HOME [TAMBER]

CHAPTER 23 (part 1)

The bell on top of the door clinked as the
waitresses welcomed the customer in united.
Amber removed her jacket and gave it to one of the employee. He accepted it and bowed a bit before disappeared to the small room where all the coats and jacket stored.

"Reservation under Carpenter," she informed the neat waiter as he guided her to their table.

Her mom waved at her excitedly. She told the
waiter that it was okay for him to leave, she
already found her family.

She greeted her family giving them hug one by one. Tara was absolutely gorgeous tonight- she always was though. Amber softly touched Tara's back and kissed her temple giving her a loving smile. She didn't even aware of the surprise look their parents threw at them.

Amber sat beside Tara and took her hand in hers.

"What did you order?" Amber asked as she put her phone on the table.

"Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells for you
and Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad for me,
Raspberry Sunrise Smoothie for me and mineral
water for you," she answered.

"Is your food even suitable for dinner?" Amber
scrunched her face.

"Yeah it is, I'm on diet, remember? I've gained
weight."

"And I don't remember of agreeing that thing
with you. Your body shape is just fine, even if
you do gain weight it doesn't matter. U don't
want you to starve, you'll get sick."

"Well... we can always share your food?" Tara
soothed Amber's thigh, she didn't want to argue in front of their parents.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Amber, from what I heard, you really like
smoothies." Tara's dad said.

"She does, daddy. But she doesn't like it when
she's having heavy meal." The lawyer answered.

"Yeah," Amber chuckled. She felt less awkward with Tara's parents after having dinner with them couple days ago. "Anyway, thank you for picking Tara up dad," she smiled to the older guy
version of her. "I was going to go but you know... emergency surgery and all."

"Aah don't mention it, it's my pleasure, darling."
He squeezed her arm.

"We wanted to come to Tasmania at your birthday, Amber, but your dad said that you didn't celebrate your birthday so we cancelled the plan," Tara's mom cautiously spoke.

"It's fine, mommy. It's not a big deal, thank you
though for the consideration." She grinned.

"Tara said you're working on a heart project?"
Tara's dad asked in curiosity. "Something with
growing it?"

"Uh that, yeah I'm working on the proposal
right now but with work and all it's kind of out
of my hand no I'm taking it slowly."

"How does it work?"

"Well... we try to strip out the cell from a
donor organ leaving the connective tissue
that used to hold the cell in place. It's called
decellularization then we reseeded it with
the recipient's own cell hoping that it would
regenerating without tissue rejection," Amber
described her project in a way that she thought the easiest for common people to understand. Tara was playing with her hand under the table feeling proud of the way Amber explained it

Not long after, their food arrived. The waiter who wore a suit came and presented the meal on the table. They thanked him and started to dig in.

Amber cut her shell smaller and offered the first
spoon to Tara. Tara threw her a questioning
look but ate it anyway.