âWe just came. Why isnât Godmother here yet?â Jewel asked. Brian took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. âSheâs at home with Mrs. Fritz. She says sheâs not coming so that we young ones can have our fun by ourselves.â
âOh, but I wanted to talk to her!â He chuckled. âYou sound a lot better when you speak now, Jewel.â She smiled. âReally? I canât talk a lot, though.â
âYou keep getting impatient, but youâve improved a lot now. Donât you agree, Brian?â Alex remarked. âYeah. Youâve improved very quickly,â 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. âHas anyone placed an order yet?â Eugene asked.
âWe were waiting for you. Youâre buying, so we wouldnât dream of ordering before you came,â Alex explained. Eugene side-eyed him. âYou sound so convincing. Iâm starting to believe that youâve always been so courteous!â Alex snorted in disagreement.
âHah! Iâve always been like this, okay?â
Eugene tossed the menu to Brian. âIâll leave the order to you since itâs your restaurant. Help us choose all the restaurantâs specialties.â
Brian wasnât bothered by Eugeneâs 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, âHow are things going between you and Nathan?â
âSame as ever. Nothing particularly dull, or exciting, or bad, or amazing,â Kate replied. Olivia gave her a look. âThatâs as good as not saying anything.â Kate chuckled. âWell, he picks me up after work every day and keeps insisting that I should give him a chance.â
âSo, what about you? How do you feel about it?â Olivia asked. âI donât know if itâs because I was too badly hurt by him, but I donât seem to like him as much as I did before. I donât think I have feelings for him anymore!â
Olivia was exasperated. âLook at you. Do you even hear yourself? Do you know what this is called?â
âWhat?â Kate asked. âItâs called getting too comfortable,â Olivia sniffed. âYou donât feel anxious anymore because youâre certain that he likes you, so thatâs why you think you donât have any feelings for him anymore. If you donât believe me, then letâs see what happens if another woman comes after him.â
âIâll just wish him well!â Kate retorted. Olivia tugged on Jewelâs arm and asked, âLook at her! Doesnât she sound so smug to you?â
âYouâre right,â 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. âWhatâs up with you?â Alex leaned in and explained quietly, âJewel and I ran into my mother just now. My mother saw her. Eugene was shocked. âWhat did she say?â
Alex sounded a little frazzled as he replied, âShe 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?â
âSince you have recognized her, why wouldnât your mother be able to as well?â Eugene replied. Alex sighed. âI never thought theyâd meet so soon. It wouldâve been better if this happened when Jewel finally developed feelings for me. Iâm so afraid that my mother will look for her now.â
Eugene surveyed Alex. âDo you think Jewel is still the same person she was before? She wonât 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!â
Alex nodded. âYouâre right. Iâm worried about that too. She only started showing less aversion to me.â