Marie set down her phone and sipped the last of the champagne while James dished up strawberry rhubarb pie and ice cream for himself and Lucy. She felt not so much tipsy as dislocated or dissociated while the room around her glowed the way images glowed after photographers smeared Vaseline on their lenses.
Otherworldly, she thought. She liked it. Everything seemed … nice.
“Jean called him and he’s meeting her on the boat,” she said. “They couldn’t keep their eyes off each other.”
“I thought you learned your lesson about that matchmaking stuff after you fixed Alice up with a man,” James said. “He’s a stranger. Give it a few weeks first.”
Marie dropped the bottle into her recycling and sat back down, a little whirly.
“Look at you, all mature about relationships,” she said. “This is different. You should have seen the two of them—so cute!”
James turned to Lucy and gestured a finger down his throat.
“Gag me!”
Lucy spoke through a mouthful of pie. “What do you know about anything?”
“I know you’re not supposed to talk with your mouth full. I know I’m never going to be cute!”
“No lie, lizard,” she said.
Marie waved a hand and said, “Cool it, you two. Why don’t you take the laptop to James’s room and pick out a movie?”
James thumped the table and rattled the dishes. “All right!” he said. “Braveheart!”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Men in skirts with bare butts and big swords,” she said. “I worry about you.”
Marie stood slowly, one hand gripping the table for security. “Watch something quiet,” Marie said. “I’m really tired. I’m going to bed.”
James leaned closer to Marie and said, “Is Tom coming over?”
Marie put her hands on her hips, raised her eyebrows and sighed.
“What?” James said. “Do you know how tough things get at school when your mom’s dating a cop?”
“We’re not dating,” she said. She smiled and stacked the dinner dishes in front of her. “You both were dreaming.”
Lucy said, “Oh, brother. ‘Dreaming.’”
“We’ll be dreaming again tonight, I suppose,” James said. “He said he’s coming by after work.”
“Ah,” Marie said. “Well. I guess I won’t be going to bed yet after all.” She turned too fast and recaptured the edge of the table. “Whew! Too much champagne. I’ll put on coffee and you two better get moving. Dishes, homework, movie, bed.”
James picked up the stack of dishes and set them in the sink.
“Let’s go! My turn to pick!”
“You picked last time!”
“American Werewolf in London,” James said. “That was yours.”
Lucy said, “Okay, okay. But vampire movies are quiet. How about Bride of Dracula?”
Marie interrupted. “Homework. Dishes. Movie. Bed. In that order, please.”
Lucy picked up a necklace with an oversized silver cross and put it on. The cross hung nearly to her belly. James rolled his eyes and sighed the teenage sigh for adults who just can’t keep up. “We did homework while you were demo-ing.”
Marie shuffled to the sink and stared at the dishes. They swept in and out of focus. Colors that didn’t have names. She sighed, giggled, and said, “Go ahead, watch your movie. I’ll get the dishes.”