I obeyed and opened the door and stepped out. There was no resisting the faith that woman possessed.
My eyes took in the beach and the sea that was beyond. I saw Trent leaning over a car that had the hood up. I made my way over to him. He glanced up at me from across the engine compartment, as I let my eyes run admiringly over the car for a moment. It was a Shelby Mustang in vintage condition. It was even in my favorite color, which was blue.
I met Trent's gaze, "You have a very fine horse."
He smiled slightly and then let the hood down. He leaned back against it, as he wiped his oily hands off on a rag, "Why are you here?"
He'd asked so I told him. I told him in greater detail than what I had told his mother. He stared at me the whole time in a mixture of anguish and anger. I well knew the double feeling of torment myself. We stood there quiet for a long moment.
"Can I have an hour to think about it?"
I nodded.
There wasn't a doubt in me, whether or not he was going along. The time to think about it was simply code for; 'I need to tell my mother'. I left him alone then and headed back to the house intending to go on through and wait in the car.
Ella was waiting for me at the door, "What did he say?"
I made a big mistake then as I said, "He needs a little time to think about it."
"Time to think about it!" She exploded.
She stormed out the back door headed for her son. Oh boy, I'd just blown it up for Trent.
Her shouted words came through clearly over the crashing of the surf on the beach, "Time to think about it! I didn't give birth to a sissy minded pragmatic oddsmaker! Your girl needs you and if you think I'm going to let you…"
"Whoa hold up mom! I'm going!"
"Oh, well then why didn't you say so?"
"I wanted to inform you of my decision first."
"Oh."
Less than an hour later I was pulling away from the beachside cottage with Trent beside me in the car. I looked over at him, "Your mother…!" I just shook my head leaving the rest unsaid.
"Yeah!" He commented dryly, "She can be a real force of nature when she wants to be."
Ella watched them drive off until they were out of sight before she closed the door. As it latched she turned her back to it and sank down to the floor inelegantly. Her emotions let loose, as her shaking hands grasped together, as her head fell forward onto them.