“Yes, you remember I’ve told you about Professor Milton, right?” she asked.
“Of course,” I nodded. “She’s your favorite professor.”
“Exactly,” Zoey nodded. “She recommended me to Hammersmith’s!”
“Hmm… the name sounds familiar.”
“It’s this exclusive private music school in the city,” Zoey explained. “They teach music to children of all ages, and they have this amazing auditorium that they rent out for special music concerts and performances. Anyway… it’s an amazing school with wonderful programs, and they’re willing to give me a temporary contract there. It’s six months, but if I do well and the fit is right, they’ll hire me in as part of the permanent staff. They don’t usually hire people that easily, but Professor Milton really went to bat for me, and they had a vacancy because one of their teachers just them to move abroad… so the stars all aligned in my favor.”
She was incredibly excited, and I didn’t want to take away from her victory, so I kept mum about the check in my back pocket. I’d let dinner be just about her, and I decided I would tell her my good news after dessert when it was just the two of us.
“When are our guests expected?” I asked.
“They’re on their way,” Zoey told me. “Leah is coming with mom and Seth. Any news from Zack?”
“He should be on the way too,” I nodded, glancing towards the table again.
“Babe?”
“Yes?”
“I think you’ve miscalculated.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… we have four guests coming, six in total with us,” I said. “You’ve set two extra place settings.”
“Oh,” Zoey said, looking away from me guiltily. “That’s not a mistake.”
“It’s not?” I asked, with a frown.
“I invited two more people,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” I said. “Whoever you want to invite is fine… who are the extra two?”
“Uh… your parents,” Zoey said, as she turned to the stove.
“What?”
Zoey placed the meat on the table and gave me another smile. “I’m sorry, I probably should have run it by you first, but I was thought you might say no and then I wouldn’t
have been able to do it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that reasoning. “It’s fine,” I said. “I just think… it might be a little awkward.”
“Maybe it won’t be,” Zoey said. “Your parents were very nice to me.”
“You they like,” I pointed out. “Me… not so much.”
“They bought one of your paintings, didn’t they?” Zoey pointed out.
“Probably out of pity.”
“Doesn’t matter… even if it was pity that fueled the purchase, that pity came from love.”
I smiled and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter… I don’t mind that you invited them anyway. Just prepare yourself… this night might not turn out like you expected it to.”
“Meaning it might be a disaster?” Zoey asked, reading between the lines.