When History Repeats Itself

Chapter Three

** Alexa - Rashida Jones**

"Are you sure you want to wear that?" I took an eyeful of that awful olive green dress my mum was wearing.

"Why, what is wrong with my dress?" She turned from side to side and the soft material flowed with each movement.

"It is an ugly color for that kind of fabric" I told her candidly.

"I appreciate your candor but this dress was a gift from Jonathan. He went to Italy and brought me this"

"Mum, the man is color blind. He also has poor taste. Who goes to Italy and comes back with this ugly dress?"

"You're right. That man once complimented me on my yellow dress. I was wearing a pink dress"

"He probably thinks he got you a purple dress. Please go change. Gift or not, I am not going out in public with you if you wearing that dress"

My mum turned on her heels and went back into her room. She emerged later in one of my dresses. A white dress she had stolen from my wardrobe while I was away.

"Much better?" She smiled sweetly. I inwardly groaned. I had spent the night at her place and discovered half my wardrobe was gone. My mum claimed she had given it out to charity. I see charity sleeps in the room next to mine.

As usual, I drove. The minute I owned a driver's license, my mum refused to drive whenever I tagged along. She said she always dreamt of having me drive her around after she was my chauffeur pretty much most of my short life on earth.

We got to the Haven seaside restaurant and I grabbed the cake from the back seat before we walked in. A waiter led us to our table after telling him about our reservation. Being linked to certain people came in pretty handy. We were given VIP treatment because Alexa had called on my behalf to make the reservation. Her father held regular business lunches at this restaurant so when a Sampson called, they made the request happen with special treatment to boot.

We were early so I briefed the waiter assigned to our table on how brunch would go. Nii and his sons arrived on time. Nii was always punctual to anything. It was a commendable trait that my mum loved about him.

"Well hello ladies" Nii smiled then kissed my mum on the cheek. He gave me a hug and the guys followed suit in their greeting.

"Happy birthday Kevin" I practically sang it out.

"Thirty is old" he laughed then took his seat.

"This view is amazing" my mum spoke up, trying to make conversation. "Kerry arranged for us to eat here"

"Mum. It was mostly Alexa pulling strings" I said coyly.

The waiters brought in our pre-ordered options and laid them out in front of us. A bunch of regular brunch food made fancy or as Alexa said, 'putting a twist on an old fashioned recipe'.

I settled for some fruit salad, cheese croissants and what looked like a steamed vegetables, beans and sausages dish. I was seriously considering the vegetable omelets baked in cupcake tray so they came out as cute little egg and vegetable cakes.

"This tastes like quiche without the crust and cheese" William, Kevin's youngest brother, said popping the rest of the little egg cake into his mouth.

That started the back and forth conversation about each other's lives. In a span of thirty minutes, I knew Kevin was learning the ropes at his dad's construction company, Eric was thinking of going to law school even though he had studied Business Administration in college and William got a scholarship to study an engineering course in Japan. At some point, I was asked if I was following in my dad's footsteps and would study law to which I simply replied that I was more of my mother's daughter, simply mentioned my hopes of running or at least managing a business in the fashion industry someday.