Scars To Your Beautiful : A Modern Beauty and the Beast retelling ✔

18. Treasured memories

The ringing of the door bell alerted everyone in the house. Aunt Georgia straightened, wearing a panicked look in her eyes. "He's here."

They had invited Elias, Aunt Georgia's new boyfriend, over for dinner at their place. It was all Callie's idea and their one chance at meeting the guy Aunt Georgia always gushed about, before he possibly bolts away because of her band tour.

Callie smirked. "You're a little jumpy right now. Don't worry, no matter what, we'll like him. And he'll like us too."

"Who wouldn't? We're adorable." Ava reassured her. "I'll get the door. I want to be the first person to see how he looks like." It was the one thing Ava did, ever since they moved to Jubilee Grove. She always had a habit of making sure she got the first glimpse of Aunt Georgia's past boyfriends and to catch them off guard. Ava raced to the door and took a peek when she pulled it open. She gave a loud squeak. "Oh my God. He's actually handsome."

Callie and Aunt Georgia shared amused glances at each other and Callie craned her neck, hoping to see the man who still hadn't stepped into the house.

There was an amused tone in the rumble of his velvety masculine voice. "Nice to meet you too, you must be Avalyn."

"It's Ava." Said Ava, in a sing-songy voice. "Come in."

While his musky scent wasn't one Callie could identify, she examined him closely when he entered. He actually had more of a resemblance to Peter, than the Deputy. Hell, if someone told her Peter was his son, she'd believe it. The uncanny similar blue eyes and light reddish hair startled Callie. He also had that boyish good looks Peter had, exuding all over his face despite the bristles of facial hair running across his jaw.

Aunt Georgia had made her way to him and pressed her lips against his, with a quick peck. "You're here."

He smiled at her, briefly giving a not-so-subtle ogle at her body hugging red dress, which well suited the highlights of her hair and made her eyes pop. "Where else will I be?"

"No kissing in the house." Abe reappeared, still with his pair of mittens on. He shifted his gaze uncomfortably away from a smiling Elias. "Dinner's ready."

Aunt Georgia had an arm loosely hung across Elias' shoulder. "Don't be a sourpuss, Abe and say hi to him."

Callie tensed. Aunt Georgia knew her father didn't like being put on the spot and worse, he hated interacting with new people. But then again, this was another reason they invited Elias. Abe needed to get used to seeing him around, without his social anxiety getting in the way.

Abe fiddled with his thumb, darting his eyes around and not directly looking at the red haired man. "Hi. I'm Abe Blanco. It's nice to meet you."

Elias let out a relaxed grin, before answering. "Elias Doherty. The pleasure's all mine." He stretched out his hand for a handshake but Abe stiffened. With a firm frown, Abe fiddled with his hands again. Aunt Georgia quickly gave a shake of her head, which Elias seemed to understand and quickly retracted his hand. "Noted. No handshakes."

Abe shrugged, still not looking Elias in the eye. "I don't do handshakes."

"True, it's totally overrated. What's the point of putting your clean hands on another hand without knowing where it's been? It could have been in their nose." The glint in Elias' blue eyes made Aunt Georgia's sunny smile widen.

Callie joined in. "Or up their butt." It seemed to make everyone break into soft chuckles and eased the uncomfortable tension tying up the place. "I'm Callie and handshakes are fine by me."

Elias gave off a genteel vibe Callie liked and she could see why Aunt Georgia fell for him. "Well, I'm happy I got to meet Georgia's closest family. I, for one, always firmly believed in family. Me and my siblings are almost inseparable. They're like my best friends."