All familiar characters are Janet's. Mistakes are mine alone.
When I didn't say anything further my mother did what she does best, try to control the situation and me through guilt or outright peer pressure if she has an audience.
"Your father and I thought since you are obviously in the neighborhood, you'd like to come over for dinner."
"I doubt Dad even noticed that you left the house, let alone knows I'm here and why. Plus, he prefers eating his meals with as few people around as possible," I reminded her.
Unlike her, I'm trying not to be a bitch about refusing her invitation. I'm just stating facts.
"What about me?" She asked.
My eyebrows went way up. "What about you?"
"Don't you think I'd like to visit with you too?"
"Why would I? You've been pretty clear about having a problem with me, my job, my husband, and where I now live. Having dinner with you is the last thing I'd want to do."
"Ouch!" Grandma Mazur said. "Bet that one hurt. Didn't it, Helen?"
"Not now, Mother."
"Seems now's as good a time as any, since Stephanie and hotstuff have plans to get me to."
"I don't need a reason beyond the one I gave to turn down dinner, Grandma."
"I know, but I'm havin' some fun here."
"Excuse me," Nurse Really Nice said to us. "I couldn't help but overhear."
I braced myself for the words ... "But she's your mother" or "You can't turn your back on family", but the nurse leveled a hard look at my mother instead.
"How could you treat your own daughter so bad?" She asked. "It's a parent's job to not only protect our children from bullies like you're coming across as to me but also love them unconditionally whether or not you understand or approve of the decisions they make."
"I don't want to be rude, but I'm afraid you don't know what you're talking about," was my mom's response.
"She does ... and she saw it firsthand when I almost took the doctor's head off for hurting my kid when his arm was being examined," Mary Lou said in defense of me and the woman who got her through a rough time.
"You did just fine," the nurse assured her. "And please, call me Veda. I think we know each other well enough now to use our given names."
"If you'll excuse us, Veda," my mother said in a dismissive tone, clearly reading the room and our company wrong.
She held up a hand to stop her. "I said Mary Lou and Stephanie, and their wonderful husbands of course, may call me Veda. I didn't give you permission to. It seems all the positive things I've heard about you weren't very accurate."
I was loving this so much; I couldn't stop myself from giving Ranger an impromptu hug. I slid my arms around his waist and squeezed as hard as Veda was working my emotions.
"If you're ever interested in a career change," Ranger told Veda, "my company, and my wife, would be happy to hire you."
Her smile was a mile wide. "Don't threaten me with a good time," she warned. "I may just take you up on that someday."
"Speaking of a good time," I said to her, "we're having dinner with Mary Lou and Lenny, Grandma if she promises to behave, and my buddy Eddie and his wife, we'd love it if you would join us. If you don't have somewhere you need to be right now."
I wasn't purposely trying to offend my mother, her obviously being the only one left out, I was just living in the moment and not wanting our time with Veda to end.
"I'd love to. I get to babysit my grandbabies tonight, but I have a few hours to relax before the mayhem begins."
"How many?" I asked.
"Children or grandbabies?"
"Both."
"Two daughters and three grand-ones."
"Should we say, 'That's great' or 'I'm sorry'?" Mare asked her.
"There have been 'I'm sorry' days, but I wouldn't change anything ... except for my husband dying long before he was meant to. But we had over three amazing decades together, so I refuse to be sad."
I looked up at Ranger. "You are not allowed to die."
He bent his head down to kiss me. "I'll always do everything I can to prevent it."
"You ready?" Eddie appeared out of the crowd to ask us while trying to keep in his periphery the direction Shirley had disappeared to talk to someone else she knew.
"Yup. We're adding a friend which Ranger swears won't cause an issue with our reservations," I told him, getting ready to introduce Eddie to Veda, forgetting that he's the dad of a brood of boy-terrors so he already knows everyone who works in the ER.
"Stephanie?" My mother called as our group was turning to leave.
I glanced back at her but that was the extent of my response.
"You're just leaving?" She asked.
"Yeah. You didn't think your plan through completely. Sure, you got to pretend you were punishing me for not doing what you wanted, but the real outcome is that I've learned how to live without you."
