Plum Sweet

Chapter 6

By the time we finally arrived at my parents' house we were already twenty minutes late. Which was great. I meant it. Now our parents knew exactly what we do before dinners. At least, the dinners we come late to. Together.

"Jeez," I said to Joe as we walked to the front door. "Next time, I'm going to make you not want to have sex. I'm going to put on lots of fat if I have to and put on the most unrevealing dress. Next time we are NOT coming late for dinner. Or whatever." I paused in thought. Joe pulled me in and kissed me. My blood rushed into my cheeks.

"Feel better?" he asked smugly.

"Hmph." I knocked on the door and crossed my arms over my chest. I could possibly try ignoring Morelli. Like, hell, that would work.

"You're thinking about ignoring me," Morelli grinned. Dammit. Read my mind. Again.

"No I wasn't." Before he could say something, my mother had flung open the door.

"Stephanie!"

"I'm sorry, Mum about..."

"No you're not."

I sighed. I wasn't going to win a fight tonight with my mother. Might as well give in. "OK, I'm not that sorry. But I'm still sorry, alright?" I tried to look over her shoulder. "Is Grandma Bella here?" I asked her in a whisper.

"Yes," my mother said loudly. I bet she was doing it deliberately.

Mama Morelli came around the corner. "Joseph!" She walked over and slapped Joe on the head. "You should know better. You knew that you should have came to dinner tonight. On time," she stressed on the last part. She shook her head. "I imagine poor Stephanie had to put up with you. And your bad driving." She evil-eyed Joe.

"How do you know about how I drive?" Joe asked his mother. His jaw twitched slightly. I could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"How do I know!" Mama Morelli snapped. "I've seen you drive. Just because you're a cop doesn't mean you can speed whenever you like. I've seen you whip around corners and across lanes and everything." Joe couldn't hold on any longer. He smiled.

Mama Morelli slapped him. And it was probably a bit harder that usual because Joe started to rub his head.

"Are you OK?" I asked him, stroking his arm.

"Yeah. I'm pretty much fine." Morelli smiled down at me. "Although it is still a tiny bit sore."

"Come in," my mother broke in. "I don't want you to catch a cold."

The dinner went wrong - badly. Grandma Mazur managed to dress just as normal. In her standards, it was normal. And I'm not going to go into detail what she wore. The only important thing was that upside-down pineapple cake was for dessert. My mother managed to compose herself and stop herself from scolding me off when I rushed off to the bathroom.

All through dinner my mother was giving Joe looks and Mama Morelli was giving me looks. I felt the tiniest of the tense atmosphere. Grandma Bella was eyeing me, too, which just added to my frustration. Finally, Mama Morelli spoke.

"Well, Joseph," she said slowly, putting down her knife and fork as she spoke. She glanced at me and then fixed her eyes on Joe. "It's been quite a while..."

"No, Ma," Joe said firmly.

"It's time to do so," she persisted. Then she sighed. "I don't know how to do this, Joseph. But you have to..."

Grandma Bella stood up so suddenly her chair fell backwards. "You!" she shrieked, pointing her finger at me. I widened my eyes and pushed me seat an inch away from the table.

"Grandma, sit down," Joe said, standing up and leaning across the table to face his grandmother. His hair cast a shadow onto his face, darkening it. You could almost swear that he killed people for a living.

"No. YOU sit down." Grandma Bella crooked her finger at her eye. "I'm having a vision. And it concerns you." Her finger concentrated on me again. My breathing stopped.

"Stop trying to scare Stephanie," Joe said, in what seemed to be a weak defence for me. "Leave her alone."

My mother pursed her lips, but didn't say anything. My father put more upside-down pineapple cake into his mouth, looking very intent on eating. Mama Morelli shifted uncomfortably in her seat. I cleared my throat.

"Grandma, sit down." It was Joe's last request nicely.

Grandma Bella closed her eyes and dropped into her chair. A moment later she struck a finger into my face and cried, "You're pregnant! You're trying to hide it from Joseph!" Her tone started to turn from uncertain to angry. "Do you hear me? You don't tell lies to my Joseph! You're pregnant! You can't hide the facts from me, you -"

"Grandma!" Joe shouted at Grandma Bella and slammed his hands on the table. I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes. I counted to ten, slowly, and then opened my eyes. Grandma Bella was exiting the dining room with Mama Morelli helping her. Joe had sat down with a dark scowl on his face. I touched his arm gently.

His head jerked up at my touch and he smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, Steph," he murmured. He sighed, turning to me and held my hand to his lips. "I suppose my mother is right. I need to settle down." He dropped me hand back onto my lap and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Do you want to go home now?" my mother asked anxiously. She glanced at me and answered her question herself. "I'll pack some cake for you, if you want." She hurriedly stood up and walked briskly into the kitchen. I patted Joe's arm with hope it would comfort him a little bit, and called, "No, it's alright. I can do one night without taking home dessert." My mother appeared in the doorway and clasped her hands together.

"Well I guess we must be going now," I said quickly. Joe nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. Which I took was not good. Joe stood up and pushed the chair back in place.

"Thanks for the dinner, Mrs. Plum," he said, trying his best to smile. "I'm sorry for the things that..."

"It's alright," my mother replied in a rushed tone. "It's no problem at all."

I smiled at Joe and slipped my hand into mine. He looked down at me and squeezed my hand gently, kissing me lightly on the forehead.

On the way to his house, I heard my cellphone ring. Joe looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

I rolled my eyes and put the phone to my ear. "Hi, Ranger."

I sensed Morelli's eyes on me as I spoke.

"Hey, Babe."

"What's up? Calling at this time." In fact it was a stupid comment. It was only nine.

"I'm at the airport." A pause. "I'm picking Julie up. Do you think she can get to you tomorrow?"

I looked at Morelli and put my hand over the phone. "Can Julie come tomorrow?" I asked as nicely as I could.

Morelli sighed. "Yeah, sure... she can use the guest room. Remember your promises." Morelli can be a jerk sometimes.

I put the phone to my ear again. "Yeah, she can. Joe's fine with it, so am I."

In fact, I was not fine with it. I hadn't even given a thought to what I should do with Julie. She's ten, I thought. Ten year olds aren't that hard to handle.

"Thanks, Babe," Ranger said. "I'll get her to you at around about two in the afternoon. I'll take care of lunch that day, so don't worry." He hung up.

Was there one time where I hung up before he did? I rolled my eyes and put the phone back into my bag. Morelli turned into the driveway, and stopped for me to get out.

I walked over to the front door and bounded up the steps with the strange energy I always got when I was home. There was a little sticky-note. I peered at it and pulled it off the door.

"You can run, but you can't hide. While the cat's away, the mice will play."