Process of elimination

Lucy was the next to choose her seat and she made it very clear she wasn't willing to sit next to you. Before Sarah was even aware of the decision she needed to make, Lucy dragged her into her side of the booth leaving only the seat next to you for Mom to take.

With everyone sitting down, a waitress came over to hand you all a menu, before disappearing just as quickly. You weren't sure if they were trying to avoid unnecessary comments about the style of the place but you were quite happy with them leaving you alone for the most part. You all sat there quietly for a little while as you had a look at what was available on the menu. As you expected, there were some more diet-friendly options that had most definitely been what Grace had chosen from when she had dined here but that wasn't really what you were looking for.

You did a bit of debating between quite a few options for yourself and everyone else seemed to be having the same dilemma. Lucy and Sarah seemed to be discussing their choices amongst themselves so you turned to Mom and did the same in hopes of finding a way to narrow down your options.

“What are you stuck between?” you asked, leaning over and taking a peek at the section she was looking at in the menu. Mom listed the options she wanted that were both just different varieties of pizza that sounded like good options to you. With nothing else picked out for yourself you decided to get the two between you and have about half each. You knew Mom was unlikely to finish a whole one by herself so you now potentially had the task of eating the extra slices.

It also looked like your sisters had also made up their minds but had both gone for pasta dishes instead. The waitress seemed to pop back up at just the right time and you all ordered your food alongside some drinks. You, Sarah and Lucy, went for soft drinks and before Mom could make the same decision the waitress showed off a selection of wines that had been selected by the restaurant.

“You’re not gonna get a glass of wine or something?” you asked, trying to get Mom to have a drink.

“And who’s gonna drive us home?” Mom replied.

“I can if you want?” Lucy interjected. “It's not like one drink is gonna get you drunk so you might as well enjoy one if you want”.

“Yeah Mom, enjoy yourself” Sarah added, for no reason other than agreeing with Lucy.

With three against one, Mom caved in and ordered a glass of red that was recommended before the waitress once again left the table. Mom looked happy to have an opportunity to loosen up a little for once and seemed content to sip her drink while the rest of you were waiting for yours to arrive. A secret you knew, that it looked like Lucy or Sarah weren't aware of, was that Mom had a really low tolerance for ****. You wouldn't blame them for not noticing considering the occasions where Mom would find herself having a drink were few and far between. The only reason you knew was because you had caught her one night with Grace when you were hanging out with Emma. Grace had told you the details later that they had only shared a bottle between them before Mom had started to get tipsy.

Getting her to loosen up around you a bit more sounded like a good step forward in terms of KDK progress but it was also a bit of a double-edged sword. Taking advantage of her would almost certainly raise alarm bells for her and although you certainly did want to take things further, getting her drunk wasn't the way to do it. You were hoping that 1 or 2 glasses would be the sweet spot between sober and tipsy without her getting full-blown drunk.

It only took a little time for the rest of your drinks to arrive and with nobody else starting up a conversation, you decided to take the lead.

“So, what did you end up buying while I was gone?” you asked, directing the question to Mom rather than the whole table.

“Oh nothing much. Just a couple of tops and a new pair of jeans. Same as Lucy really. Sarah was the one to buy the most didn’t you?” Mom answered, throwing the conversation to your sister.

“It wasn’t that much. I only got a few tops, some skirts and some new boots. Ooh and I got that underwear set that looked nice” Sarah happily responded, excited about all the stuff she’d managed to get.

“Yeah I bet he’d think they look nice” Lucy mumbled under her breath, not quite loud enough for Mom to hear but she could tell it wasn’t a nice comment.

“...What about you sweetie?” Mom asked you, choosing to ignore Lucy’s backtalk

“No I didn’t get anything. It was more window shopping than anything else. I don’t really need any new PC stuff so it was just to see what's new really” you said, trying to avoid any specifics to not bore them and to avoid lying about the fact that you didn't even really get a look at anything PC related until after you had left Rebecca.

You managed to maneuver your way through a conversation between the four of you with only a few unnecessary comments from Lucy which you could tell were starting to get harder and harder for Mom to ignore. Sarah had also started to look a little uncomfortable and kept shooting you glances as if asking you to sort it out. You didn't have any ideas on how to get her to stop and luckily for you, the food arrived shortly after. With the arrival interrupting the conversation, the plates were passed around the table before you and Mom set about dividing your meals to share between the two of you.

“And would Madame like a top-up of her glass?” the waitress asked, holding out the same bottle of wine that she had previously suggested. Mom looked at her glass and was surprised to see that she had nearly drained the full thing and with very little left to accompany the meal, she accepted the waitress's offer.

Now that you all had meals in front of you and mostly full drinks, you set about digging into the food. You tried a slice each from the two pizza options you had available and had trouble deciding which one you liked the most. Both tasted fantastic and from the sounds Mom was making next to you, she was thoroughly enjoying it as well. Sarah also seemed to be happy with hers as she wolfed down the pasta in front of her while Lucy tried to act more dignified in her rush to eat as quickly as possible.

It took a while for all of you to start talking again but Mom was the first when she realised she still had too many slices to finish in front of her.

“Do either of you girls wanna try some of this? I think both me and Max have a bit too much between us” Mom asked, looking back and forth between Sarah and Lucy to gauge their reaction.

Sarah immediately took the opportunity to reach for Mom’s plate before Lucy made another remark.

“I’m not sharing anything with that perv” she spat out, causing Sarah to awkwardly stop, just before she could grab a slice.

The silence was deafening at the table but the expression on Mom's face showed that she had finally had enough and could no longer ignore all the comments that she had been hearing throughout the entire day.

“Right!, Explain yourself missy. What is going on with you today? At almost every opportunity you've made a snide comment about your brother and as far as I can tell, he's done nothing to you the entire day! “ Mom exclaimed, seemingly ignoring how loud she was speaking in front of the other patrons.

“I don't think we should talk about this out in public” Lucy nervously replied, trying to look around Sarah to see if anyone had been disturbed by the outburst.

“You didn't seem as hesitant earlier when you were the one with the outburst” Mom huffed, grabbing her wine and taking a large glug to finish off the glass. You didn't dare speak up and jump between the two and Sarah seemed to be in the same boat.

“I really think she should save this for later” Lucy responded, clenching her fist as if holding herself back.

“Fine, if you're not gonna explain yourself, at least apologise to your brother” Mom demanded.

Lucy stared at you with a look of contempt before looking back to Mom who was clearly not backing down. You weren't sure if it was the wine or her reaching a breaking point but in either case, Mom would stop at nothing to get a response out of Lucy. Lucy clenched her fist even harder before a look of resolution flashed across her eyes.

“Alright fine, if you really wanna know…” Lucy started, not willing to back down either.