Desserts & Dramas

Chapter 9

 "Hi honey, I'm glad you're here." Marta said to Sofia, "Your sister is a little late."

"I'm sure she won't be long. I brought you some flowers."

"Thank you Sofi, they are beautiful. Are those oranges ones astromelias?"

"I am learning more and more about the varieties of flowers, mom," Sofia said, and Marta just smiled, "Do you need help with anything?"

"No, lunch is almost ready. There are only a few details to finish. You can stay with your father." Marta explained.

"Fine," Sofia answered.

"Oh, and put the flowers in that vase on the sideboard at the entrance with some water, please." Marta asked.

"I'll take care of it."

It was Sunday, the day of the traditional lunch at her parents' house. With such different routines, this was the only day of the week that the four of them, or five with the addition of Tomás, could get together for family time. And only at lunchtime, because Sofia still had to go back to the bakery in the afternoon.

Her parents' house was very cozy. In a farmhouse style, with only the ground floor, it had large rooms and wooden windows with shutters, with a balcony around the whole construction. In the living room, the composition of the visible roof structure and the wood ceiling provided much more height and amplitude to the room. The kitchen, with white cabinets and beige granite counter tops, was Marta's favorite space in the house, while Alan enjoyed spending more time in the study with its windowed doors to the back garden. It was just the right size for a couple, but with a guest bedroom for when their daughters needed it or future grandchildren wanted to spend the night with their grandparents. Alan and Marta counted on this, however, they did not make their wishes so explicit as not to put pressure on the girls. Alice and Sofia had never imagined their parents in a house of this style, even more so with a not"so"small garden to maintain, but they liked it and they had adapted very well to their new home.

While her mother was finishing up the lunch in the kitchen and her father was watching sports shows on television, Sofia caught herself reflecting on her parents' lives as she looked at the photographs on the wall. Her mother was very attached to memories, but as a doctor, extremely organized and addicted to cleaning, so in order not to have so many picture frames all around the house, she created a gallery on one of the walls, with pictures and photographs of many moments of the whole family. There were pictures of little Alice and Sofia, family vacations, school parties, her parents' wedding, the whole family together with uncles, cousins and grandparents at Christmas, and the most recent addition, a picture of Alice and Tomás. Alice was overjoyed. Would she ever understand how her parents and Alice felt? Would she find this in anyone? She worked hard, but she would also like to have her family one day.

The problem was that her last dating experience had not been very healthy. Her ex-boyfriend Ivan did not take the breakup very well and did not want to accept her decision.

"It seems that someone is quite introspective today," Alice approached Sofia without making a sound, startling her. "Still worried about the desserts form the engagement dinner?"

"Not really. I was just admiring the photos," Sofia answered, "You looked beautiful at the party, with a smile as radiant as this photo."

"I can't wait for the wedding day to arrive" Alice's eyes sparkled. "It's going to be amazing."

"Are you going to ask me to be your maid of honor?"

"As if I could choose anyone other than my little sis." Alice squeezed Sofia's arm.

Sofia looked at her strangely, a reaction that did not match the tone of the conversation. Alice continued:

"You don't have to look like that, I won't abandon you. Even with Tomás, I'll always be there for you."

"Thank you, but that doesn't worry me."

Now it was Alice's turn to look strangely, suspicious of what her sister wanted to say.

"No? Then what is it? " she questioned.

"Your choice of groomsmen and bridesmaids." Sofia shrugged and Alice laughed out loud.

"Why is that a problem?"

"Have you already defined the matches?"

"Oh, so your real concern is the men. Well, just to calm you down, I haven't chosen yet. The wedding planner said something about the height and size of the groomsmen, it seems that it can't be a random choice, but don't worry, I won't let you have that inconvenient cousin of Tomás. His mother made us include him because she is his father's sister and it would be a personal offense to leave him out. You know how Tomas' family can be, don't you?"

"Families are complicated." Sofia agreed "At least it's only one day of celebration."

"One day of celebration, but several days of rehearsals."

"We will have to be patient."

"Yes, and at least Cecilia, Tom's sister, is sweet. And he has good friends. You already know Eric from other meetings. Did you meet Gabriel at the dinner too?"

Sofia tried to disguise her blush in vain, since Alice knew her better than she knew herself. She didn't even know why she was trying, her sister would surely try to act as cupid to fix her up with some wedding guest. But did it need to be the unpleasant and likely best man of Tomas?

"You did! No need to answer, your face says it all. Why are you blushing?"

Sofia preferred not to answer and let her sister ramble on.

"In fact, he's very nice and kind. And all that 1.90 meters tall, or at least I think that's how tall he is, it's something to be desired. I'm engaged, but I'm not blind."

Sofia choked.

"Nice and kind? I guess I met the evil twin then. He was definitely not like that when I accidentally spilled wine on him at dinner."

"Sofia! You spilled wine on him?"

"I said I didn't mean it. I said I was sorry!" Sofia justified.

"So that's why he left the party early. My God, his shirt must have been all stained."

"It was white wine." Sofia softened and Alice evaluated what had happened.

"Even so. She certainly got wet."

"He could have accepted my apologies," Sofia shrugged.

"I'll go talk to him."

"Why?"

"Why Sofia? Because we'll all spend a lot of time together before the wedding and you have to be friends, or at least treat each other well. And he's a really nice person, he's gone out several times with me and Tomás. He has always been very friendly to me. Maybe he really liked that shirt you stained?" Alice was thoughtful.

"Or maybe he didn't like me." Sofia joked.

"What's not to like? You are beautiful, intelligent, and dedicated to everything you do."

"He couldn't possibly know all that from a glass of wine."

"The beautiful part he could."

"His parameters may be different. He probably dates only models, actresses and misses."

"I've actually seen him with some very beautiful girls." Alice was remembering the times she had met Tomas' friends. Looking again at Sofia, she quickly added: "But nothing that will leave you behind, don't worry. Isn't that right, Tomás?"