The Perfect Combination

FLASHBACK: SERGIO CONVERSATION WITH NATALIA’S MOM

As I walk down the stairs, I start to think about how I am going to approach the conversation with Natalia’s mom. But when I saw her smile at my re-emergence into the living room I know I have nothing to worry about.

"Come sit next to me" she says while tapping the space next to her.

I do as I am instructed and before I can say anything Mrs. Ramirez speaks again…

"I take it this conversation is about your quest to marry my daughter?" she asks with a smile.

I laugh at her intuition and scratch my neck before I answer her.

"Uhm yeah. It is about that amongst other things"

"Well then let me make one more topic of discussion easier for you. You have my total and complete permission to marry my daughter" she announces as she gives me a kiss on the cheek.

My eyes well up a little at her admission but I manage to squeak out a thank you. She nods her head at this.

"So what else do you want to talk about?"

"Well it’s about a baby shower. Lia says she doesn’t want one but I know she’ll regret it if she doesn’t have one. So I was hoping you could help me organize it?" I ask with a smile.

"I’d love too" she says in a high pitched tone. "So what do you need help with? Because I’m willing to help in whatever I can".

"Well I kind of need your help in everything" I admit rather ashamed. "I don’t really know what goes into the whole shower thing and I tried to get Terry to help me but she says she doesn’t do showers"

"That’s such a Terry thing to say if she doesn’t want to help out" Mrs. Ramirez admits while thinking about things.

After a few moments of silence, she addresses me.

"Where is it going to be held?"

"Well I was thinking we could do it here since Lia isn’t really allowed to move around a lot. And maybe a week from today. So next Saturday?" I say with a smile, hopeful that she will agree.

She gasps at my answer, slightly shocked at the short space of time I’m giving her to prepare.

"This is very short notice Sergio" she says sternly as she wags a finger.

"I know and I apologize. I just…" I try to explain but she waves my answer off.

"I’ll do it anyway. I’m just going to need your full co-operation and your word that you won’t tell Nati anything"

"I cross my heart" I say while doing the action.

"Very well. Go get a pen and paper so we can start listing the things that we’ll need" she instructs as I stand up to get writing material.

~

Keep her away for one more hour. We are almost done setting up.

The text from Mrs. Ramirez reads and I release a deep sigh. Today is the day of the baby shower and even though it was a great idea to begin with, I’m slowly starting to regret it. Not the shower itself but rather how I choose to get Lia out of the house.

We were currently shopping for ‘necessary’ baby clothes and Lia was having too much of a great time to even think about going home.

"Babe don’t you think we have enough things already?" I comment as I motion to the multiple bags that are near my feet.

She narrows her eyes threateningly at me before she says.

"I just need a few more things then we can leave" she says in a huff and I know she is now angry at me.

She continues to shop for another 30 minutes, in silence, and when the cashier rings up the last of her items, she pays for it before handing me yet another bag to carry.

"Aren’t you gonna help me carry some of these bags?" I ask once we are out of the store.

"Sure Sergio let me help you carry those bags filled with clothes. And do you think you can help me carry these twins while we are at it?" she answers rather angrily as she makes a move to carry some of the bags.

I move my hands away from her so she doesn’t have any access to them and she turns to me.

"What is your problem? You ask me to help you carry the bags and when I do you take them away?" she says a little loudly.

"I was just asking for a little help, but considering the load you are carrying" I say referring to her belly "I think I can handle this"

She gasps before narrowing her eyes at me once again and then storms off to the bathroom. I follow behind her but I struggle to keep up as the many bags I’m carrying slow me down. Once I get to where the bathrooms are I wait outside for Lia to finish.

After a long 15 minutes in there she finally emerges from the bathroom with puffy red eyes. When she sees me standing there she says nothing and walks towards the exit which leads to the parking lot.

I follow silently behind her and once I get to the car I load the bags into the trunk and open the passenger door for Lia to sit. Once I’m finished I enter the car as well. I put the keys in the ignition but don’t start the car.

"Uhm why aren’t you starting the car?" she says with a slight hint of annoyance as she folds her arms on top of her belly.

"I’m sorry" I say as I ignore her question.

She snorts at my apology, so I continue.

"I shouldn’t have asked you to help me considering the load you are carrying…"

"Oh My Gosh. Stop calling me fat" she yells during my apology. "I know I’ve gained a lot of weight during this pregnancy but you don’t need to constantly remind me that I’m fat" she says as she bursts into more tears.

When I put my hand around her shoulders she brushes me off and continues to cry harder. I try to calm her down by asking her to stop crying but she starts cussing me out. I keep quiet as I let her take out her frustrations.

When she has calmed down after 10 minutes of continuous swearing, I ask her in a gentle voice.

"Lia, when did I call you fat?"

"You never used that exact word" she says as she wipes her tears with a tissue, "But you implied it when you called me a ‘load’" she says in a huff.

When I hear her answer, I begin to internally reprimand myself for being such an idiot. I should have been a little more careful with my word choice considering, how easily the pregnancy has made her burst into tears.

"Baby" I say as I take her hand in mine, she tries to pull away but I grip it tightly. "I’m sorry if I made you think you are fat. I would never want to hurt your feelings because to me you’ve never looked sexier than you do now" I say trying to be smooth.

Lia doesn’t fall for it as she roughly removes her hand from mine and mutters a whatever. I take this as a sign to leave her alone as she cools off.

But I part of me can’t help but wonder, as I turn on the car and start to make the short trip back home, how our friends and family are going to react when they see a red-and-puffy faced Lia walk through the door to a baby shower she didn’t even want.