We Are Water by Wally Lamb

Author:Wally Lamb
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-10-22T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Andrew Oh

Casey-Lee’s in a pissy mood because she suggested we go to that new Japanese hibachi place for dinner and here we are at the Olive Garden instead. “Oh, I don’t really care, sugar,” she’d said when I picked her up. “We can go there if you want.” So we did and now she’s got an attitude. Well, it’s not going to get any better when I tell her I’m reconsidering my decision—that I might cancel our weekend plans and go back there after all. Use one of those tickets she sent. There’s a part of me that’s curious about this Viveca. The woman Mom changed her whole life for. But I don’t know. Maybe I should just stay put. Either way, I’d better make a decision pretty soon. Their wedding’s only four days away.

A waitress approaches—a pretty, dark-eyed Mexican. Nice, fleshy body. A C-cup, maybe. “Hi, folks. I’m Xan and I’ll be your server tonight. How y’all doin’?”

“We’re just fine,” I tell her. “How are you?”

“Great! Well, I’m a little nervous, actually. I’ve been shadowing another waitress all week. This is my first night going solo.” I ask her how it’s going. “So far so good,” she says. “Can I get y’all something to drink to start you off?”

I turn to Casey-Lee. “White wine?” She nods. “A glass of pinot grigio for the lady and a Lone Star for me.” Casey-Lee likes things traditional. Likes me to order for both of us.

“You got it,” the waitress says.

Casey’s off tonight. Fidgety. Going out in the middle of the week’s probably a mistake. She’s already told me she’s tired, and that she still has her lessons to plan for tomorrow, and things to cut out for some bulletin board she needs to put up before the school’s open house on Thursday. “Hey,” I say.

“Hey what?”

“You look very pretty tonight. Is that a new dress?”

She rolls her eyes. Says I asked her that the last time she wore it.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” she says. “By the way, you look handsome in that shirt. When I was in Brooks Brothers, I couldn’t decide between the blue check and the green check. But I’m glad I went with the green. It’s a great color for you.”

“Well shucks, darlin’. That’s mahty nice of you to say so.” She cracks a smile. Gets a kick out of it when I talk Texan to her. I reach across the table and take her hand in mine. “So how are things going with your new class?”

She makes a face. Says she wishes she was still teaching third grade. “Kindergarteners are still such babies at the beginning of the year. I had two of them crying today because they missed their mothers and another who wet her pants. And that boy I was telling you about? Jett?”

“The one with the ‘alternative’ parents?”

“Uh-huh. He kicked another child while they were in line at the drinking fountain. A girl, no less. Epiphany, and she’s as sweet as they come and hadn’t done a thing to provoke him.

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