Day Five - Camaraderie

The first time Raya officially met Micah’s parents was a few days after their first date. Micah texted her that his mom had invited Raya to join the family for dinner. Micah picked her up in his little two door car, and once again Raya’s world came alive with energy and excitement the minute she entered his presence. They chatted comfortably on the way to his parents’ house, and when Micah reached his hand across to grasp her hand, she didn’t pull away, but she also didn’t dare look at him.  She kept her gaze out her side window watching the houses go by as they talked. Before long, he pulled the car to a stop.

“Let me get your door,” Micah said, as he patted her knee to let her know he wanted her to stay where she was for a second, and jumped out of the car, after carefully placing his stylish sunglasses in the little pocket on the dash. Raya looked at the house they had pulled up to. It was smaller and older than several others on the street, but the flowerbeds were carefully tended and it looked welcoming from the street. Micah opened her door and offered his hand for her to take as she got out of the car. She smiled at him and took his hand, and they walked up the sidewalk to the front door. The big wooden door swung open to a large entryway with white stone columns flanking the entrance to the living room.

Micah introduced Raya to his younger brother Cavan, and Cavan’s girlfriend Olivia. She also met his parents, Nell and Eddie. From the moment Raya met Nell, their eyes connected with a special kind of smile, and Raya knew they would be friends. Nell had kind, gentle eyes and the family seemed to revolve around her. She made everyone around her feel warm and comfortable, Raya could tell that already. They all sat on the comfortable couches and got to know each other a bit before dinner was ready.

The day before, Raya had actually considered concocting a false history so that she wouldn’t have uncomfortable answers to the inevitable questions she knew were coming.

“Tell us about your family.”

“Where did you grow up?”

“What do your parents do?”

But, in the end, she couldn’t go through with the fabricated story, so she answered their questions as vaguely as she could and redirected to talk about things like their cute dog who was sniffing her feet, or the family photos on the walls of their lovely home. After a little while they seemed to get the hint that she didn’t enjoy talking about her family and they moved on to the recent success of their college basketball team.

Nell called them all to the dining room when dinner was ready, and everyone enthusiastically filled their plates, passing serving bowls from person to person around the table. Raya wasn’t sure what she wanted to try first, the lasagna, the fresh garlic bread, the buttery corn, or the Caesar salad. It all smelled and looked amazing. Raya felt tears pool in her eyes, and she quickly blinked her eyes, discreetly wiping the tear that escaped her eye. She internally berated herself for crying about delicious food. But she had very rarely had homemade meals, at least not ones like this, and the contrast between her life and the way the family just expected and enjoyed their mom’s cooking took her breath away for a moment. She was about to lift the fork with lasagna on it to her mouth when she heard Nell say “let us pray”. Raya dropped her fork with a clatter and lasagna spilled on her lap, to her horror. She quickly used her napkin to clean up her lap, while quietly apologizing and feeling her neck and cheeks flush red. Micah took her hand and they all bowed their heads. Raya peeked at the others while their eyes were closed and made eye contact with Micah who was also looking at her and rolling his eyes towards his mom with a smile.

The rest of the evening went alright overall. Raya remained a bit shook up by the whole experience of dinner, partly because of her inept mistake, but also because the camaraderie and fun of the family both drew her in and made her feel alone at the same time. She dreamed about having a family like theirs, and wondered if maybe someday she could have that dream come true. Thankfully, after dinner the family decided to play a board game, and Raya’s analytical mind usually kept her competitive in games, so she was a bit more comfortable later on. When Micah said he’d drive her back to her dorm, they got up to say their goodbyes.

Nell had made up a little foil pan with some of the leftovers from dinner for Raya to take home, which Raya thought was exceptionally kind. Nell reached out her arms to hug Raya as they left. Raya hadn’t had many hugs in her life and the feel of the older woman’s warm soft arms embracing her was like magic to Raya. Her eyes got teary again as she whispered “thank you for everything” to the woman who would likely never know what the evening had meant for a young girl with an aching heart.