“We just came. Why isn’t Godmother here yet?” Jewel asked. Brian took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. “She’s at home with Mrs. Fritz. She says she’s not coming so that we young ones can have our fun by ourselves.”
“Oh, but I wanted to talk to her!” He chuckled. “You sound a lot better when you speak now, Jewel.” She smiled. ‘Really? I can’t talk a lot, though.”
“You keep getting impatient, but you’ve improved a lot now. Don’t you agree, Brian?” Alex remarked. “Yeah. You’ve improved very quickly,” Brian agreed.
As they chatted, Eugene and his little family, along with Nathan and Kate, had arrived. This was the first gathering with so many of them present. They all exchanged their greetings before taking their seats.
The three women sat together while the four men and one little guy all sat on the other side, staring at the women who were busy talking among themselves. “Has anyone placed an order yet?” Eugene asked.
“We were waiting for you. You’re buying, so we wouldn’t dream of ordering before you came,” Alex explained. Eugene side-eyed him. “You sound so convincing. I’m starting to believe that you’ve always been so courteous!” Alex snorted in disagreement. “Hah! I’ve always been like this, okay?”
Eugene tossed the menu to Brian. “I’ll leave the order to you since it’s your restaurant. Help us choose all the restaurant’s specialties.”
Brian wasn’t bothered by Eugene’s careless attitude. He ordered a few things before passing the menu back to the server. As they waited for the food to be served, Olivia muttered to Kate, “How are things going between you and Nathan?”
“Same as ever. Nothing particularly dull, or exciting, or bad, or amazing,” Kate replied. Olivia gave her a look. “That’s as good as not saying anything.” Kate chuckled. “Well, he picks me up after work every day and keeps insisting that I should give him a chance.”
“So, what about you? How do you feel about it?” Olivia asked. “I don’t know if it’s because I was too badly hurt by him, but I don’t seem to like him as much as I did before. I don’t think I have feelings for him anymore!”
Olivia was exasperated. ‘Look at you. Do you even hear yourself? Do you know what this is called?”
“What?” Kate asked. “It’s called getting too comfortable,” Olivia sniffed. “You don’t feel anxious anymore because you’re certain that he likes you, so that’s why you think you don’t have any feelings for him anymore. If you don’t believe me, then let’s see what happens if another woman comes after him.”
“I’ll just wish him well!” Kate retorted. Olivia tugged on Jewel’s arm and asked, “Look at her! Doesn’t she sound so smug to you?”
“You’re right,” Jewel said with a chuckle. The three women had a jolly laugh together. Alex was looking at Jewel. He had an uneasy. feeling in his heart as he kept worrying that his mother might cause trouble for her.
Eugene sensed that something was amiss since Alex was too quiet today. “What’s up with you?” Alex leaned in and explained quietly, “Jewel and I ran into my mother just now. My mother saw her. Eugene was shocked. “What did she say?”
Alex sounded a little frazzled as he replied, “She just kept staring at Jewel for a long time before asking who she was. I introduced her as Jewel Fenton. Do you think my mother recognized her?”
“Since you have recognized her, why wouldn’t your mother be able to as well?” Eugene replied. Alex sighed. “I never thought they’d meet so soon. It would’ve been better if this happened when Jewel finally developed feelings for me. I’m so afraid that my mother will look for her now.”
Eugene surveyed Alex. “Do you think Jewel is still the same person she was before? She won’t allow others to walk all over her now. What you should be worried about is that Jewel might cut off all ties with you if your mother gets involved!”
Alex nodded. ‘You’re right. I’m worried about that too. She only started showing less aversion to me.”
