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I was now convinced that Taylor was afraid of his mother. If this is how she acted growing up, I could see that. His dad probably wasn’t the issue. He waited way too long to stand up tohis ex-wife. Her first couple comments were just as bad as the last one. But perhaps he was afraid of her too. I was going to do my best to not let her affect me. As soon as she left our house, I wasn’t going to let her back in.
Our house? Oh, I was in it deep already.
“You can’t predict what young lovers will do, Hana,” Ikari said. He was at least more reasonable than his daughter, but I still wasn’t going to trust him after learning just how obsessed with heirs he was. The real reason he was defending us was he wanted us together long enough to have babies.
“Are you going to offer your guests anything Taylor?” His mother asked.
“I can make something, if you want.” Each word from Taylor felt heavy.
“That sounds good Taylor.” Mr. Hayes said. “That way we can get to know Lydia.”
Taylor stood up and nodded to his father.
“I’ll come help you darling.” His mother stood up and Taylor froze.
“No, I, it will be done in a moment.” He stumbled over his words but recovered quickly.
“I insist. I want to catch up with my only son, is that so wrong?” She asked.
“Why don’t we all go?” I said looking around at everyone here with a look that I hope didn’t look as frantic as I felt. “Taylor is an excellent cook. He puts on a show for me almost every night. We should all watch him in action.”
Taylor looked like he was allowing himself to breathe finally, “Yes, everyone should come.”
“I didn’t know you cooked,” Mr. Hayes said with a small, sad smile on his face.
“He’s basically a pro,” I gushed, trying to avoid the stare and the pursed lips of Ms. Hirano.
We followed Taylor to the kitchen who began making some kind of fancy cheese dip thing. The only time he spoke was when he was asked about what he was making or what he was doing. I tried to field all other questions.
“Ikari told me you are a fashion designer?” His dad asked politely.
“I am the co-owner of Sew Fit.” Thank god he asked about my job, if there was anything, I could fill the space talking about it was that.
“I thought your name sounded familiar. My wife works in the same building as you.” He smiled a little. “She sees your models sometimes and comes home talking about how nice they look.”
“Tell her I said thank you.” I didn’t think he’d lie about something like that. “I wonder if she heard about the almost disaster with the security alarm?”
“Why don’t you tell the story?”
“Sure…” I went on and on about the mistake one of our newer models made when he opened the wrong door setting off the security alarm and causing a bit of a misunderstanding that almost turned into arrests until everything was explained. It was somewhat funny, but not the longest story in the world. I stretched it out to give Taylor more time.
“They’re done.” He set out a tray of meats, crackers and his cheese spread. I wondered if he had planned to make this for just the two of us.
“If only we were a cooking company,” his grandfather joked as he finished off a cracker dipped in cheese.
After this distraction they were all probably going to expect something more from us. His mother might even try to get him alone again. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I had to get them to leave.
I tried to subtly text while I ate some of the dip. Taylor was beginning to space out again. While he was cooking, he almost seemed like he usually did, but it was clear he was slipping with that distraction gone. A few moments later my phone began to ring.
“Oh, excuse me.” I glanced at my phone. “I have to take this, it might be work.” It was rude of me, but I took the call where I was.
“Do you need me to say anything specific?” Michael asked over the line.
“Really?” I said in a shocked tone.
“I guess not? I’ll just keep responding?”
“But what about our models? I know it’s last minute, but who could we ask?”
