"This is what she had become."
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Cleopatra Banks' last week in the small town of New Chelsea is nothing like she would have imagined it, but nothing could have prepared her for the stinging betrayal she's faced with and suddenly the prospect of...
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"No! What are you doing?" Mom grabs the knife from me and pushes it along the counter top later on in the evening.
After going on forever about how exhausted I was from the minute she picked me up from school up until now you'd think she'd get the gist but apparently not. Instead she trusted me enough to hand me a knife and a chopping board.
"These peppers are too big, what if they choke someone? How will you make a good wife one day if you can't cook? It's a good thing your father signed you up for those culinary classes," she smirks at me and pokes the tip of my nose.
"Mom, there's nothing wrong with my cooking I'm just tired. And since when is knowing how to cook a prerequisite to getting married?" I fold my arms across my chest.
It's the twenty first century, mom.
"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach honey," she picks up the knife and effortlessly starts dicing the peppers. "I don't want a man," I let my mother know, nervously moving away from her towards the steamer where the veggies are cooking away. I know her well enough to understand when she's about to open a can of worms. She always says things like that when she's ready to fish for information.
"So exactly why are we cooking all this food? It looks a little too much for just three people," I ask before she can ask me any further questions. Her demeanor suddenly changes and she dons her 'I'm about to spill some juicy info,' look.
This can't be good.
"Our neighbors are joining us for dinner tonight," she announces.
My eyes pop at the sound of this new revelation.
"Mom, you didn't mention this when you told me about how you were spying on them earlier on today," I reply, stepping away from the steamer.
"Well..." she actually looks embarrassed "I wasn't spying. I was just looking...keenly looking, but then Susan spotted me and we just started talking," she explains.
I highly doubt that they just started talking out of the blue.
"And you said she should just come over for dinner tonight?" I raise an eyebrow. "It just slipped and she kind of looked excited, she's coming over with her two sons. Her husband is working late so we thought it'd be nice if we ladies had dinner with our...two kids," she smiles tentatively.
Is she fangirling?
"You should see her oldest son, he goes to your school," she adds on, smiling deviously.
"Yeah dad told me," I let mom know, taking a bite out of a biscuit I found in one of the cookie jars on the kitchen island. It would taste a whole lot better with blueberry cheesecake ice-cream.
Now that sounds good.
"He's very very handsome, maybe you might have met him at school today," she chirps in.
