Discovering Delilah(54)

How often did I sound the same way toward my mom? I wish I could take each and every time back. I push those thoughts away, determined not to let my parents’ absence get in the way of our visit.

Ashley puts her hand on my lower back as her mother shifts a friendly gaze my way.

“And you must be Delilah.” She touches her cheeks and her eyes widen. “My word, you are even prettier than I imagined.” Before I can thank her, she pulls me against her and hugs me much longer than I anticipated.

“I’m so glad you’re here. Ash has told me so much about you.” She takes my hand and calls down the stairs, “Paulie? The girls are here,” then leads me across the hardwood floor and into a cozy living room with a small piano set against the wall to the left. Above the piano hangs a large frame of orange fabric that looks like burlap. Haphazardly pinned to it at cockeyed angles are several photos of Ashley and Kenny and their parents. Ashley as a baby holding a bottle, as a toddler walking in the grass. She was a pudgy baby with almost white-blond hair, and so cute it makes me smile. The arrangement is vastly different from the carefully placed frames in our house. It’s more appealing to me, this homier arrangement. I imagine her mother changing the pictures from time to time, adding more, standing before them smiling, sighing, and reveling in memories of Kenny on his bicycle or her and her husband sitting on the front porch.

There’s a couch against the wall to our right and a love seat beneath a big window on the wall opposite us. A small dining room is off the living room, tucked behind the kitchen, with sliding glass doors that lead out to a deck. I know Ashley grew up in this house, and I imagine her toddling across the room, running into her mother’s arms, and opening Christmas gifts by a big, decorated tree.

“Dad.”

I turn at the wondrous tone of Ashley’s voice as she falls into her father’s open arms. He’s a heavyset man, and he closes his eyes as he hugs her.

“I missed you, pumpkin.”

“I missed you, too, Dad.” Ash reaches for me again. “Dad, this is Delilah.”

I like that she respects me enough not to cling to me in a way that would make me feel uncomfortable in front of her parents but still touches me enough that I feel special.

He smiles down at me. Even though he’s about the same height as Bolton, who’s standing behind us, he looks much bigger. It might be his sheer breadth, or maybe the way he’s opening his arms to me, as he did for Ashley, but as I walk forward and accept his embrace, I feel like I’m hugging a gigantic teddy bear.

“Welcome to our home, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Mr. Carver.”

“Call me Paul, please.” He reaches a hand out to Bolton.

“How’s it going, son?” Bolton takes his hand, and Paul pulls him into a hug, too.

“You okay?” Ashley whispers as her mother sits on the couch.

“Perfectly. How could I not be? Your family is wonderful.” I’ve been here only for a few minutes, and already I feel like I walked through a portal that instantly made me part of their family. Being here makes me long for my parents, but it also amplifies how different my parents’ reaction would have been if I had brought Ashley home and introduced her as my girlfriend. I imagine my parents as flustered, hot messes the moment they laid eyes on us holding hands. Their disapproving looks might even have gotten lost in their inability to find something appropriate to say. I force myself to push that away, but it’s not as easy as I hoped it would be. I focus on Kenny bounding down the stairs. That helps.

Kenny plows into Bolton. “Are you staying? Want to see what I built in Minecraft?”

“Yeah, sure.” Bolton turns to Paul. “You guys mind if I stick around a few minutes with Kenny?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course you can stay.” Ashley’s mom waves a hand as if he’s being ridiculous. “Stay for dinner if you want.”

“Thanks, Mrs. C, but I can’t. My mom is planning a big family dinner. Ash, if you and Delilah want to hang out later, text me.”

“We will.” Ashley watches her mother spring up to her feet and rush into the kitchen. “Mom, do you need help?”

Bolton and Kenny head upstairs.

“Oh, no.” Her mom waves another dismissive hand. “I’m just making a few things for later. Go ahead and show Delilah around. We’ll catch up when you girls are ready. Dinner’s not until five, so you have oodles of time to do your own thing.”

“Come on. I’ll show you my room.” Ashley leads me downstairs. “This is the rec room, or my dad’s man cave.”