Sedona

Dinner Invitation

Esme's POV

"Carlisle, I thought of something." I stepped into our bedroom. His back faced me before he responded to my voice.

"What is it?" He came up to me with a smile on his face.

"I wanted to make it up to (Y/N) for my behavior. What if we had them over for dinner?" I looked into his eyes, waiting for his answer to my question.

"That would be a good idea. With how much they have on their plate, from what you tell me, it would be a big help." He agreed with me.

Happiness came over me at his agreement. A smile came to my face as well. "I'll ask them if they would like that."

(Y/N)'s POV

Rain pitter-pattered on the windshield of the car in the early morning hours. Thomas watched the raindrops coming down his window, giving me a commentary if his raindrop won the race. Annie fell asleep in the back seat next to him, still drowsy from just waking up not too long ago.

I came into the daycare building with Thomas and Annie in tow. "Now, Thomas, no monkey bars. Be careful about playing for your wrist." I told him gently. Annie stood close by, swaying side to side like a tree in the wind.

"Okay, Parent! I promise to be careful!" He offered his pinky to me for a pinkie promise.

"Thank you," I accepted his pinkie promise. "Have a good day, you two. I love you both." I told them my goodbyes.

"I love you too!" Both told me over their shoulders, running into the play area with the other children.

Standing still, I watched them go in like routine. They ran into the room like running into a candy store, straight for the sweets. Thomas went to run for the toy box, and Annie ran to a table with others to color and draw.

Satisfied with them finding something to do, I turned on my heel to leave the building.

"Excuse me, (Y/N)?" Esme came up to me. My body stiffened, hearing her voice.

I'm trying not to have hard feelings with her, but it still bothered me with the Thomas in the hospital incident. To the best of my ability, I pushed it aside with a deep breath.

"Yes, Esme?" My steps are slow and measured, and I do not particularly want to talk to her at the moment.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry again for not calling you about Thomas." She paused to think about what to say, her eyes looking into mine. "I wanted to invite you and your kids to dinner. As an apology, I would like to have you over to dinner."

I stood still, staring blankly like a statue in front of her. Thoughts slowly trickled into my mind; I hardly expected that offer from her.

It would be easier for one day not to have to cook dinner, and she seemed to be trustworthy enough. Maybe I would warm up to her like the incident never happened. I did say that I would let it slide one time and only once.

"Okay, Esme. I'll go with the kids. When would you have us over?" Hesitation laced my voice when I said it. My fingers tapped against my sides, and my mouth formed a straight line.

"That's wonderful. How about sometime in two days?" She tilted her head to the side for the moment.

"Sure, I can do that." My eyes reached hers, and surprise came to me. Her familiar dark-colored eyes changed distinctly.

Those almost black irises turned a warm golden hue. I never thought someone could have eyes like that, but here I am. The difference is small, but I didn't expect it.

"Do you have contacts on?" The words slipped before I thought about it further.

"Excuse me?" She was stunned by my question.

"I'm sorry." My attention snapped back to the conversation at hand. "It's just that your eyes are different from before. Was that rude of me to say?" It might have been intrusive of me to say, I guess.

"You're fine; it's okay that you asked me that." She paused for a moment.

"You know, um, don't mind that I asked you that. I'll just go now. I need to get to work." Awkwardness filled the space with so much tension that it could be cut with a knife. And I tried to sever it and escape it all to go into the safety of my car.

"Have a good day; thank you for your service," I mumbled in a rush before leaving. The bell above the door rang, telling all around about my departure.

My face heated up in mild embarrassment, high-tailing it to my car in the lot. Music came into the space when I put my key into the ignition. The wheels turned slowly, and the car rumbled, leaving the lot.

Rain slowly drizzled down onto my car, slowing down from the downpour before. Fog covered the trees in a soft, cloudy haze. Trees softly blew in the wind, and birds stayed tucked away in their nests for the storm.

This week had been awfully strange as is. Thomas gets hurt, and I'm now invited to dinner. One of the key things pushing me to let the incident slide is that she sounded so sincere. The kids like her, too.

At least with the daycare, it's a controlled environment. If she tried to do that again, I would go after her. Security cameras would catch the crime.

But I need to let it go. She probably just forgot in her panic. And there's no reason for her to do that again, so it should be fine.

My hands held the steering wheel a little tighter, and my gaze focused more on the road. An audible breath escaped as I tried to shake it off and think of something new, like how I could see the veterinary clinic ahead of me.
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1005 Words