” I marched out of the bathroom and went straight to my closet, searching for something else to wear.

“Elle, you look phenomenal. You always do. You don’t need to change, it’s just dinner with your parents. It’s not a huge party or something.” He walked up to me and took my hand, leading me back down the stairs to the front door. “Let’s go, cutie.”