This time, I don’t press her. Unlike at lunch, I give her space to open up to me. I know that she wants to talk to me, she just might not want to speak to me right at this moment.

Sydney opens an issue of Oprah magazine and leafs through the pages. I turn on my iPad and start to read my mom’s latest release. I haven’t read one of her books in a while and the story captivates me right from the beginning.

“Don’t you want to know about it?” Sydney says in a huff, closing the magazine on her lap and turning toward me.

“Of course, I do. I just didn't want to push you.”

“Well, push away.”

“Okay, tell me everything.”

Sydney takes a deep breath and starts at the beginning. She tells me about how hard she fell for him when they first met and how she thought he was the love of her life.

She loved sharing him with other women and men but when he cheated on her, it broke her heart.

They had strict rules about that kind of thing and have talked about it in detail. There was to be no cheating and no romantic or sexual talking or texting with anyone when the other person wasn’t there.

And then the day after she caught him and broke up with him, she found out she was pregnant.

“How far along are you?” I ask.

“Six weeks.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I'm going to keep it.”

I smile at her, in awe of her bravery.

Honestly, I don’t know what I would do if I found myself in her situation. To say it would be a difficult decision would be a gross understatement.

“It was sort of around the time that I was talking to my mom on the phone and I casually joked about what would happen if we broke up,” Sydney says. “And she just interrupted me and said that she would cut me off.”

“Seriously?” I ask. “Just because she likes him so much?”

“Yes and no. It’s more than that. She basically thinks I’m a fuck up and if James were to break up with me then it would be my fault.”

“But what if you told her he cheated on you?”

“She’s one of those old school women who thinks that men cheat only if they aren’t getting what they need at home.”

“That’s…disgusting,” I mumble. “Sorry, I mean, I know she’s your mom but that’s awful.”

Sydney shrugs. “Yeah, it’s pretty shitty.”

I don’t say anything for a while, feeling her predicament.

“But you can’t marry him and start a life with him if you don’t love him,” I say.