“You should go for what you want, but whatever it is—a job, a business, a guy, a passion, whatever—you should make sure it’s what you want, not what someone else wants for you.”
Chloe walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a plate, and plunked a slice of pie in front of Teddy. “Here. Chocolate pie to go with your hibiscus tea.”
“Thank you,” Teddy said, genuinely touched. “And thank you for talking to me for so long.”
Chloe waved her off. “I work here precisely so I can do things like have extended conversations with customers about their personal dilemmas. Anyway, enjoy your pie!”
After Chloe was back in the kitchen, Teddy didn’t bother opening her laptop again. Instead, she took a bite of her pie, which was quite possibly the best pie she’d ever had in her life. And to think, Teddy marveled, I never even would have had this—the pie or the conversation—if I’d been too scared to be by myself.
When she was finished eating, she left her money on the table and packed up. She waved to Chloe, who was now at the hostess stand, as she left.
“Godspeed, young traveler!” Gary said from his corner table, and Teddy couldn’t help but smile as she walked out the door and along the brick sidewalk. Okay, so she still didn’t know exactly what to do about taking over Colossal Toys. After a lifetime of ignoring her own feelings, she needed more than one encouraging conversation to make such a big decision. But she’d been honest with someone, and she’d been at least a little bit bold. But even better? She’d gone to a new restaurant all by herself, and she’d had a wonderful time. Eat at a restaurant by myself and have an emotionally vulnerable conversation with a complete stranger? Check and check.
44
Dear Teddy,
I know we just hung out yesterday, and that this is scandalously late notice, but what are you doing tonight? I won’t suggest going to the zoo again, but perhaps we could re-create our actions from the zoo in various locations around the city. A PG-13 tour of Columbus, if you will.
To be honest, I wouldn’t be upset if it veered into a hard-R-rated tour of Columbus, but I think that would rule out a lot of family-friendly locales.
Hopefully,
Everett
Dear Everett,
Could we ever really re-create the romantic magic of the reptile house in any other setting? It’s worth finding out. Alas, I’m having dinner at my mom’s tonight. Trust me, I’d much rather be hanging out with you, on a Columbus tour of any rating. Although the fact that I have plans might be for the best. An R-rated tour sounds like the kind of thing that could get your show canceled.
Concerned about your career,
Teddy
Dear Teddy,
You make a good point.
Enjoy dinner at your mom’s!
See you soon,
Everett
45
Typically, dinner at her mother’s house filled Teddy with a cocktail shaker’s worth of contradictory feelings: love, resentment, shame, guilt. But tonight, as she climbed the wooden stairs of the porch, she hummed “Almost like Being in Love” to herself. Today, she was a straight shot of one feeling and one feeling only: she was completely and utterly smitten.
Just thinking about Everett now made Teddy want to swoon, literally. She wanted to pretend her mom’s porch swing was a fainting couch and flop onto it, holding a hand to her forehead, and then ask someone to bring her a glass of water and gently fan her face. But she knew she couldn’t share the details of her newfound romantic relationship with her family. It probably wasn’t in her mother’s detailed plans for her.
Instead, she knocked and walked on in.
“Why are you whistling?” asked Emma, who was walking down the stairs.
“Am I?” Teddy grinned. “I didn’t know. Because I’m happy, I guess.”
Emma studied her. “When I’m happy,” she said, “I like to scream.”
Teddy nodded. “That’s certainly one way to handle it.”
Emma sighed the heavy sigh of a small child. “Mom says don’t. She said the neighbors will worry.”
“Your mom might have a point,” Teddy agreed. “Screaming does tend to upset people.”
Emma hopped down the last few stairs. “Grandma made enchiladas. I don’t like enchiladas. Once Liam ate too much of them and then he threw up on the rug in the hallway and Daddy had to clean it up. Also once I threw up after I ate too many Popsicles and the throw-up was bright blue.”
“Wow,” Teddy said. “I can see why that might put you off enchiladas for a while.”
Teddy was learning, through her niece and nephew, that the best way to talk to children was often to step back and let them steer, while occasionally asking a question or two.
“Come on,” Emma said, grabbing Teddy’s hand. “I got a new pony.”
“Okay!” Teddy let Emma drag her into the living room, where, true to her word, there was a glittery pink pony next to all of Emma’s other ponies.
Teddy sat down on the floor, tucking her feet underneath her. “Is this a unicorn?”
“No,” Emma said, squinting at her. “It doesn’t have a horn. See? Unicorns have horns.”
“Ah, right,” Teddy said. “I don’t know how I forgot that. I’m pretty silly, I guess.”
“You are silly,” Emma muttered, now focused on combing her horse’s hair.
“You’re here!” Teddy’s mother emerged from the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel. “I like your dress. You hungry?”
“Literally always,” Teddy said.
When all of them were seated around the table, Teddy noticed that her sister kept staring at her. After her fifth time looking up and meeting her eyes, Teddy asked, “What?”
“Something’s different about you,” Sophia said, eyes narrowed.
“I have a new lipstick,” Teddy said, taking a bite. “Berry Crush.”
“You look nice in berry shades,” her mother said. “Not me. They make the veins in my face visible. I put on a berry lipstick, and boom, my face looks all blue. How are the enchiladas?”
“They’re great, and I don’t think that’s true,” Teddy said.
“Craig,” Sophia said, “don’t you think there’s something different about Teddy?”
“Make sure you take some with you,” her mother said. “I’ll never eat all these enchiladas by myself.”