Holden

I can't believe this is happening. Mom invited the Becker sisters to her house for dinner. Landon and I were not supposed to be there, of course. She hadn't even told me. Was this what she was acting weird about yesterday?

   I pull in to the hospital parking lot and text her that I'm here. She comes out five minutes later, looking a hell or a lot better than when I dropped her off, four hours ago. Once she's buckled in beside me, I exhale.

   "I'm glad he's okay," I say right away.

   "Yes. Oh, yes, he just feels embarrassed now, of course. But he'll be home tomorrow." She is digging into her purse and pulls out hand sanitizer, then squirts some into her hand.

   I nod. "I can help, to bring him home?"

   "That would be great, Hold." My mom sighs. "I can't believe I forgot about the dinner."

   "Oh, Mom. They understand. Things happen. Uh, they are probably eating that frozen pizza I cooked right now. And Nella brought a casserole."

   My mom looks at me and then starts laughing. Like right from her belly, laughing. I am pulling out of the hospital parking lot and I'm both nervous and anxious to get back to my mom's house.

   "You okay?" I ask her, smiling, as she finally calms down.

   "Yes. Sorry. I'm having a bit of an emotional day. I'm so glad you told the girls to stay, Holden," she tells me. I can tell she's really happy that I didn't send them away.

   I don't bother telling her that it was Landon who told them to stay. "Well, we cleaned the house all day, so..." I say instead.

   "Did you?" She looked surprised and impressed.

   "Yes. And I answered the door with no shirt on," I go on, shaking my head. "You know, because I wasn't expecting it to be Maya and Nella Becker."

   "Oh dear," she says, but then she's laughing again.

   "I'm glad you think this is funny." I smile because I like that she's laughing, but I also roll my eyes in her direction.

   "I don't. I'm sorry. But that is one way for you two to have a reunion," she tells me, covering her mouth.

   "Mom."

   She's mostly quiet for the rest of the drive back to her house, and I'm glad she doesn't say anything else about Maya and Nella. When we pull in the driveway, I see that white car. So, they didn't take off while I was gone.

   I push the door open and let my mom go in first. I hesitate before following her and then walk slowly through to the kitchen. My heart is racing. My breathing is unsteady.

   Landon is mid story about some presentation he had to do for one of his college classes, and Nella and Maya are listening, both with pizza and casserole on their plates.

   "Mom!" Landon yells, interrupting himself, looking over at us. "How's Eddie?"

   Mom smiles but she's looking at the girls. "He's okay. He'll be just fine. I'm so happy to see you three together... I'm sorry I wasn't thinking... when I heard Eddie yelling from the yard, I went into panic mode."

   "Oh, no worries at all. We were surprised to see Holden and Landon here when we arrived, but we've been catching up," Nella answers. She's so calm and comfortable in my mom's house.

   "I'm not going to lie, this really makes my heart happy, all four of you together," Mom goes on. Then she looks right at me and smiles.

   "Mom, you must be starving. Hold, you too," Landon says, already holding out our plates. "I mean it's not fancy but..."

   I take a few steps and take both plates from my brother. After handing one to my mom, we both pull out chairs at the table that Nella and Maya are sitting at.

   I finish the piece of pizza and the big serving of casserole and sit back, taking this in. Maya has been avoiding my eyes, which is fine.  Landon is having the best time, chatting it up with the girls. It's like he's been hanging out with them once an week this whole time. I know that is not true, but it seems like it by how comfortable he is. It feels like how things should have been. And Mom is just... she looks so happy. Amazed. She eats the food, complementing Nella's dish. I'm sure this was not even close to the meal she was planning, but that's okay.

   Once everyone's done, I walk around collecting the plates and bring them to the sink. I rinse them and load the dishwasher, as Mom suggests that everyone head into the living room. She brings in coffee, and Nella's the only one who doesn't want one.

   "This baby already keeps me up at night cause he's so active," she laughs.

   "I still can't believe you will have two little ones," Mom says, then sighs. "I'd love some grandchildren."

   I have only just walked into the room where everyone else is, and I cough, choking on my first sip of coffee. Landon snorts. Neither of us are anywhere near ready or willing to have kids.

   "Well, I got married young. Like... I was only twenty one," Nella says while absent mindedly rubbing her round belly.

   "Right. I would love your meet your husband as well, he's a lucky man to be with you, Nella," my mom goes on.

   "He would love that. Willow is teething and having a hard time so I figured tonight would be better if it was just us..." Nella says, then looks at Maya.

   "Good thing," I say, then grunt when my mom smacks my arm. "I just mean, because it wasn't really the dinner that it was supposed to be."

   "Yes. It didn't go as planned. But I'm still glad you're here," Mom says to the girls.

   We drink our coffees, with Mom making small talk. She asks about their jobs and they talk about the Art Hub for a few minutes. I go back to the kitchen and bring back some more beers, a little while later. Mom leaves the room for a few minutes, after excusing herself. I still just feel anxious and I know I will feel better after a beer or two. I'm looking ta Maya again and I wonder if she's feeling the same.

   "Have a beer, Maya," Nella tells her sister, motioning at them. "George just texted that he got  Willow in bed early."

   Maya shoots Nella a look but reaches for one of the beers anyway. When Landon reaches for one, I clears my throat. He looks at me, waiting.

   "What?!" he squeaks, as if he's confused,

   "Did you already have one?" I ask him.

   "Yes, but I'm not driving. You are."

   "We're staying here tonight, actually," I tell him, and watch as his smile fades. "I'm going to be taking mom to go pick up Eddie tomorrow and bring him home."

   Landon grunts, but then grins again. "So I can drink?"

   "Yeah, no, you're going to have to ask Mom about that," I say, shaking my head.

   "But you're drinking!" Landon shouts.

   "I'm twenty-four," I remind him.

   Landon groans and leaves the room, apparently to go find Mom. And then I'm left alone with Nella and Maya. I feel so awkward and I finish my beer pretty fast. I am thinking about going back to the kitchen to grab another, when I notice that Maya is done hers, too. She still hasn't really looked at me at all, as if she's making an effort to completely avoid looking in my direction.

   "There's plenty of beer," I say, talking to her for the first time in all of these hours she's been here. "I'll get more."

   "No. That's okay," Maya says quickly.

   I'm still looking at her, still sort of surprised she's sitting right there, on my mom's couch. She said three words to me. The first three words since everything fell apart with us. "I'll go get more anyway."

   Mom is back a few minutes later, as I'm drinking another beer. She offers another to Maya, so she accepts. I know she wouldn't have accepted it from me.  Nella is smiling and tells Mom more about her job at the paper, and about how Willow is learning to recognize colors and numbers. Mom is so interested, she's just taking it all in. I have nothing to add, so I just stand, leaning against the door frame and listen. That's pretty much when I realize that Landon hasn't been around in a little while.

   I sneak out of the room to go look for him, and I'm not surprised when I find him in the main floor bedroom, talking on his phone. I give him a look and he holds up a finger, telling me he'll be done in a minute. Then I head back to the kitchen to get another beer. I feel myself loosening up, and I need that. I grab three, and bring them back to the living room. But Maya isn't there - it's just Mom and Nella, chatting away like old friends. I mean, they are old friends. It feels weird to stand there listening, so I decide to go back and tell Landon he's being rude by talking to his girlfriend when we have company.

   I turn to go down the hallway again when I bump right into Maya. She's coming out of the bathroom at the same time and I don't see her. We only touch for a second and I step back, already apologizing.

   "Sorry."

   "Uh, no, I'm sorry," she says back quickly.

   She's had a few beers, too. I'm not drunk by any means but I feel comfortable now. She looks like she might be a bit drunk. I watch as she leans against the wall and looks at me, because I don't move. It doesn't feel weird or wrong being there in that hallway with her, and I don't know why. I should walk away. She should want to leave. But we don't.

   She's about to say something else. I can tell. But suddenly Landon is yelling for me from the kitchen and I step back, breaking whatever it was that was happening between Maya and me. I breathe a sigh of relief and frustration as she turns and walks away, back towards where her sister and my mom are waiting.