Sabrina looked again towards the door of her favourite restaurant to see Boone and Shannon entering. On time, as usual, she shouldn't have questioned Boone's ingrained sense of good manners.
She was pleased to see that they looked like they'd made some sort of effort on their appearance. At least they didn't look like a couple of extras from some action/adventure movie, dressed for hiking through the jungle. Although Shannon wore shorts, instead of the customary skirt she would have worn before, and Boone had on a t-shirt instead of a collared shirt, but at least the sleeves were still attached to this one.
She was also pleased to see that they had brought Andrew with them. Even from across the room she could see how much he'd grown in the month since she'd last seen him at their wedding. But then, that only made sense, he'd only been five months then, and now he was six.
She'd never really liked babies, they were messy and noisy, but Andrew was different. Although he made noises like any baby, she had never actually heard him cry, which, even she with her limited experience, knew was highly unusual. When asked about it, Shannon, in another one of those cryptic moments, had replied that he had learned from the island that, drawing attention to yourself, by making loud noises, was not a good thing. Why in the world did they keep talking like this island was an entity, anthropomorphizing a random land mass? And why would they think that a newborn would learn something so bizarre?
She noticed that they continued to look more relaxed and happy each time she saw them, as time carried them farther away from their island experiences. They, on the other hand, noticed that she looked increasingly more harried and exhausted each time they saw her, as time carried her closer towards a stress-induced heart attack.
As they reached the table Boone leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Hello, mother."
"Hello, Boone dear." She held out her hands to take Andrew from him so she could give him a hug and a kiss, which she quickly did, handing him back to Boone.
Shannon smiled warily at her from across the table. "Hi, Sabrina."
"Shannon." Sabrina held up her hand, beckoning Shannon closer. Shannon stared at the upraised arm, like it was a cobra waiting to strike, but obediently went around the table to give her a kiss on the cheek, quickly returning to where she'd been, on the other side.
The attentive wait staff had brought a high chair for the baby while they'd been greeting each other. Boone slid Andrew into it, carefully fastening the safety harness.
Sabrina started the conversation, "So, how did it go at the car dealership?"
They proceeded to order lunch, chatting about mundane events as they ate. When they were done, Shannon excused herself to take Andrew to the ladies room to change his diaper.
Sabrina turned to Boone. "I see you have a new bracelet, may I see it?"
He held his left arm out to her, showing her the piece of jewelery.
"No Boone," she said in an exasperated tone, shaking her head, "I meant for you to take it off so I could look at it."
"Right." He put his hands in his lap, removing the bracelet and handing it awkwardly across his body with his right hand, to Sabrina, seated on his left.
"It's beautiful. I see you had it engraved with the plane and 815 to match your wedding bands." She turned it this way and that, in her hand. "I didn't notice, does Shannon have one too?"
"No," he answered a little too quickly and forcefully. If Sabrina knew the real purpose of the bracelet, she would never have asked such a ridiculous question. Thankfully, Sabrina hadn't noticed his odd response.
He was still thinking about the absurd notion of Shannon marring her body with a tattoo, as he absently reached out with his left hand to take back the bracelet Sabrina was holding out to him.
She snatched it back, staring at his wrist. He realized his gaffe immediately. Shit, he thought, I'm so busted. Of course, he knew that sooner or later, she would find out. He just wasn't expecting that today would be the "sooner" he was dreading. As she pinched her lips together, he sat back to await the eruption of Mount St. Sabrina. At least they were in a public place. While Shannon would pitch a fit anywhere, Sabrina would never, ever, cause a scene in public.
"What's that on your wrist, Boone?" she asked, in a dangerously quiet voice.
He sighed, "It's a tattoo, mother."
She stared at him, "It's not enough that you abandoned your career in the city to become a convenience store clerk, in some backwards hick town."
He quickly interrupted her, trying to justify himself once again. "It's not a hick town and I'm not a convenience store clerk. I own a general store and bakery and help run it. And you know why we left the city. It's too big, too noisy for us now, and, most importantly, there's Shannon's asthma. We like the small town life."
She continued, as if he hadn't said anything. "That you wear those ridiculous t-shirts with the sleeves torn off, like some common street urchin."
"I've explained that to you too," he interjected. "I never did find my luggage, so it was either wear the only clothes I could find that fit, clothes that belonged to some poor guy who died in the crash, or wander around naked. Really mother, which would you have had me do? Hmmm?"
"You didn't have to continue to wear them, once you got back." she was quick to retort.
"I'm comfortable in them, I'm used to them," he explained.
"And now you have a tattoo," she kept going. "What's next, a rusty pick-up truck with a gun rack?"
"Oh, so you know what I traded my car in for?" He knew he was being childish, but he couldn't stop himself.
"Don't be smart with me, Boone," she warned him. "Let me see it. What does it say?"
He held his arm out to her, waiting for the rest of the fallout.
Her lips pinch even tighter together as her gaze moved from his wrist to his face. "The ring on your finger's not enough for her, she had to brand you as well?"
"It wasn't Shannon's idea, mother, it was mine." Boone didn't want Shannon to wrongly take the heat for this.
"Nice try, but I don't believe it for a second. You continue to endlessly disappoint me these days," she said, dismissing his explanation.
"At least I'm consistent," he said quietly.
Shannon returned at that point, and, sensing from Sabrina's pinched lips, and Boone's heightened colour, that she missed something good, as in very, very bad, silently wondered what was going on.
He raised his left arm from the table, waving it once in the air.
She immediately saw that the bracelet was missing, and guessed that Sabrina had found out about the tattoo. That was confirmed as Sabrina tossed the bracelet onto the tablecloth in front of Boone.
"Oh," Shannon said, shrugging her shoulders as she sat down, holding Andrew on her lap. Boone was an idiot if he'd thought he could keep something like that from his mother for very long.
"Boone was just trying to convince me that this tattoo was his idea and not yours." Sabrina said, turning her attention from Boone to Shannon.
"Yeah, it was all his idea," she confirmed. Shannon wasn't going to be the fall guy for this, especially when it was true that it was all his idea.
"I don't believe either one of you." Sabrina said dismissively. "This has Shannon's name written all over it, both figuratively and literally."
"Believe what you want, that doesn't change the truth of it." Shannon was so used to Sabrina always blaming her for everything, that she just really didn't care anymore.
"My, aren't you both being impertinent today." Sabrina looked from one of them to the other.
Boone picked the bracelet up from the table, slipping it back on his wrist. "We have to be going, mother, the new car'll be ready by now." He was tired of this.
He stood, grabbing the strap of his green bag off the back of the chair. "Thanks for lunch."
"Can't you stay in the city this afternoon and come to the house for dinner tonight?" Sabrina asked.
Shannon looked at her in disbelief, forgetting for a moment, that with Sabrina it was always all about her. Why would the woman think they'd want to spend more time with her after what has just transpired?
"No, we can't," Boone answered, so used to how self centred his mother was, that he wasn't surprised by her request. "We promised Tom and Heather we'd be home this afternoon, and besides, there's stuff I have to get prepped for the morning."
He bent down to kiss her cheek, saying quietly in her ear, "It's only a tattoo, get over it."
Her eyes widened in surprise at his comment, but she stayed quiet.
"Thanks for lunch, Sabrina," Shannon stood, holding Andrew, "We'll have to do this again soon," she finished sarcastically, both of them knowing she didn't mean it for a second.
Boone smirked at that, good one Shan, he thought.
"Well come on puddin' pie, let's go get the pick up," he drawled, doing an excellent impression of Sawyer. He was enjoying himself now.
Shannon had no idea where this was coming from, having missed the earlier conversation he'd had with his mother. She played along, though, grabbing his arm with her free hand. "Okay, pa," she answered.
With a final smile at Sabrina, they turned and left.