Mom sits down at the table, makeup blotchy around her eyes. Samantha wishes she could wear makeup, but Mom won't let her until she's sixteen. "Why sixteen?" Samantha always asked her. Mom never gave her any specific reason, just the old stand-by, "Because I said so."
"What are you two going to order?" Mom asks, trying now to sound cheerful. "I think I'll just have a salad."
"This jalapeno cheeseburger sounds good," Dad says. "What about you, kiddo? A porterhouse steak, right?"
She puts her hand to her stomach, the nausea from earlier returning. "I'll have a salad too," she says.
They give their order to the waitress and then Dad reaches over to take Mom's hand in his. "Honey, we've got something important to tell you," Dad says. "We knew how much you've been looking forward to this vacation so we didn't want to distract you and we weren't entirely sure until this morning. No need to get your hopes up-"
"What your father is trying to say is that we called Dr. Vargas this morning for some test results and-" Mom stops to take a deep breath and to squeeze Dad's hand. "And it turns out I'm pregnant. You're going to have a baby sister or brother."
"Oh wow, really? I don't believe it!" She lunges across the table to hug Mom, not caring what anyone else in the restaurant thinks. After all these years, she is finally going to have a little sister or brother.
"Thank you, honey. We were a little worried you might not want one after being an only child for so long," Mom says.
"Of course I want a sister. Or a brother. Hopefully a sister. Do you think she'll look like Mom and I or more like Dad? Can I help you take care of her? I know you think I'm a little kid, but I take care of Mrs. Horning's kids all the time. They're not much older than babies."
"We'll talk about it when we get home," Mom says.
"What about her room? Are you going to put her in the guest bedroom? We'll have to get rid of that gross brown wallpaper in there. Can we paint the baby's room pink? It would look so cute. And if there's any paint left can we paint my room too? That balloon wallpaper is for babies. I should really have something more grown-up now." Samantha chatters on like this for the rest of dinner, not touching her food until Mom commands her to eat something.
By the time they get back to the car, Samantha's exhaustion returns. "I'm really happy for you, Mom," she says.