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without saying so
acknowledged that we’d had this conversation the last time with a
nod.
    “Don’t you want to try something new?”
    No.
    “Mom, Tuxedo Cheesecake is fabulous every
time. Besides, you need to have something reliable to fall back on
when yours doesn’t work out like you hoped,” I said with a smile
because I knew I had her there.
    She just smirked but Hoyt flashed me a quick
smile and arched eyebrows, validating me again.
    “Neophobe,” she accused.
    “Homophobe,” I accused right back, but with
lots of cheek because I knew she would feel obligated to explain my
response to Hoyt (whose expression was now decidedly alarmed) and
thereby have to use the word ‘homosexual’ in clarifying that
although fear of such was an alternate meaning, a person with a
fear of monotony or sameness was the primary definition of what I
had accused her of being.
    Hoyt hated our game, and couldn’t play even
if he wanted to.
    When dessert arrived, even before she took a
bite of her White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl flavored cheesecake,
she was eyeing mine, lustfully. With an internal sigh, I took a
knife and cut my dessert in half. Then after feigning interest in
her dessert I offered, “Mom, would you like to split and
share?”
    She gave me a sympathetic look, as though
she felt pity for my plight of being stuck with a whole slice of
boring old Chocolate Tuxedo Cheesecake.
    As if she was deliberating about whether she
should decline and teach me a lesson or take the high road and be
charitable, she paused before answering my query.
    “Well…okay,” she finally said with a
sigh.
    She finished off her half of my dessert
before I did.
    As we were walking out of the restaurant she
asked, “What were you looking at for so long at the jewelry
store?”
    “Oh, they have a very rare deep tone
aquamarine on display. It’s amazing. I was surprised to see it at a
store like this. I can’t imagine anybody around here buying a ring
like that. It’s not the kind of piece you’d normally find at a mall
jewelry store.”
    She was intrigued.
    “Let’s go see it,” she suggested
enthusiastically.
    She was always especially interested in
things I liked. But I entertained no false hope that she might buy
it for me. I knew the price had to be well into the five-figure
range. But she enjoyed gawking at beautiful things as much as I
did, so we strolled arm in arm back across the hallway to the
display window. Hoyt was opening up his cell phone and promised to
catch up momentarily.
    I was surprised to see a completely
different arrangement in the window…some kind of black pearl
necklace and earring set. I looked around to see if I was at the
wrong window…they did have more than one…but I was sure it had been
the closest one, right beside the bench. I walked over to the next
one, which contained a ruby necklace display, same as before. The
windows on the other side of entrance were full of the same
merchandise as before.
    Strange.
    Mom could see the confusion in my face.
    “It’s not out here anymore,” I muttered,
still mystified.
    “Why don’t we go in and ask about it?” she
suggested.
    I nodded in agreement and we entered the
store. She did the talking when a sales lady approached.
    “Excuse me, we were wondering about the
aquamarine piece that was in the window before we ate dinner,” she
began.
    The sales lady had a puzzled look on her
face, but then shook her head, as if banishing a thought, and
smiled at us.
    “Yes, the three carat aquamarine in
platinum? We just sold it, not thirty minutes ago.”
    She was beaming, I realized. It was, no
doubt, the afterglow of a large commission enhancing her mood.
    Mom countered, “Well, that’s too bad. Do you
mind telling me what was the price? We didn’t see before.”
    The sales lady took on a bit of an arrogant
aura as she informed us, “That piece was priced at just under fifty
thousand and worth every penny—absolutely stunning. We just
received it this