“Maybe,” Mary said.
Every year, Ken’s family took a picture in front of the lake. This year, Mary volunteered to take it and Ken said, “No, you should be in it.” Button straightened her shoulders and Mary said, “How about I take one of just you guys and then one with me?” Button smiled at her.
On the plane ride home, Mary counted the mosquito bites on her legs. “Twenty-three!” she announced to Ken. “No, wait—twenty-four!”
Ken laughed. “I told you that you shouldn’t have gone running without bug spray on. You didn’t believe me.”
“I just thought I would be faster than the bugs,” Mary said.
“I’m glad you got to see the lake,” Ken said, and Mary smiled.
“Do you think we’l be able to go next year, with the honeymoon and everything?” Mary asked. “I’m not sure I have enough vacation time.”
“We’l work it out. Even if you can’t make it, I’l have to sneak away for a few days to get up there.”
“It’s a long trip for just a few days,” Mary said. Ken patted her knee.
When they got married, Button cried. Mary was pretty sure that they were sad tears and not happy tears. “You’re crazy,” Ken said. “My mother adores you.”
Ken danced with his mother and it was the happiest she looked al night. Mary stood near her for a little while at the reception, and when a waiter passed with a tray of shrimp, Button said, “You know that Ken can’t eat shrimp, right? He breaks out in hives.”
“Yes,” Mary said. “I know.”
“Oh, okay.” Button seemed relieved. “I just wanted to make sure. I just didn’t know why you would ever serve shrimp at your wedding if you knew your husband could break out in hives.”
Mary went to the bathroom and locked herself in the handicapped stal . She stood in her dress and breathed deep breaths until she heard Isabel a walk in.
“Mary?” Isabel a cal ed. “Are you in here?”
Mary unlocked the stal and stood there. “Button,” she said.
Isabel a nodded. “Harrison’s mother told me last weekend that she thought polka dots were out of style.”
“So?” Mary asked.
“I was wearing my pink-and-white polka dot dress,” Isabel a said.
“Okay,” Mary said. “Okay.” She and Isabel a walked back out to the reception.
When Mary found out she was pregnant, Ken cal ed his mother right away. “She’s crying,” he mouthed to Mary. Mary smiled.
They al went out to dinner to celebrate. “We should know the sex of the baby soon,” Mary said.
“Oh no! You’re going to find out?” Button looked horrified.
“Yeah, we thought it would be nice to prepare.”
“But it’s the greatest surprise of your life. Why would you ruin that?”
Mary didn’t know what to say.
“You’l have to move out of that neighborhood,” Button said. “You can’t have a baby there. It’s rather sketchy.” The neighborhood they lived in hadn’t been sketchy since the seventies. Now it was stuffed ful of Starbucks and Baby Gap and no one in their right mind would cal it sketchy.
“Maybe,” Ken said. “We’l think about it.”
“Have you thought of any names?” Button asked. Mary knew she was trying to be nice.
“We thought maybe Parker if it was a boy. And if it’s a girl, we like Lola.”
“Lola? You can’t cal a baby Lola! It sounds like a prostitute.”
“Mom,” Ken said, laughing. “It doesn’t sound like a prostitute.” Mary stayed silent.
“What about Brittany or Tiffany?” Button offered, looking at Mary. “Or Mandy or Christina?”
“Maybe,” Mary said. “We’ve got some time to decide.”
Button nodded. “Wel , if you name her Lola, then maybe I’l cal her something else.” She looked pleased, like this solved the problem. Mary tried to catch Ken’s eye, but he was looking at his cheeseburger.
“She wants her grandchild to be a teenybopper!” Mary said. “Brittany and Tiffany? What kind of names are those? Those are pretend names that you gave your pretend children in second grade!”
“Real y?” Isabel a asked. “I always went with Brandy at that age.”
