Aka Amy

"Are you sure that's enough?" mom asked as she eyed the salad in front of me.

I nodded, "It's plenty."

We were seated in a booth at a little family restaurant that was about halfway between the hotel and my apartment. It wasn't anything that special, but mom picked it and I figured if she was happy that was the main thing.

I invited Amy to come too, but she said she needed to make some preparations for tonight. And she also suggested I should have some time with my mom. Normally I'd have wanted to avoid spending much alone-time with mom, but after last night it felt like things were different. Or at least, things were changing.

"How is the salad?" mom asked, pulling me from my thoughts again.

"It's ok," I shrugged. "Hard to mess up a salad, right? The chicken's nice, I don't know what the seasoning is but it's good. And it's an interesting dressing. How about yours, how's the pasta?"

Mom nodded, "It's nice. I think it would have been better if they'd used fettuccine rather than fusilli, but the sauce is tasty. And they weren't stingy with the shrimps."

I smiled, "I'm glad you're enjoying it."

After that the two of us went back to eating quietly again, and my thoughts drifted back to my girlfriend and the plans we had for tonight. We'd be having dinner with mom tonight, then we'd have to come up with some excuse to drop her off at the hotel before it got too late, so we could do the ritual stuff before midnight.

"How long have you known?" mom asked suddenly.

"Huh?" I asked as I looked across the table at her. "Known what?"

She had a thoughtful frown on her face as she clarified, "That your... That your girlfriend is a Goddess. That you're living with the same woman your granny spent most of her life with?"

Several mixed feelings churned through me as I processed mom's words. I was positive that was the first time she'd ever acknowledged I had a girlfriend. Her tone wasn't quite confrontational, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either. I was pretty sure she wasn't looking for an argument, but I couldn't guess yet what exactly she was hoping for.

I also realized she might just be trying to understand, but didn't have the emotional tools yet to know how to ask without being weird about it.

"Amy and I figured it out together last summer," I finally replied. "She wasn't born into this life knowing who she used to be. She had no idea until last July. Something happened that brought the two of us together, and it took us about two weeks to piece it all together. By the end of that we both understood who and what she was."

I added, "That's when I first looked through granny's scrapbook too, that's when I found out granny was in love with Amy Sullivan. After that me and Amy figured out that she was Ms. Sullivan in her previous life."

Mom frowned slightly, she asked "And you still decided you wanted to... To be with her? Even knowing who and what she was?"

"Yes I did," I replied with a smile. "Amy and I fell in love while we were working on solving those mysteries of who she was. And yes I know it might seem odd or strange that we're together, but she's not the same Amy who helped raise you. She's her own person."

The frown on her face deepened, but she didn't look unhappy. My impression was more that she was thinking rather than judging, which I took to be a good thing. Or potentially good anyways. It felt like she might really be trying to patch things up between us.

By then we'd both finished eating, and we were quiet as the waitress took our dishes. Mom and I both ordered coffee, then continued to sit quietly as the waitress brought that over.

Mom had a sip of her coffee then finally asked, "What does she do with her power? She's a Goddess, but she's pretending to be human? Attending college?"

I glanced around to make sure nobody was listening in on our conversation. There were other people around but they seemed to be focused on their own conversations or meals, or one of the many TVs the restaurant had on the walls.

"She doesn't do much of anything," I replied. "And yes, she's attending college. She's taking an EMT program, because she wants to help people. She's hoping to get a job as an an ambulance attendant after she graduates, I think?"

I wasn't sure if I should tell mom that Amy and I had started using her magic to help queer people, and that we had plans to help more people going forward. I was excited about that and proud of it, but I wasn't sure how mom would react. And I definitely didn't want to talk about that in a public place. Even just discussing Amy being a Goddess was pushing it.

On the other hand there was one thing I figured I ought to remind her. I leaned forward and lowered my voice slightly as I said, "Mom remember all this is a secret right? We shouldn't be discussing it in public, and I have to ask you not to tell anyone else what you learned last night."

She rolled her eyes, "Theresa if I told anyone that my daughter was sleeping with the same Goddess that my mother used to live with they'd lock me up. I'm not going to tell anyone. I won't even tell Harvey."

"Thanks mom," I responded. "Sorry, I figured it was important enough to mention again."

Mom just nodded and continued, "We were talking about college. Are you still planning to work as a therapist after you graduate?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm still working at Bev's clinic for the intern part of my program, and the plan is I'll be working with her full time after I graduate."

"I'm glad you're keeping up with your studies," she said with a satisfied smile.

I grimaced, "I know you said you'd be in town till the eighth but I'm going to be busy during the week. I have classes, work, and I usually spend at least part of the evening studying. And half the weekend too. What are you going to do to keep yourself busy?"

Mom sipped her coffee before explaining, "I'll rent a car tomorrow, and I might check out of the hotel and find someplace in the city, at least until Friday? Perhaps I'll come back here for next weekend."

She continued, "I thought during the week while you're busy I could go and visit some of my friends. There's a few people I'd like to catch up with. We've talked and exchanged emails since I moved to Calgary, but it'll be nice to see them again."

I was glad to hear that, I'd been worried she thought I'd take a week off to keep her entertained or something.

"That sounds like a good plan," I smiled. "Keep in touch though, email or something? Especially Thursday or Friday, if you want to coordinate plans with me."

I added, "Amy's definitely not available next Friday. She put off her plans last night to spend the evening with us, I'm not going to ask her to reschedule yet again."

Mom asked, "I thought she was just working on something in your office, what was she up to?"

"She meets with some friends online," I replied. I didn't want to admit it was a game, so I tried to focus on the social side of it. "She has a friend in the UK and another on the west coast, they all meet up so they can talk through the computer since they can't get together in person."

That seemed enough to satisfy her curiosity about Amy. Instead she asked about me, "Do you spend time with any other friends? I remember after Christine moved out you complained about being lonely and not having anyone to talk to."

I sighed and tried to keep my voice down as I stated, "For the hundredth time mom, Christine wasn't a roommate who moved out. She was my girlfriend, who cheated on me then dumped me."

Mom's frowned as she looked down at her coffee cup. She looked upset, and I was worried we were about to get into an argument there in the restaurant.

After a couple seconds she looked up at me as her expression softened.

"I'm sorry Theresa," mom apologized, and it actually looked and sounded like she meant it. "I'm sorry Christine hurt you last year, and I'm sorry I made it worse by refusing to acknowledge your pain. And I'm sorry my poor choice of words upset you again just now, I didn't mean it that way."

For a few seconds I didn't know how to respond. It felt like the first time mom ever apologized for anything like that, and it was definitely the first time she acknowledged how upset I was when Christine crushed me last year. Once again I was left thinking she was trying to reconcile with me.

When I finally found my voice I replied, "Thanks mom."

We both noticed the waitress sort of hovering around, so I added "Do you want more coffee? Or do you want to get moving?"

"Do you have anything else to do this afternoon?" mom asked.

I shrugged, "I need to visit the liquor store and the grocery store for a few things. And I'll need to head back to the apartment at some point to get changed before dinner. Amy said she got us reservations for a nice restaurant tonight."

Mom offered, "I can keep you company while you do your shopping? Perhaps we can find something else to do together, until you need to head home."

"Ok mom," I agreed.

From the restaurant mom and I went to the liquor store where I picked up a couple more boxes of the cheap Riesling me and Amy drank, along with a bottle of ice-wine the staff told me would work ok with dark chocolate. Then we visited the grocery store and I found the cookies Amy wanted. I ended up doing some more shopping though, I was worried about some awkward questions from mom if my whole shopping trip was nothing but wine and cookies.

Unfortunately that meant I had to head back to the apartment to put the groceries away. Mom helped me carry things up, and I was surprised to find Amy was out. So mom and I ended up sitting in the living-room, I made us both more coffee and the two of us continued our visit and conversation.

At one point our chat turned to the new apartment, when mom asked "I take it Amy's helping with the rent? This must be a lot more expensive than your last place."

"Yeah," I nodded. "I appreciate how much you and Harvey helped me, with my education and rent and everything. I definitely couldn't afford something like this on my own."

"Is your girlfriend working as well?" mom asked.

It was only the second time she'd said girlfriend, but I appreciated that she was making the effort.

"Not at the moment," I replied. "We're ok for money though, if that's what you're worried about."

Mom asked, "Are Amy's parents helping her out too? Or..."

She frowned then grimaced, "Does she even have parents? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. It's confusing, knowing who and what she is."

I had a sip of coffee then took a deep breath before responding, "I know you're making an effort mom but that was a bit insensitive. I'm glad you're asking me those sorts of questions instead of Amy."

"And yes," I continued, "She does have parents. She's got an older sister too. She's a normal girl, she has a normal family."

Mom frowned, "She's not a normal girl Theresa. She's a Goddess."

Personally I agreed with my mom on that point, but I felt like I had to take Amy's side this time so I shook my head. "She's a normal girl who was a Goddess in a previous life. She inherited that power, but that only happened last summer. The first twenty-two years of her life she was a normal human, and that's how she thinks of herself. A normal human, who's recently come into her inheritance."

Before mom could respond, my totally normal human girlfriend suddenly appeared in the middle of the living-room, surrounded in a swirl of sparkling golden light.

"Oh," Amy grimaced. "Sorry for popping in on you two like that. I need to remember to look before I leap."

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, especially if you're teleporting into or out of public places. I hope nobody saw you?"

"Nobody saw," she insisted, though the blush that formed on her cheeks left me wondering. Then she tried to change the subject by offering, "I can go find something to do in the office if you two are having a private conversation?"

I checked the time then suggested, "Actually we could probably start getting ready now? I know it's a bit early but you and I could get changed and ready, then we can take mom back to the hotel so she can get changed as well? Then we could head over to the restaurant."

"Sure," my girlfriend agreed. "If they can't take us in a bit early we can always have a drink or two in the bar until they're ready for us. I'll be the designated driver, since it's your birthday and your mom's our guest."

"Thanks cutie," I smiled. Then I looked at mom and added, "We'll just be a few minutes, ok?"

Mom agreed, and with the plans made we got moving.

Amy and I got dressed up nice, then we waited in the car while mom went into her hotel room to get ready. The three of us got to the restaurant almost an hour before our reservation, but like my girlfriend suggested we waited in the bar. Amy had cola while mom and I had wine, until they had our table ready.

It was a somewhat fancy steak place and the food was pretty good. We were there for quite a while too, between appetizers, the main course, and we got dessert as well. Mom was a bit disappointed we weren't going to do birthday cake at home, but I enjoyed a slice of cheesecake and mom had a creme brûlée. My girlfriend passed on dessert but she had coffee while mom and I enjoyed our sugar rush.

And in near-perfect timing, the three of us left the restaurant right around nine. Mom didn't ask or complain when we took her straight back to the hotel and dropped her off. Then with my heart rate starting to climb, my Goddess girlfriend and I headed home to begin the ritual that would grant me some magic of my own.