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“Okay,” I say, feeling a bit awkward.
“Beth works for you now, I didn't have time to properly thank you for that,” she says, looking up at me as if I'd done something great, like reverse climate change or something.
“It was nothing,” I tell her honestly. “Beth has the skills and is a great employee. I feel really lucky to have her.” My heart clenches at the thought of Beth, and I cannot help but frown because I know she's been avoiding me.
“Good,” Jenny says, looking proud. “We raised her well.”
“That, you did. I have no doubts whatsoever.”
“You have to come to brunch. Tell us all about this app she has been on about.”
“You don't have to—" I begin, unsure how Beth would feel with me at brunch with her folks.
“I insist. I want us to catch up. It's been so long.”
I finally nod and gesture towards my damp shirt, and she nods.
“Run along now,” she says with a smile.
I jog back toward the house, still confused as hell about the impromptu brunch. I take a quick shower, trying not to think about what Beth will think of me, sitting to brunch with her parents with her in tow.
Well, it's something we'd often done as kids. But it was different then. Then, I hadn't lusted after the Potter’s daughter and had not found the sight of her in simple office skirts and vests distracting.
I don't question why I slip on my favorite casual button-up, or why my heart hammers a little when I step up to the Potter’s home to ring their doorbell.
When Jenny answers with a smile, I smile back, handing over the bottle of wine I'd absently picked from my wine cellar.
“You didn't have to,” Jenny says even though her eyes shine at the expensive bottle of wine she holds up to the light.
“This looks expensive,” she says in awe, hands running reverently over the wine label.
I chuckle, unable to quell the feelings of discomfort that courses through me. Jenny turns to me after a minute and ushers me to the dining table where the table is already set.
“I can recall you had no allergies as a kid,” she says as she rearranges the cutleries, a classic act that shows that she's a little nervous.
Mr. Potter steps into the room, and when he looks up at me, I momentarily freeze. His eyes don't hold the welcoming smile his wife's had, but he greets me nonetheless.
“It's great to see you again, Mitchell,” Robert says, coming to give me a pat behind the back.
He doesn't look as fit and strong as he did nearly six years ago. He's completely balded, and his strides are slower, his eyes looking at me through thick lenses.
“It's great to see you too, Robert.” I say, smiling when he nods and sits at the head of the table, gesturing for me to join.
Jenny, who brought the food from the kitchen, moves up the stairs to call Beth down to eat. I laugh at that because I vividly recall she mostly always stood at the landing to yell out for her, which causes me to wonder if she is acting differently because of my presence or if the new habit was a change that had occurred over the years.
“Beth tells me you're developing an app that connects people.”
I nod at Robert whose eyes are resting on me, genuine interest in them.
“Is it like Facebook?” he curiously asks.
I almost laugh.
“Did Beth compare All4One to that? Not exactly,” I begin to reply. “While the Facebook app is a social platform where people can, you know, connect, meet, and maybe fall in love, the truth is, it's built for more than that. But All4One is more streamlined for connection along the lines of intimacy and companionship if it turns out to be what both parties desire at the end of the day.”
“Oh. So, it's a dating app?”
I laugh. I'd forgotten for a moment that Beth's parents were not that old. As I open my mouth to answer, Beth descends the stairs with her mom, and from the tight frown on her face, I know she's already been briefed of my presence.
