As we walked inside the tiny house holding hands, Aria’s mood had shifted slightly, perhaps because I hadn’t said ‘I love you’ back. I was determined to take her mind off it and have a decent evening with her and her mother.
When her mom saw us, she looked delighted. She was not as old as I had imagined in my head; in fact, she didn’t look very old at all, so she must have had Aria when she was young. Aria looked a lot like her mom, too. They were almost the spitting image of each other.
She ran to hug Aria, and they embraced for quite a while, in which time I surveyed the paintings on the wall. They all looked old and worn out. In fact, everything in this house looked like it was ready for a replacement about a few years ago. Perhaps I ought to have brought some presents…decorations for the house. If it was getting foreclosed though, then it hardly mattered. Maybe I could help her buy a new place altogether, but in Aria’s name.
After welcoming her daughter, Aria’s mother gave me a swift once-over without any expressions on her face, and then smiled heartily. “You must be Zayden,” she said, and then hugged me, making me feel slightly uncomfortable. I wasn’t particularly programmed to accept random hugs, but I shrugged and let it happen.
“Nice too finally meet you, Molly,” I said, when she broke away.
“You too, Zayden!” she exclaimed. “I hope you are hungry! I have been cooking all day. Not sure if you’re a big fan of steak or—”
“I’m sure whatever you made is fine, and I can’t wait.” I smiled at her before she nervously babbled some more. “I hope you like wine.”
Chapter Four
Aria
I was glad to notice that thus far, this dinner hadn’t been a complete disaster, something I was extremely worried about, considering the rather strong personalities of both parties that were currently meeting. Other than that little voice inside my head that was worried that Zayden hadn’t said he loved me back when I had made my confession, there was practically nothing about this night that wasn’t pleasurable.
While my mom prepared the dinner table, I entertained Zayden with some of the Scrabble that I had promised, which my mom joined as the last of the roasted vegetables were finishing up in the oven. Naturally, my mom won the game, and Zayden had the least amount of points because of trying to spell things that were made-up words. The good thing was how eased and relaxed he seemed during the whole ordeal. It was something so simple that he never seemed to get a chance to enjoy, and I felt glad to be able to give him what was missing from his seemingly perfect life.
Once dinner was ready, we sat on the small four-occupancy dining table, which my mom had obviously bought since our last visit. Perhaps it was in exchange for our large mahogany table, which was glaringly missing. I felt an odd sort of a discomfort in my chest as I took my seat across from Zayden and tried hard not to catch anybody’s eyes.
My mom had put together an elaborate dinner for somebody in her economic stature. Enormous Porterhouse steaks that appeared grilled to perfection, a plate full of spicy and crunchy-looking shrimp, mashed potatoes cooked with Gouda – perhaps one of my all-time favorites growing up from all of my mom’s cooking – and an assortment of roasted vegetables. In addition, there was a whole side for dessert with various fruits, chocolate ice cream cake, apple pie, and cookie dough ice cream.
“Mom, you really went all out,” I gasped, and noticed even Zayden seemed to be impressed, which I supposed was her intention.
She shrugged, although her smile gave away that she was rather pleased with herself. “It was no big deal, really. Just threw some things together hastily. Eat up!”
As I started eating the delicious food, I forgot all about the pressure that was supposed to be present in the current situation, where I was introducing my boyfriend to my mother. For the first time since my high school prom date, I remembered suddenly. No wonder she had gone out of her way with this dinner. Or perhaps it was the little side fact that the guy was spending 60,000 dollars to help her out, I realized stupidly.
This wasn’t about meeting my boyfriend at all. This was about feeding a nice meal to the guy who was helping her out as a token of appreciation. For some reason, that made me feel sad, so I focused all my attention on the juicy steak that was filling all my senses.
“Mmm,” I heard Zayden moan, telling me that he was equally impressed with dinner, which was an accomplishment given that he had an international superchef at his beck and call 24/7.
“Let’s open the wine, shall we?” Mom’s voice pulled me out of my foodgasm.
“What?” I felt a little disoriented for a moment.
“The wine your boyfriend so nicely bought for me, shall we open it, then?” She smiled.
I looked at Zayden, who seemed as blown away from the dinner as I was, and he nodded. “Sure, if you would like. It’s yours to do with as you please.” He smiled.
By the time she returned with the freshly opened bottle of wine, we had managed to help ourselves to third servings of everything on the table.
“Molly,” Zayden sighed at last. “You don’t suppose you would be interested in a career as a chef, would you?”
I knew immediately what he was suggesting, so I gave Zayden a stern look that was meant to read, “Not another word!” But Mom just giggled, thinking of it as just a stray compliment.
“It’s nothing. Aria is a really good cook, too. I’m sure you’ve had her cooking plenty of times. The mashed potatoes and Gouda, at the very least!”
I looked intensely at the marks on the new dining table, aware of Zayden’s amused gaze. “No, actually,” I heard him say from beside me. “I have not quite had the pleasure of eating Aria’s cooking just yet. But if tonight is any indication of what I was missing, then I have to say I am very disappointed you never invited me for dinner.”
My mom looked at me reproachfully. “Sweetheart, that’s not very nice, especially since you told me he made you dinner the other night.”
“He grilled,” I said automatically. Feeling kind of guilty I added, “Yes, he did, and I was planning to invite him over this weekend, but then we decided to come see you instead. Would you have rather we not?”
“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “I am happy you guys decided to pay me a visit. I was going crazy all by myself. This wine is amazing, by the way,” she added, sipping on the red in her glass. “The best I have ever had. Is it foreign or can I find it locally?”