#willis wu

Before going into the restaurant, he headed home to call in on his Mom. To his surprise, he found his Dad at the same time.

“Hey,” he said cautiously, knocking against the door as he opened it. “Err, sorry. Is this a bad time?”

Lily looked up from the dining table. There was a stack of sheets in front of her which she tidied away before Willis could even ask.

“No. No, it's not a bad time. Come in, come in.” She encouraged. “You’re home early. You didn’t have work today?”

“I did,” Willis said, taking the seat opposite Joe. “But I did some overtime yesterday, so I got an early finish today.”

His Mom beamed. “You’re always working so hard. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, Mom. Erm, well. I’m kinda here for that reason.”

“You need money?” His Dad asked, folding his arms over his stomach.

“No, nothing like that,” Willis said, keeping his eyes on his Mom. “Thing is, I met someone. At work. Her name is Lana and…”

Lily gasped. “A girl?”

“Lana is a girl's name, yeah.”

Beaming, Lily took the chair next to him and took his hand. “What is she like?”

“She’s great. Smart, funny. Bit of a toothpick problem but,” seeing Lily’s expression, Willis dropped that, “yeah, she’s great. And, if it’s okay with you, I was thinking about bringing her over. For dinner. Maybe tomorrow night? With the family?”

Lily looked at Joe. “Did you hear that, Joe? Willis wants to bring a girl for dinner.”

“I heard.”

“Tomorrow is fine. I’ll sort everything, you just bring her over here. Is Fatty coming?”

“Sure.” Willis agreed. “Do you think Uncle would come too?”

“You know how busy the restaurant is now,” Lily said, clicking her tongue. “You’d have to ask.”

“Well, do you think you could…”

“You have to talk to him sometime, Willis,” Joe said. “Best to get it over and done.”

“Yeah. I mean, I will. I’ll talk to him at dinner.” Pushing back his chair, Willis got up. “I’ll go check in with Fatty, see if he can make it. Let me know what Uncle says okay? Thank you.”

He hastened over to the door before anyone could argue. Uncle would be way more likely to turn up if Auntie asked him. Besides, it’d be hard enough for Willis to get Fatty there. His mom could handle Uncle.

Starting with a text, Willis walked back to his room. By the time he got home, he had a reply.

“Why the fuck would I want to do that?”

Typing back, Willis said, “Come on, man. You know my Mom doesn’t do family dinners anymore, it’ll be special.”

The three-button icon showed that Fatty was trying and failing to come up with a retort.

“Fine. Only because Uncle will be there. Can’t wait to see him hand you your ass.”

Willis grimaced, his Mom must’ve already asked. Still, a win was a win.

“Thanks, dude.”

…