Chapter Three
Zayden
Ned was driving the limo on the day I was to finally meet Aria’s mother. Despite her many protests, I had decided that there was nothing wrong in displaying how affluent I was. If anything, it would perhaps help her feel a little less badly about my investment. It always worried me that Aria thought that the money was worth more to me than it really was, and I did not want her mother to start feeling so indebted too.
“Do you think I did the right thing getting the limousine, Ned?” I asked, unsure, more to hear some kind of an affirmation 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 60,000 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 an 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 anymore.
“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 10 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 life had been unique compared to Aria’s. I wanted to be part of her life.
“Yeah, me and my roommates play them all the time. And card games, they are fun too. You never get too old to huddle around the people you love and get extremely competitive over things that don’t matter in the long run.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I said ruefully with a little smile.
“Don’t be like that. You know what us regular people don’t get to do? Fly to the Bahamas in a moment’s notice. So don’t sit there feeling all sorry for yourself. And if you really like, we can play some Scrabble with my mother tonight, but just know that she likes to win. If you don’t let her, it’s not going to go well.”
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to try too hard,” I said, now grinning at her.
“You know what I meant. Now can we please stop by a store on our way there so you can get into some regular people clothes? The limo we can deal with, but you really want to get more comfortable if you don’t want her fussing about how hard you must work that you came to visit her straight in your work clothes.”
“One condition,” I said. “You pick out the clothes for me.”
Shopping with Aria was an exciting affair, mostly because she picked out items of clothing that I would never in a million years deem appropriate for a meeting such as the one that was about to transpire. I didn’t understand how her mother was going to approve of me with slightly ripped jeans. Aria matched them alongside a navy blue T-shirt that supposedly made my eyes pop out. I shrugged since she probably knew what she was doing.
When we were back in the car, Aria looked much more relaxed then when she had first walked in. Even Ned seemed to be pleased with what she had picked out as well, to my utter confusion.
“How do you feel?” Aria asked me happily as we continued to drive along.
“I can’t really feel my muscles tighten as usual,” I joked.
“That’s called being relaxed and comfortable,” she joked back. Aria laughed endearingly. “You should get used to it.”
“I suppose.” I shrugged. “Anyways, I bought your mom a bottle of wine. Does she like wine?”
“She loves wine. Red.”
“Perfect, I had a bottle of Pinot Noir ordered from the most expensive vineyard in Napa Valley. It only arrived yesterday, and I think your mom is going to love it because it’s seasonal and not available for retail. Members of the vineyard club are the only ones allowed to purchase it.”
“She drinks 10 dollar Yellow Tail. I highly doubt she can tell the difference.” She must have noticed the disappointment in my face, cause she immediately added, “I mean, she will most definitely appreciate the thought, though. I didn’t mean – that was very nice of you, Zayden.”
“It’s no big deal.” I waved my hand nonchalantly. “I just hope she likes it. I didn’t know what else to get her. I should have probably asked you. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. Perhaps I was a little nervous. I haven’t met a girlfriend’s parents in very long time, to be honest.”
For some reason, that made her blush and she looked away, not helping my nerves whatsoever.
“Everything okay?” I frowned.
She looked back at me. “Yeah, I just haven’t gotten used to you calling me your girlfriend yet. It feels nice.”
I pulled her into me in a tight embrace and lightly stroked her hair. “Well, you better get used to it.”
She let out a soft giggle. “Look how far you have come from being a womanizer. You are really sweet.”
“Shh,” I whispered. “We don’t need anyone to ever know that at the office.”
So we rode in a silent embrace all the way to her mother’s house. Meanwhile, I pondered upon what she had said and all the things that had happened this evening. I couldn’t quite believe I had so eagerly let Aria change me into a different set of clothes. Only a couple of months ago, if someone had so much as suggested such a thing I would have been completely outraged.
When Aria looked like she was about to laugh at me, I would have done just about anything to not embarrass her like that again.
When we finally got close to her mother’s house, I recognized it immediately because of the huge banner in front of house that read: “FORECLOSED PROPERTY. OWNED BY BANK. CALL 1-800-DEBT FOR MORE INFORMATION.”
I looked at Aria, but she pretended that we hadn’t just seen the sign. As Ned pulled over, she quietly hopped out of the limo.
“Park this as far away from her mom’s house as possible,” I instructed Ned. “Make sure there is no way she sees it. Feel free to drive it around town if you want.” I handed him 200 dollars. “For dinner. Thanks for making this long drive.”
“Don’t be silly, Zay, I’m literally just doing my job,” he said, taking the cash, probably because it was much easier than arguing with me that he was never in a million years going to spend 200 dollars on dinner. “But don’t worry, Aria’s mom will never see the limo. Just text me about where I should pick you guys up from. Maybe I will send a taxi to get you there. I don’t suppose you would like walking very far in the middle of nowhere.”
“We will see. I will keep you posted. You have a good evening, Ned.”
“You too,” he said and gave me a fatherly smile. “And don’t be nervous. She will have to be stupid not to love you.”
Ned was gone and I looked at Aria standing a few feet away from the house waiting for me. “Ready?” she asked and started walking away.
I ran after her and grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her towards me. Then, I planted a deep and passionate kiss on her mouth. Not sexual, as much as it was sweet. I opened her mouth only slightly and caressed her tongue softly while also stroking her hair with my right hand.
After a few seconds I pulled away and whispered softly into her ears, “Listen, Aria. I am not going to let anything bad happen to your family, okay? Your mother will be fine no matter what. I promise you that.”
Her eyes began tearing up and she kissed me back with fiery passion. She held on to my shoulder so tight I thought her nails were going to dig through my skin. When she pulled away, she gazed at me with amazing intensity and said something that shook the ground from underneath me.
“I love you, Zayden,” she whispered audibly. “I love you.”
I knew I was supposed to respond right away, more importantly, I was supposed to say it back, wasn’t I? But for some reason, I couldn’t move or speak or do anything whatsoever. She loved me? What did she mean, she loved me?
The back of my hand was shaking slightly in shock and I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. This was not something I was expecting, nor was I prepared for it in any way. I had gotten myself into a relationship without thinking too much about it, and I was only just realizing how deep I had managed to get myself in. She was most certainly waiting for me to respond to her confession with a very particular answer. I opened my mouth in an attempt to try to say it back, but felt physically incapable, so I closed it again.
Why was she choosing this particular moment to tell me she loved me above all else? She had so many other opportunities. Hell, if she really felt the way she said, perhaps that evening in my balcony when I had the whole place decorated for her would have been a more suitable opportunity. Yet, she had chosen now. Didn’t this mean it was entirely possible that she felt more gratitude than love, and she was merely confusing two separate positive emotions?
Had I not been paying her mother’s hospital bills – and had I not said what I had said about not worrying about her mother’s finances just now – would she have still felt that she was in love with me? In fact, would she have ever even given me the time of the day if I wasn’t paying her mother’s medical bills? If it wasn’t for the contract?
I remembered when I used to hit on her before the contract came into play; she always casually laughed off my advances – something that frustrated me endlessly – never even coming close to so much as going on a date with me. There was no way I could be sure whether her love was genuine, and until such a time, I could not bring myself to say it back. Or until a time at least when I knew for sure that my words were genuine, too. Instead, I just kissed her softly on the mouth one more time, looked at her earnestly and said, “Let’s go inside, baby.”
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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.”