esprit - The University of Scranton

“Well, that sounds nice. You should wear your silk dress. You know,
the blue one with matching—”
“Actually, I bought something new,” the girl interrupted. “It’s a
little black one from Adam West’s. Frank loves it when I wear black.”
“Isn’t that the place we found your sophomore year? When you
were going through that awful breakup with John?”
“Jack,” she said, and shifted the phone to her left ear.
“That’s right. Jack. He transferred to a school in some big city.
New York…Philadelphia…Boston…”
“Chicago.”
“Yes. Chicago. Now I remember. Did you ever—?”
“Never mind, Mom. Frank should be coming soon.” The girl
sipped the remainder of the water, rinsed the glass, and placed it into the
dishwasher. “What did you call about?”
“Actually, I wanted to make sure that Frank is coming to your
grandmother’s for dinner next Sunday. She keeps asking to meet him.”
“Yes, of course he’ll be there.”
“Perfect.” A ten-second lull came between her words, and the girl
pictured her mother taking a deep drag from a cigarette. The girl craved
one, but Frank disliked the habit. “I’ve told her so much about him. I may
have gotten overexcited,” her mother continued. “I wouldn’t be surprised
if she checked your finger for a ring next week.”
A smile leaked from the girl’s face, and she lightly cleared her
throat.
“Honey pie?” The girl could hear the anticipation rise in her
mother’s voice. “What should we be expecting?”
“Well, Frank did stress that he has something to tell me.”
The girl distanced her ear from her mother’s squeal and reunited
with the phone to hear her mother persist, “Oh, I knew it! I didn’t want to
say anything just in case, of course. This is such wonderful news. And he’s
already found a job, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, with an accounting firm. A major one. They’ve only offered
positions to two men in our class.”
“Sweetie, I’m so happy for you. I’ll be sure to tell your father
tonight. Oh, and we’re having Mr. Thomas and his wife over. Did you
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