Chapter Three
The door swung open to reveal Martha Dalgliesh standing with a huge grin on her face.
"Alyxandria, you came!" She pulls me in for a hug. OK, this is definitely not part of my work ethic; I feel so unprofessional.
"I told you I would" I reciprocate the smile.
"And you brought a pretty friend along with you" She hugs Tabu just as tightly as she did to me.
"Martha, this is Tabu. She's my dearest friend from high school. Tabu, this is Martha. Henry's mom"
"Nice to meet you, dear" Martha smiles at Tabu and hugs Tabu again.
"The pleasure is all mine"
"Well! Do come in, it must be freezing"
Honestly, the weather was the last thing I took notice of.
"I see you brought wine. You didn't have to, dears." Martha says sweetly.
I just smile back at her. My eyes scan the interior of the room. We were in a large living room with three black couches and a bear skin rug on the floor; I hate those. A large flat screen TV hung up above the fireplace that was blazing. On the left of the room was the kitchen with a breakfast bar similar to mine but much bigger with more stools. Straight ahead was a balcony that opened out onto the beach so it wasn't so much a balcony.
I didn't realize Martha was standing next to me waiting to take my jacket. I shrug it off and hand it to her.
"Well, come join us in the kitchen for a pre-meal snack" Martha says
We follow her into the kitchen when I realize something.
"Us?" I question
"Matty, Jonathon and I. Henry called and said he would be a little late so we are waiting. You can help set the table.
"Oh. Sure."
Jonathon and Matty are perched on bar stools but stand immediately when they see us coming. Such gentlemen.
"Alyxandria, how nice to meet you again" Jonathon says to me with a warm smile. He doesn't hug me but instead shakes hands with Tabu and I. He is wearing a white shirt and black suit pants. His hair is white but he has a full head of it.
"Outside of the ER that is" Matt walks towards us and doesn't hesitate to hug us both. He has a dark green t-shirt and jeans. I feel less under-dressed.
"Matt, nice to see you too. Mr. Dalgliesh" I smile and nod at him. "This is my best friend, Tabu. Tabu this is Mr. Dalgliesh and Matt."
Tabu doesn't ask anything else. She just smiles, laughs and nods whenever needed throughout our conversation.
"Do you girls want to eat anything now?" Martha asks me as she pulls out a tray of cookies from the oven.
"No thank you, Martha" I say
"Nonsense. Eat a cookie or two. You girls look so skinny"
We did look very thin. My reason was my job at the ER kept me away from full meals and wearing black was not the best thing.
She shoves a plate of cookies in front of us and orders us to eat. Matt, Tabu and I were sitting on the barstools in silence staring at the plate awkwardly.
Finally, Matt breaks the silence.
"So, Tabu what do you do for a living?" He asks.
I nervously reach out and grab two cookies. I hand one to Tabu and give the other to Matt. I take a third for myself.
