I can’t take this anymore, and I told Jennifer that we need to sit down and tell both Daniel and Mom about us. There’s no hiding it. This isn’t a summer fling, and I want everything out in the open. Jennifer wasn’t party to it at first until I reminded her about Tom and what happens with secrets and lies. She soon changed her mind at the mention of his name.

“I don’t understand why we need to go to dinner at Jennifer’s tonight. I mean it’s a bit weird with the four of us,” Mom says, and I know that she’s waiting for me to tell her reason for the meal, but I keep my mouth shut.

“Mom are you ready? Can we go?”

She nods. “You’re a bit tense tonight.”

I sigh, “Mom?”

“Okay, Jason I get it. We’re going next door for dinner. Let me just get my keys. Is that okay?”

She's sarcastic, and any other time I would have found it cute and said something funny, but not tonight. I’m too fucking wound up for smart comments. Besides, I keep expecting Stalker Bethany to spring up any moment. Jennifer wanted to have the dinner on the weekend. I told her that there’s nothing like the present, besides Bethany only warned her yesterday. I don’t want either Daniel or Mom to find out from Bethany. I want her to know from us. I want to deal with this as adults, not fucking kids.

“Ready!” Mom says as she swings her keys in front of me.

I walk out and then wait for her to do the same and then we walk in silence to the house. I can see the lights on, for some reason I was worried that Jennifer would bail out on me and change her mind. She’s older, but at times I forget because of the way she reacts to things.

As I ring the bell and I see her hair tied up, the way that it used to be. She’s wearing a dress, no doubt from the time that she was with Tom and I shake my head at the idea of the old Jennifer. The one that Tom had molded when he was alive had come back to life.

“Jennifer, how are you?” Mom says as she looks at Jennifer with a quizzed look on her face.

She’s probably wondering what’s going on. Lately, Jennifer’s been in tight jeans, shorts, miniskirts and everything that she never wore when Tom was alive. Now, she’s wearing a dress that looks as if she’s going to church.

I smile at her. “Jennifer.”

She ignores me as she steps to the side and says, “Come in. Dinner’s nearly ready. Daniel’s set the table.”

She’s so cold with me that I wonder if maybe I was too harsh on her and pushed her into this. I shake my head; there’s no way that she wants Bethany to do our dirty work for us. No, way.

“Good, because I’m starving.” Mom smiles as her eyes dart from Jennifer to me. It’s obvious that something’s wrong because Jennifer’s ignoring my presence and moving as if we’re all complete strangers.

The crazy part is as we move into the dining room and I see Daniel, that’s when I feel relieved that he’s acting normally.

“Jennifer, I was surprised that you asked us to dinner. The two boys, we should be eating with two men, and they should be out with their girlfriends.”

Mom smiles as she puts her hand on Jennifer.

Jennifer’s eyes flash to me. “Oh, I never knew that Jason was dating someone.”

Mom shrugs. “Well, I do his washing, and I know the difference between the smell of cologne and perfume.”

Mom laughs as she walks toward Daniel and greets him. Jennifer freezes again, wondering if Mom knows about the two of us. Jennifer’s probably thinking that if Mom’s been smelling the perfume, then she’ll recognize the scent.

I comfort her fears by saying, “Mom. You know me too well.”

She winks at me. “Well, you are my son.”

“Daniel, how’s it going with Bethany?” Mom asks him, and I must admit that I’m a bit curious about this part too. If Bethany’s been stalking me, then she can’t be spending too much time with him.

“Oh, you know. I’m too young to settle down. Besides she has stuff to do. Helping her parents and stuff. So, I spend more time hanging out with Ron seeing as Jason’s always tied up with his mystery lady.”

Jennifer changes the conversation quickly, “Dinner must be ready now. Please sit. Daniel gets our guests some drinks.”

Before anyone can respond, Jennifer’s out of the room and heads toward the kitchen. I know that she’s probably in there taking some deep breaths and trying to calm her nerves. I can read her like an open book.

She’s obviously not the only one nervous because Mom says, “Daniel, please pour a glass of wine for me.”

“Which one?” “Any, it seems as if I’m going to need it.” Mom smiles at me.

She’s trying to tell me that tonight’s going to be awkward and as Daniel comes back with the bottle. I think to myself that Mom hasn’t got a clue how weird it’s going to be, she’s going to need more than one glass by the time that this night is through. I hope that Jennifer has another bottle stashed somewhere because I’m going to need more than one glass too.

***

As the silent meal comes to an end, we tried small talk, but Jennifer’s strange behavior caught everyone’s attention including Daniel. I think he got fed up of asking her if she was okay because every time he did, she would reach for the wine or make an excuse to leave the table.

“Mom, Daniel we have something to tell you,” I say as I clear my throat.

Jennifer waves at me, the second time during the night that she’s looked at me. So, far she’s been looking at the space near me or even one time my feet.

“Not now, Jason. We haven’t had dessert.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think anyone wants dessert right now.”

Mom agrees, “That lasagna was delicious, but I thought that you were inviting more people. It was just too much for us four. It was as if you were trying to feed the five thousand.”

Only Mom and Daniel’s laughing, he’s about to say something, but I decided just to spit it out. The tension in the room is giving me a fucking headache.

“Jennifer and I are a couple. We’ve been seeing each other, and we wanted you both to hear it from us.”

I look at Mom and Daniel who once again starts laughing they think that it’s a joke, but Jennifer’s not laughing as a tear wells in her eye.

She whispers, “It’s true.”

Mom stands up and shouts, “You’ve been fucking my son! The younger man that you talked about. The one that makes you feel young again. My little boy?”

I want to say something, but I know that she’s not to be messed with when she’s in the mood. Jennifer nods and then Daniel just jerks his chair and leaves the room. I’m confused whether to talk to my mom or Daniel right now.

Jennifer starts crying uncontrollably, but then mom gets up and slaps her so fucking hard and shouts, “Now you’ve got something to cry about.”

She doesn’t even look at me; she just leaves the room. The only sound in the room as the door slams shut is the whimpering of Jennifer and my heart which feels as if it’s going to come out of my chest. Because for the first time since I’ve been seeing Jennifer, I don’t know if we are going to make it past the summer. The meal went bad, but then again I never expected them to welcome us with open arms. I can tell by the way that Jennifer’s crying, she didn’t know what to expect and now it’s happened I don’t know whether to go home or comfort Jennifer. So, I sit. I wait. For what? I don’t have a fucking clue, but it feels as if it’s the best thing to do right now.