Chapter 13
Nora
Felix appeared in the living room sometime later, where Cici and I were sitting together, chatting. The dinner was set in the dining room and I’d lit a few candles around the house and selected a mellow playlist for the sound system. The lights were turned low and Cici was showered and changed into a cute frock with a bow in her hair.
I hadn’t expected him to follow my advice, but there he was, changed into a pair of dark jeans and a more casual plaid shirt. His dark hair was swept back and he was freshly shaven. When Felix entered, he scanned the room, observing the little changes I had made and then he met my eyes but said nothing.
The doorbell rang and Cici looked up at her father questioningly.
“Go see who it is,” Felix told her, just as we heard the loud cheerful voice of an older woman.
“Grandma!” Cici squealed and she jumped away from me, running towards the front door with glee. I stood up from my chair, smoothening the front of my dress, and when I looked up, I saw that Felix was watching me.
“Thank you, for doing this,” he said in a low, gruff voice. There was a change in him; he looked less angry now. I stepped towards him, feeling braver, and I opened my mouth to say something but we were interrupted.
Mrs. Stone had walked in, followed by Anne, who was carrying her bags for her. Cici was in Mrs. Stone’s arms and they were both laughing, genuinely happy to see each other.
“Ah, Felix! I thought you weren’t going to be here! And who is this lovely young lady?” Mrs. Stone exclaimed, entering the room in a rush.
“This is Nora, my friend,” Cici explained to her grandmother, who widened her eyes and turned to me.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Stone. I’m a friend of the family,” I said, stepping towards her with my hand extended.
“Of the family?” Mrs. Stone commented, turning her eyes to Felix, who looked even more nervous now. I gulped, wondering if I had said something wrong.
“Well, if you’re a friend of the family, you should just call me Helen!” she exclaimed, and instead of accepting my handshake, she hugged me tightly. It was a warm hug, a real mother’s hug, and I couldn’t see why Felix was so afraid of her.
“Grandma…how long are you staying? Do you want to see my room?” Cici was tugging at Helen’s hand, trying to lead her away. Helen looked at her son, with her strikingly confident eyes.
“I don’t know how long I’m staying, sweetheart, depends on how long your daddy will tolerate me,” Helen said.
“You know you can stay as long as you want, Mom,” Felix interjected, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Helen raised her eyebrows at him.
“That’s what you said the last time, and then you started a fight,” Helen said, with some humor in her voice.
“I didn’t start a fight, Mom…you’re the one who…it doesn’t matter. You’re here now and we’re happy to have you,” Felix replied, and I realized that I hadn’t seen him this nervous before. I could sense that he was desperate to make a good impression on his mother.
“Yes, you’re right, I’m here now. Do you want to show me your room, sweetheart? And then maybe we can eat! I’m starving, are you?” Helen allowed herself to be dragged away by Cici and we could hear their fading voices down the hall. Anne was chasing after them, offering Helen refreshments. Felix and I were alone in the room again.
“That went smoothly!” I commented and turned to him. He was already making his way to the bar in the corner of the room.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked, hurriedly pouring himself a whiskey from a crystal decanter.
“I don’t drink much,” I replied, but he poured some into another glass anyway. He brought it over to me and I had no choice but to take it from him.
“You’ll need it,” he said. I took a small sip of the whiskey, which was bitter and burned my throat, and I watched him take a much larger gulp.
I cleared my throat, wondering what I could say to fill these silences between us. Of course, mentioning the fact that he had touched my cheek earlier was out of the question. He was behaving like it hadn’t even happened, like I had imagined it.
“Why are you so worried around your mother? She seems lovely…and she obviously just wants the best for you,” I said and Felix looked at me sharply. He clenched his jaw before taking another big gulp of his drink.
“It’s hard to explain. She doesn’t approve of anything I do, doesn’t take any pride in my success, and ever since…my wife, since she passed away, Mom has been trying to convince me to let Cici live with her, claiming she would be happier there,” Felix said. The whole time he spoke, he kept his face rigidly turned away from me. He hadn’t spoken about his late wife before, and this thing about his mother was a critical piece of personal information, which I wasn’t expecting him to give me.
I didn’t think he cared where Cici lived. I thought he would have been happier to have her off his hands.
“Sometimes I think she might be right, like after what happened yesterday. I know Cici deserves better than me. I don’t know how to be a parent to her — you were right, too,” he continued in a deep, hollow voice. I felt my throat close up at the sound of his sadness. I tried to search for the right words to say, but Helen and Cici had returned to the room again.
“What’s for dinner? Cici and I are hungry as a couple of little piggies!” Helen exclaimed with a loud laugh.