Zayden
Aria had somehow convinced me to redo the dinner with her mother, but go about things a little differently this time. For one, she had picked me up in her car, a blue Ford Taurus that she managed to drive pretty well but kept me on my toes the whole time nonetheless. I wasn’t sure I had sat in a car quite like it before. It was incredibly small, the seats felt like they were made of plastic, and my legs were hurting from the little room in her front seat.
“You okay there?” she asked, eyeing me quizzically.
“Yeah.” I smiled, trying hard to ignore the discomfort. “I’m great. I’m with you.”
That had the desired effect of making her blush, to my relief, and she didn’t ask me any more questions regarding my comfort for the rest of the ride.
We pulled into her mom’s driveway and I was met once more with the foreclosure notice.
“How long does your mom have the house?” I asked Aria as we walked in.
She shrugged nervously. “I am not sure. She’s had the notice for a while, but my mom doesn’t like to discuss it with me very much. She feels guilty, so I don’t ask her questions.”
“Hmm,” I said, thinking I would figure out how to help them out of this situation soon.
Molly received us with a huge smile despite the way I had walked out of here the last time.
“Thank you so much for coming over again,” she said joyfully.
“Of course! I am sorry I had to run out the other night. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. It was just…” I looked at the floor, afraid to accidentally catch Aria’s eyes. “Stuff came up at work, you know how it goes.”
“Absolutely!” Molly exclaimed. “Don’t worry about it. You must be busy running the bank. I am grateful that you could make some time to come over again. Aria, why don’t you take Zayden into the living room and you guys hang out while I prepare dinner?”
“I…let me help,” I said uncertainly. “I am not too bad of a chef myself.”
“Oh he’s brilliant,” Aria chimed in.
Molly looked uncomfortably from me to Aria and back. “That’s quite wonderful of you to offer but I can’t possibly…you’re a guest her
e.”
I waved my hand nonchalantly. “Please. I insist.”
“If you want.” She shrugged.
“I’ll set up the table and the living room and you can help him mom,” Aria said brightly and walked away, leaving me to join her mother in the kitchen.
“So what are we in the mood for?” I asked, surveying the kitchen. It was small, but very well structured. I quite admired the simplicity.
“I was going to make some steaks.” Molly still looked nervous.
“That happens to be my specialty! I can throw in some sautéed vegetables as well. You can chop them off for me if you feel like it. But really, feel free to just go hang out with Aria in the living room. You made us a delightful dinner the other night as it is.”
“Don’t be silly, I want to help,” she said, pulling out the chopping board and some mushrooms and zucchini.
As we worked on the dinner, Molly began opening up somewhat. To an uncomfortable degree almost. Her questions were getting a little intense.
“So Aria was telling me you have been married before. Your ex-wife, where is she now?” she asked casually while chopping onions, like she might as well have been asking about the weather.
“Uh.” I was completely stumped, unsure how to take that question or answer it. “She’s around. I’m not sure where, we don’t exactly keep in touch.”
“That’s not what I heard,” she said, looking up at me for a brief moment and then changed the topic like that hadn’t just happened. “So how long have you been seeing Aria?”
“I’m sure she has told you, Molly.” I was trying hard not to be frustrated but I knew where she was going with this and didn’t feel like I deserved an interrogation after all that I had been doing for her family.
“Yes, but I was hoping to hear your side of the story. It’s quite alright if you’re not up to telling me much.”