That Sort of Girl

The Calm Before the Storm

I placed the beef lasagna inside the oven when I heard the phone rang. So I went out of the kitchen to answer it. I saw my eldest daughter, Susan, running down the stairs.

"Don't answer it, Mom. That's mine," she said as she ran towards the ringing phone.

Her long limbs took her a few seconds to reach the telephone. She had changed to a sleeveless shirt and shorts after arriving from her on-job training in an accounting firm nearby. She was about to graduate from college and luckily, that firm promised her a job after graduation.

She lifted the receiver, "Hello? Oh, hi! I'm fine, how about you?"

I turned around and went back to my cooking. The smile on Susan's face made me assume that she was in a deep relationship after breaking up with her last college boyfriend. I trusted that she would not follow my footsteps --- being a single mother twice. So far, she was keeping her promise.

I've never met this new boyfriend yet. She still kept the relationship all to herself (Promise, Mom, I'll tell you about it soon.) and I didn't want to look too nosy. Anyway, she's grown up now. She knew what's right and wrong.

While having our dinner, I announced, "I'll not be coming home on Friday after work. Matteo invited me to his rest house by the beach in Puerto Montoya and he will just pick me up at the clinic. Can I trust you, ladies, to take care of the house until I get home Sunday evening?"

"Sure, Mom," said Susan as she finished her lasagna. "I'll be home the whole weekend anyway."

"You don't have a date with Benjie, huh?" said my youngest, Elaine, as she poured another round of iced tea to our glasses.

Elaine is much taller than Susan, and athletic. She's in her junior high school year and plays volleyball.

"Oh, so Benjie is his name," I said, smiling at Susan. "Sorry, I keep on forgetting."

"Yeah," answered Susan. "He said he'll be out of town with his relatives from abroad. They'll be on a road trip the whole weekend."

"He didn't invite you?" I asked.

"He did, Mom. But I declined. I hate hanging out with his relatives. I will just feel O.P."

"O.P.?" I asked.

"Out of place, Mom," Elaine explained. "You need to brush up your youth vocabulary," then she winked at me.

"Oh, that's it," I said. I turned to Susan and asked, "Why? Just be yourself and try to communicate with them. Look for something in common to talk about."

"Nah," Susan said as she waved her hand. "They're not the type of people who enjoy long intellectual conversations. In fact, Benjie would get bored listening to them, I'm sure. He just agreed to drive them to those places because no one would be available to drive the car that weekend."

"So he's acting as the chauffeur," said Elaine laughing.

"Yup," answered Susan. "And I don't want to sit there as a wallflower or a maid-in-waiting, either."

"Okay," I laughed. "If that's the case, you'd better clean your own rooms and do your laundry this weekend. You'll be the maids in your own house."