Aftertaste - A Chris Evans Story

31

"Hellooooo!" Lisa calls as she lets herself in later that afternoon, Dodger bounding out to greet her, barking away while Chris follows.

"Hey mom" I hear him say as I keep to the living room, feeling a little nervous. I know I've met her before but this is daunting.

I'm meeting her as her sons girlfriend...

Now she walks in with Chris and her face brightens on seeing me, immediately holding out her arms and making her way over. "Hello Ever!" She embraces me warmly and now I don't feel as nervous. "How are you doing?"

"Ok considering the circumstances". I smile lightly as we pull away.

"Well they didn't deserve you, I couldn't believe it when Chris told me about what happened". She shakes her head in disapproval, "but you've found someone now?"

"Nick" Chris confirms and Lisa now looks even more brighter

"Oh! That's great! You'll be better off with him for sure". She pats my shoulder and then we follow her into the kitchen as she dumps some bags down. "Now I brought some things to make dinner..."

"Moooooom" Chris rolls his eyes, "C'mon I told you that you didn't have to bring anything but yourself".

"Well I have so shush". She throws him a look.

"At least let us cook it"

Already she's pulling out ingredients from the bag like she's Mary Poppins.. "you've got no allergies? Intolerances Ever? I can call you Ever can't I? I didn't know if you preferred Everly..." she goes on, seemingly ignoring her sons protests that we will cook her dinner like we had planned.

"Ever is fine". I grin and take the spaghetti from her. "And no, nothing - but Chris and I are cooking it". I warn.

Lisa looks to him. "Don't do what you and Scott did last time and burn the lasagne".

He gently puts his hands on her shoulders and grins. "Mom, I'm a grown man. I can cook spaghetti".

She smirks. "I'm still not convinced".

He steers her to the stool at the counter, "sit down, let us do the cooking and you drink the wine I'm gonna pour you a glass of".

"Grown man eh? You seen the way you are?" I say as he comes over to open a bottle of wine for her, "you and Dodge are literally the same".

He sighs, "I know right? He's a bad influence".

"If anyone is that then it's you". I chuckle and make a start on dinner.

"So how are you liking Boston? Must be a big change compared to LA or London". Lisa asks, "is it London that you're from?"

"Just outside of it" I confirm, "but yeah it's more peaceful. I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder if you know why I mean".

Chris looks smug now, "told you that you'd love it".

"So are you planning on going back and forth to LA or are you here for a short time?" Lisa asks, wondering what the situation is.

"She's here for good". Chris answers for me and I smile. We never really did confirm whether I would be or not with the circumstances, but it makes sense in some ways. Maybe other people will tell us that we're rushing in, but we have to take all the opportunities that we can get.

"You do and you get Scott thrown in for free". She laughs lightly. "If he's not at his own place then he's here with his big brother - and they'll drive you just as mad as they do me".

Chris starts to help me prep. "We're not that bad - honest".

"Still like a pair of kids, always scaring one another" she now shakes her head slowly with a small smile.

"Yeah but that's mainly Scott!"

I grin and carry on my cooking the mince, then adding the sauce and other things. "For any mixed herbs?" I ask.

Chris opens a cupboard and passes me some. I put them in and then check the pasta, fully aware that Lisa is just watching how we're interacting with one another. "I think there's garlic bread in the freezer". Chris says and checks. "Aha!"

"I'll grab you a tray". I open the oven and get it out.

"Thank you". He murmurs and plants a kiss on my head

Lisa is still watching us and winks as I turn and see her doing so. "Want some more wine?" I ask, grabbing the bottle and topping up her glass anyway.

"Five star service I'm getting here, only had three star with the boys".

"For the last time it was Scott that was supposed to keep an eye on the time!" Chris stresses as we both laugh. "I'm gonna have to watch you two aren't I? You're gonna be in the corner whispering your evil plans with one another".

Lisa tuts at this, "and you thought that we wouldn't?"

It would appear that I have an ally in her.

We're sat in the garden later that evening while Chris has taken Dodger for a quick walk. "Well, he was right about you..." Lisa speaks while she sits across from me.

"Right about what?"

"How it was easy to fall for you on first meeting you - I can see he loves you, never seen the way he looks at you when he was with any of the others".

I stare into my near empty glass. "You're just saying that".

"If I wasn't telling the truth then I wouldn't have said it at all. This is the happiest I've seen him in a long while and I mean LONG". She emphasises, "to the point where even I was becoming concerned for him, I mean I am anyway, he's my baby, but when everything with Jenny happened it was a stressful time".

I swallow. "I don't want to ever be the source of concern, we've waited long enough for this and could have got together sooner if it weren't the influence of others pulling us away".

"You don't have to worry about that now. You'll get your privacy here. You have the whole family's support. We're all very close and we hope that you will be to us too, because I think we can safely say that you're not going anywhere".

We say no more as Chris and Dodger are now back, but I feel more positive about everything now that we've had a heart to hear.

Now it's just a case of fighting to keep all this from the media.

Bring it the fuck on.