Aka Amy

I wasn't sure if I'd ever get used to being teleported, but I had to admit it was a lot more convenient than just about any other kind of travel.

We were in the living-room of our apartment when I closed my eyes, then a few seconds later I opened my eyes to find Amy and I surrounded by woods. A good-sized river was visible through the trees off to our left. We could hear music playing and plenty of voices off to our right, and we could see lots of colours and people moving around just past the trees in that direction.

My girlfriend frowned, "This park sounds a lot busier than I was expecting."

"Anyways I think the cafe should probably be in that direction?" she added as she gestured to the right.

I shrugged, "I've never been here before cutie. This is my first trip to Calgary, I really don't know my way around the place."

"Apparently only one of us actually looked at a map ahead of time," she commented with a smirk.

I grinned as we started walking the way she'd indicated, "You're the one in charge of getting us here, so all the navigation is up to you. I'm just the passenger."

It only took us a moment to emerge from the trees, then we both stopped in our tracks. We were on the edge of a park, but it was definitely a lot more crowded than either of us anticipated. And there were a lot more rainbow flags in view than I'd have expected for a typical Saturday in Calgary. More than just rainbows, I started noticing other familiar pride flags too. Lesbian, trans, bi, ace, and more.

"I thought Pride was in June," Amy commented quietly.

I smiled, "Maybe Calgary does it in August?"

"I guess," my girlfriend nodded. "And apparently I just teleported us into the middle of it."

"Appropriate," I laughed.

Amy glanced at me and asked, "But how are we going to find Jodie in all this?"

"Oh my goddess," I grimaced. "I bet she wasn't expecting this either. She should be at the restaurant though? So if we can find that, she should be there."

The park wasn't actually all that big, probably only a half a kilometre across and less than a hundred and fifty meters wide, but with the festivities under way it took Amy and I a few minutes to wander around until we spotted the restaurant. And by the time we got there we'd both picked up a couple more rainbow, lesbian, and trans pride pins for our collection.

"There it is," Amy finally said, as she pointed out the building on the south side of the island park.

We headed over towards it, and as we neared we both saw my mother waiting just outside. Mom looked a little harried as she greeted us both, "Hello Theresa, Amy. I'm sorry things are so busy here, it completely slipped my mind that this festival thing started up this weekend."

"Hi mom," I replied with a smile. "It's fine, if there's one thing Amy and I don't mind it's showing up for Pride."

Mom and I exchanged a hug, then she and Amy greeted each other too before mom suggested "I made us reservations for eleven, why don't we go inside and get comfortable? It should be quieter in there, so we can talk over brunch."

It was about one in the afternoon back home which meant it was only eleven in the morning here, and neither Amy or I had eaten yet since we knew we'd be having a meal as soon as we arrived. And we weren't sure if we'd be staying or not, but we both brought small overnight bags just in case.

I was surprised at the mention of reservations, "I thought you said we'd be eating at this little cafe?"

"We are," she nodded as she led Amy and I to the door.

Although the place called itself a 'cafe' it turned out to be what I'd call a 'fine dining establishment'. It was kind of posh and both my girlfriend and I were very under-dressed. I was just wearing a t-shirt shorts and running shoes, while Amy wore a sundress and sandals. My mom was dressed more appropriately, in light blue slacks and a pale yellow blouse.

The hostess didn't comment on our outfits, she just greeted the three of us and asked if we had reservations. Then we were led to a table next to the window, with a view of the river on the south side of the island, and beyond that was Calgary's downtown core.

The menu seemed a bit pretentious and everything was kind of pricey, but mom picked the place and it was her treat so I wasn't going to complain. When our waitress came to take care of us mom ordered some kind of salmon quiche that sounded fancy, Amy went with pancakes and sausages, while I got my usual eggs benedict.

Amy and I also ordered coffee, but mom wanted to get us something a little more celebratory. So she ordered some fancy breakfast cocktails for the three of us. The drinks were just prosecco and fresh-squeezed Okanagan orange juice, but it was pretty tasty.

After a gulp of my spiked juice I asked, "So how are you doing mom? Is everything ok with you and Harvey?"

She sighed as she had a long sip of her drink. That was followed by an awkward pause, before she finally responded "It's hard to talk about Theresa. I don't want to upset you, but you really don't need to worry about me ok? I'm very happy to see you though, I'm grateful you and Amy were willing to come all this way for a visit."

"I'm sure you noticed that we both brought overnight bags," I told her. "We don't have to head back to Ontario until tomorrow evening. I was thinking maybe the four of us could get together for dinner tonight?"

Mom's expression told me immediately she didn't like that idea. She confirmed that a moment later by shaking her head, "I don't think that's a good idea hon? For one thing how would you explain travelling all this way just for a single day's visit?"

She lowered her voice and asked, "Wouldn't that mean telling him about magic, or revealing Amy's secret?"

Amy and I exchanged a quick glance, then my girlfriend responded "If it becomes an issue we could lie? Claim we got cheap airline tickets on a standby or discount basis or something like that?"

"I take it you didn't tell him you were meeting us for brunch," I commented.

Mom looked guilty as she shook her head, "No Theresa, I didn't. I didn't mention brunch at all, he doesn't know I'm meeting anyone. He doesn't know I was coming here either, which would be even harder to explain."

For a moment I thought she was referring to the restaurant, then it occurred to me she probably meant the island or the park. That was probably a hint right there, if my step-dad was liable to get bent out of shape that mom happened to accidentally show up at Pride. I tried not to jump to any conclusions though.

"So what's really going on?" I asked. "You said the two of you had been arguing lately, do you want to talk about it?"

Mom grimaced, "I'd really rather not hon. Not right now anyways? Let's not spoil our brunch. Perhaps we can talk about it later."

"All right mom," I replied as I suppressed a sigh.

She gave me a grateful smile, then had a larger gulp of her drink before asking "How are you two doing? Theresa you were having trouble at work when we spoke, has that been resolved?"

I nodded, "Fortunately yes. It's more or less back to business as usual. I'm not allowed to do any more magic or miracles in the clinic, which is a bit annoying. Next time I help a trans client I'll have to figure out a way to get around the rules, but apart from that things are going well again."

The three of us talked about that for a few minutes, until the waitress returned with our food. Mom's quiche thing looked really fancy while Amy's pancakes and sausages smelled great. And my eggs benedict had my mouth watering as soon as the plate was in front of me. Instead of the usual ham or bacon it was served with braised beef short-ribs, and the whole thing was a lot more elaborate than I was used to.

It also reminded me of something Siggy said last weekend, about good food being one of the best things humans ever came up with. As I got started on my meal I decided the little torty was right.

The three of us talked more during our meal, mostly about what to do with the rest of our day. And since neither Amy or I had been to Calgary before, mom suggested taking us on a little walking tour.

She gestured out the window, "That's the Eau Claire Plaza over there, there's some interesting shops and a market. We could go and browse if you like? We could also visit The Core, that's Calgary's answer to Toronto's Eaton Centre. There's plenty of nice shops and things to see there too, including an indoor botanical park. Or if you want to do some sight-seeing we could visit the Calgary Tower? It's just a short walk from here."

Amy smiled, "All of that sounds good to me? Like Tess said we don't have to head back home until tomorrow evening so we have plenty of time to see the sights. I'm sure there's going to be some interesting stuff going on right here at the park too. Does the Pride festival last all weekend?"

My mom grimaced, "I'm pretty sure it runs all week in fact. The big parade will be next weekend."

"Oh that's cool," my girlfriend responded.

"Mom are you sure we can't get together with Harvey for dinner tonight?" I asked. "Or if he's busy then what about tomorrow? Maybe the four of us could all have lunch together? Or dinner?"

Mom shook her head, "I'm still not sure that's a good idea Theresa?"

I frowned, "Why not? I know he and I aren't that close, but it'd still be nice to see him."

Mom sighed then drank back the last of her breakfast cocktail. She finally gestured towards the pride pins I had on my t-shirt, "He's not very accepting of that sort of thing hon. I'm sorry. It never really came up before, when I was... I never made any comments or references to that sort of thing before, or mentioned the fact that you're gay. But when I got back home after visiting with you and Amy in the spring I told him that you were engaged. That was all well and good, until I told him you were engaged to another young woman."

Even though I already kind of expected that was the case I still felt a little hurt to hear her confirm it.

I gave her a sad look as I asked, "And that's why you two have been arguing? Because of me?"

"It's not your fault," mom insisted. Then she sighed again, "It's still difficult though. Harvey and I... We get along well in so many other ways. But I won't let him get away with saying unkind things about my daughter. Or my mother either, for that matter."

She added quickly, "Not that he does that on a regular basis. But he does sometimes make blanket statements about 'the gays' and I suppose I used to ignore it or let it pass when I was in denial about things? I can't do that anymore, and I won't let him get away with it when the people he's condemning include my own child."

"Thanks mom," I replied quietly as I gave her a sad smile. "I appreciate you standing up for me like that, but I'm sorry you're in a situation where you have to keep doing that."

I continued, "I'll stop pushing for the four of us getting together for dinner. I get it would probably be really awkward or uncomfortable for all of us."

"I'm sorry Theresa," mom apologized again. "I know you mean well, and I really appreciate you and Amy both coming out here to see me. Knowing that we're not going to be able to get together for dinner or to visit with Harvey, I'll understand if you both want to head back home again after lunch."

"What do you think cutie?" I asked as I looked at my girlfriend.

Amy shrugged, "We're here and we've got our overnight bags, so I'm up for doing some sight-seeing? If we can find a hotel room for the night I'm up for staying the weekend. But I don't mind heading back home either."

My mom suggested, "There's a nice hotel just across the river there, near the Eau Claire Plaza. I don't know if they'll have rooms available but we could go and check?"

"We can probably find out online," my girlfriend responded.

She got her phone out and started tapping on that, while my mom and I continued enjoying our brunch.

It only took a minute or two before Amy put her phone down and announced, "I got us a suite there for tonight. Check-in isn't until three so we can do some sight-seeing first."

"Thanks Amy," I smiled. "So what do we want to go and see while we're waiting?"

Mom suggested, "If you want to have a look at the festival we could wander around the park here? Then we can head over to the plaza and market. It should be ok for you to check in by the time we're finished with all that? Then if you like I could take you to the Calgary Tower, or The Core if you want?"

"That sounds good to me," I replied. "What do you think Amy?"

My girlfriend nodded, "Sounds perfect."