Ray stood in front of the mirror checking his appearance. He hadn't been this nervous in a long time. They had decided to let Lily come over to play with Ally so Debra was due any minute. Ray went downstairs where his parents were watching TV.
"Hey, Ma. Do I look alright?" He asks, straightening his tie.
"Oh, Sweetheart you look very handsome. You'll sweep her off her feet." Marie answers giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, yeah, you and that big nose of yours." Frank quips.
"Thanks, Dad. Listen, just keep your mouth shut and your pants when she gets here. I don't want her to run screaming from the house." Ray says as there's a knock on the door, "Oh, God. She's here."
"Now Raymond, just relax. She obviously likes you or she wouldn't have said yes to this date." His mother assures him.
"Thanks, Ma," Ray says and answers the door, "Hi," he says as Debra and Lily come in.
"Mr. Barone, is Ally upstairs?" Lily asks.
"Yes, she is. You can go on up." Ray says and Lily heads upstairs.
He turns to Debra, "Well, I guess we better get going."
"Hey, Ray aren't you going to introduce us?" Frank says getting up from his chair.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Mom, Dad this is Debra." He says hoping his parents will behave themselves.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you both." Debra says.
"Well it's nice to meet you Dear." Marie says, "now you two run along and enjoy yourselves."
At the restaurant they choose a table out of the way so they can talk. They're looking over the menu chatting.
"Your family seemed nice. It must be great living so close to them. My family lives in Connecticut. I was living with my parents for a while after Steve died. It sure helped Lily to be with them a lot."
"Yeah, it has been good for the kids to have my parents around. But I would prefer to live farther away sometimes. Even before Sarah died my mother was over all the time, drove her crazy. But she took it all in stride. Even the time they drove the car through our house."
Debra laughed hartily, "What?"
"Oh, yeah. We were watching TV one afternoon and BOOM! right through the house. They were backing out and the brakes were bad and they couldn't stop." He explains to Debra who is still laughing.
"Oh, my that is funny. But I guess it wasn't at the time. My parents are pretty boring compared to that. They travel a lot though. Mostly exotic places like Vietnam." She says.
Ray almost chokes on his breakstick, "Vietnam? Who vacations there?"
"My parents. My sister is a nun in Africa. I guess she got the fever from them. I always wanted a regular life, husband, kids." she says with a hint of sadness.
"Me, too. We were high school sweethearts." Ray says.
Debra looks at him sympthetically, "If you don't mind me asking. How did she-'"
"Oh, she had cancer for a long time. It was a blessing. She was in a lot of pain." he recalls.
Debra reaches over and puts her hand on his, "I'm sorry. It had to be difficult to watch someone you love go through that. I imagine that's harder than getting that phone call saying your husband's been killed in combat."
"It was hard. I wanted to make it all better but I couldn't. I wouldn't wish it on anyone." he says managing a smile as they see the waitress approach to take their order.