“Do you think I did the right thing getting the limousine, Ned?” I asked, unsure, more to hear some kind of a reaffirmation than anything else.
Ned didn’t speak for a while, which was rather odd.
“Ned?”
“I am sorry, Zay, I want to agree with you, I really do, but come on, a limo? To see your girlfriend’s mother?” He made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a chuckle but hid it with a cough, so as not to offend.
“Shit. What do I do now?” Ned’s honesty had scared the shit out of me. “She is going to hate me, isn’t she?”
“You are spending sixty thousand dollars to help out this woman, she couldn’t hate you if you landed on her backyard in a helicopter. A limo is a bit much, yes, and you should keep that in mind for next time, but this won’t hurt your impression much. Don’t worry.”
“If you say so.” I sighed as we pulled outside of Aria’s apartment building. Some college girls walking outside were pointing at the car and giggling so I presumed that they had never seen a limo in the area before.
“We are here,” I said into the phone to Aria and hung up. She arrived shortly, dressed in jeans and a casual navy t-shirt, making my heart sink. I was wearing a suit, as I almost always did. It hadn’t even occurred to me to dress down.
“Hi,” Aria said moving into the car. Her face made it obvious that she had wanted to burst out laughing and it was taking a lot for her to keep a straight face. “Limo,” she said, the sides of her mouth twitching.
I felt the strangest sensation in my stomach, something I couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t anger or frustration or – I realized with a jolt that I was embarrassed. Not used to such a feeling at all, I wasn’t sure what the appropriate reaction was.
“I’m sorry,” I said, hoping apology would cut it.
“No, no, why are you sorry?” Her face was starting to look pained. “It’s—” she gestured around the car. “It’s quite – exclusive. And you look, uh, you look very professional.”
We both burst out laughing at the same time.
“Oh God, Zayden, what were you even thinking?” she said between laughs. “We are going to the suburbs to see my mother, in her house. This isn’t some business meeting where you have a client to impress.”
“I do have a client to impress, though,” I said matter-of-factly. “I doubt your mother will allow me to continue dating her daughter if I don’t impress her.”
“Yes, but there is a huge difference between your business partners and my mom. You can’t employ a one-size fits all approach to dealing with human beings.”
She shook her head, still giggling, but I wasn’t laughing any more.
“Do you think I don’t know how to deal with people?” I was taken aback.
“No, no, no. That’s not what I meant at all!” She looked horrified by my reaction. “Of course you’re fantastic with people. You have built and expanded upon a wonderful business by winning people over. Dale Carnegie would be so proud of you—”
“But?” I said impatiently. “Just get to the but, Aria.”
“But you’re a businessman,” she said meekly. “You think of every interaction as a business opportunity. Like there is always a give and take involved. Like you must ensure certain advantages of having the interaction in the first place.”
“Well.” I frowned. “What else am I supposed to do?”
“With my mom, don’t worry about impressing her. She’s already impressed with you based on the fact that you, you know, paid off her hospital bills without even so much as ever meeting her just because you cared about me.”
“So I shouldn’t try at all?” She was really confusing me.
“No, but try less intensely. If you really want to get along with her – and notice I said get along, not ‘impress’ – then you have to find out what she is like and what interests her. Limos and suits are not those things.”
“What does she like, then? What is she like?” I was genuinely curious at this point. I had assumed that the woman who gave birth to the force that was Aria Roberts was bound to be no less fierce.
“She is very simple.” Aria shrugged. “She is an everyday woman. Very loving, enjoys feeding her children and everybody who visits her house. She likes puzzles and board games.”
“Wow,” I said thinking back. “I haven’t played any board games since I was ten years old.”
She looked shocked upon hearing this and her eyes widened twice their size. “What? You never play board games?”
“Is that something adults do regularly?” It was strange to think that there was a whole other world out there where people participated in activities like board games. Perhaps families spent time together that way, I wouldn’t know. My had been unique compared to Aria’s. I wanted to be part of her life.