Desserts & Dramas

Chapter 20

 "Are you sure?"

"I was sure even before I pronounced the invitation."

"Always sarcastic."

"I thought we were friends" Gabriel blinked innocently.

"We're trying to get there, but you make it difficult."

"We'll get there, believe me." He answered with all the confidence of someone who knows how to handle a woman.

He repeated the invitation, and she accepted. If he was making an effort, she could make an effort too. Since she was only going to leave the flowers in a vase at the entrance, there was no point in turning on all the lights for him to come in and see the space. After all, she was already late for lunch at her parents' house. It would be a quick walk and they could go their separate ways.

The two of them walked side by side and Gabriel felt the warmth emanating from her, despite the increasing heat from the sun as the hours passed. And along with the warmth came a pleasant vanilla scent. At least she had relaxed a little. Her posture was not as defensive as before. Maybe they could be friends after all.

"So do you live nearby?"

"Yes, in the apartment Alice used to live in."

"I know it, I've visited it with Tomás a few times. It's nearby."

"Yes, I needed to open the bakery in a place that was close enough for me to commute all the time."

"Well, since you are not going to open the bakery, what is the next stop?"

"On Sundays, I have lunch at my parents' house, then I go back to work."

"That's fine. So here we part."

"Since you were kind enough to offer a truce, I'll repay you with an invitation to a family lunch."

Her mouth was quicker than her mind, and the question was already in the air. What was she doing offering to spend more time with him?

"Are you sure?" Gabriel asked.

She was not sure before she asked the question, as Gabriel had pointed out earlier. However, refusing now would be a blow to their recent friendship. She could reinforce the invitation and accept the consequences.

"Yes, it might be boring with an unfamiliar family, but you know everyone and Tomás will be there." Sofia shrugged.

He surely had other plans, but she could invite him and get away with it without having to spend any more time with him. Only it backfired and he accepted.

"Sure, why not?"

Gabriel liked the invitation. He couldn't refuse a family lunch, so different from the ready meals he was used to. And Tomas would be there, it wouldn't be compromising or anything, just friends. He already knew her family from the engagement dinner.

She grabbed her cell phone from her purse to call an app driver. As she typed in the information, he asked:

"Don't you have a car?"

"Yes, I do."

"Why don't you drive it?"

"I find it more practical to use an app." She didn't need to tell him that she drove so little that she never got much practice. And it wouldn't be with him by her side, which already made her nervous about anything, that she would practice a little more.

"I can drive, if that's the problem."

"There is no need. We'll probably have a drink at lunch and can't drive back anyway."

"I'll refuse the drinks," Gabriel insisted.

"Don't worry, the driver is already here."

The drive to Sofia's parents' house was not as long as it usually seemed to her. Gabriel, very polite, chatted a little with the driver, and the periods of silence were quite comfortable. The opposite of what she might have expected.

Upon arrival, Marta opened the door and was surprised to see that her daughter had an escort.

"Come in, come in." She greeted them both. "I didn't know you were bringing company, my daughter. Gabriel, welcome."

"Thank you very much, Mrs. MacLean."

"Marta, please."

"Marta," he repeated.

"And then? Is there something I should know here?" Marta's subtlety was that of an elephant. Sofia preferred to intervene before the subject could create other ideas in her mother's head.

"He is a friend. Actually, more a friend of Alice and Tomás. We bumped into each other on the street and I invited him since everyone knows each other."

Marta was smart enough not to let her daughter get away so easily. If there was a relationship there, and she imagined there was, she would find out soon enough.

Finally her youngest daughter was taking her advice and doing other things besides working. And she had chosen someone very interesting to do this with. Marta and Alan knew a little of Gabriel's childhood from Tomás's stories, but adult life had been restricted to the polite and superficial conversations of the wedding events. A private family lunch would be quite different.

"Alice, your friend is here" Marta shouted from the door "Come, make yourselves at home. She'll be right with you, Gabriel."

"What friend? I didn't invite anyone." Alice yelled in reply from the living room.

A few seconds later, she crossed the archway and arrived in the hall. Alice looked from her mother to Sofia to Gabriel, and then back to her mother in confusion. Her mother explained to her:

"Sofia brought company, but she said the friend is yours." Martha had a small corner of her mouth pulled back, a smile that she tried to disguise without success.

"Did something happen? I'll call Tomas." Alice didn't understand the scene as well as her mother and became worried. She called out for her fiance, who quickly arrived in the hall. It was certainly a noisy morning in the MacLean family home.

"Gabe, you're here!" Tomás exclaimed in surprise. "Is everything all right?"

Gabriel couldn't help smiling at all the commotion his presence was causing. Definitely it was going to be a fun lunch. Sofia, on the other hand, had a desperate expression on her face, and, beyond any doubts, she was questioning her lapse of judgment in extending the invitation to this lunch.

"Yes, it is."

"What are you doing here then?" Tomás was very direct.

"Well, don't be rude, Tomas." Marta patted him lightly on the shoulder. "Gabriel is a guest at lunch. It's just not clear whose. I'll check my pots and pans while you decide that."