Amelia Unleashed

Chapter Five

“I’ve got to say, it’s great to finally meet you, Liam.” My mom says, putting a giant bowl of steaming mashed potatoes on the table. She takes a seat at her usual place. “We’ve heard so many nice things about you lately.”

“Just lately?” Liam asks with a teasing tone in his voice. Dad chuckles in return and I throw an eye roll in their direction.

“Alright, children,” my mom asks with a smile in her voice, “who wants to say grace tonight? Mia?”

“Sure.” Leading the way, my dad grabs both mine and my mom’s hands. Liam reaches over and takes hold of my other hand and instantly I feel my face flush but still grip his hand back. Closing my eyes, I begin to say grace. “Hey, God, we just want to give you thanks for providing and blessing us with good food, good friends, and good family. In Jesus name,” and we all close the prayer with a loud “amen”.

“Sure looks good, Mrs. Jacobson!” Liam cheerfully says as he puts a hefty helping of meatloaf on his plate.

“Well, thank you.” My mom responds, her head held up a little higher than normal. “What about your mom? Is she much of a cook?”

“Actually,” Liam says while he finishes chewing a large mouthful, “my mom passed away when I was twelve.”

My mom looks as if she doesn’t know what to say. After a few moments of silence she finally goes, “Oh, I’m so sorry, sweetie. I had no idea.”

He shrugs as he uses a napkin to wipe the corners of his lips. “It’s fine, really.” He looks at me with a half-smile, almost as if he’s slightly embarrassed that I had to find out this way. Automatically I feel a sort of sympathy I never thought I’d feel for him. “But yeah,” Liam puts the napkin back on his lap before taking a drink of root beer. “She was a fantastic cook, actually… before she got sick, anyways.” His eyes look down and I’m hit again with a sharp tang of sympathy, I can tell my parents feel it too; my dad slowly shakes his head and I can almost see the tears forming in my mom’s eyes.

Finally, I clear my throat of the lump quickly growing and work up enough nerve to quietly speak the words, “I had no idea either, Liam.” Out of instinct, I reach over and place my hand on his, surprising the both of us. Almost as quickly as I put it there, I take it off.

“Thank you.” He softly says, carefully picking through the plate of food in front of him with his fork.

Once again, no one knows what to say and the only sound filling the room is our forks scrapping against the China my mom insisted on taking out.

Tomorrow I leave for Wisconsin and, suddenly, I begin to think Laurel was right. Why am I going? For some reason, I even start to feel anxious. Glancing at Liam, who is currently on his second helping of everything, I start to worry that things will go back to how they were before. Before we became friends, I mean. I try to justify to myself that I only feel this way out of concern for his relationship with God, but I know that’s not the only reason. I know there’s more to it. That maybe Laurel was right about this, too. Maybe I do have feelings beyond friendship for Liam.

“What do you think, Mia?”

I quickly shake myself out of my thoughts, “What? I’m sorry.” I apologize, “My mind must have drifted off for a moment.

“You could say that again!” Liam laughs. “We were just talking about me trying out the church you guys go to.”

“I think that’s an awesome idea!” I practically shout. And then my enthusiasm dies down a bit. “Too bad I won’t be here for your first couple times going, though.” I sadly add.