Chapter 3
1144 Words
Chapter 3: Mom Is Dating Someone
The sound of shattering glass seemed absurdly loud in the middle of the dining room.
Red wine spread slowly across the cream-colored tiles while Ivy stood frozen beside the table, staring at the one man she had sworn she would never see again.
This couldn't be happening.
There were over eight billion people in the world.
Eight billion.
And somehow, life had chosen Asher Silas.
"...Ivy?" Asher finally spoke, sounding equally confused.
She blinked once.
Then twice.
Then politely decided she was no longer participating in this reality.
"No," she answered quietly.
Silence followed.
"...No?" Asher repeated.
"No."
"What exactly are you saying no to?"
"Everything."
He looked at her for several moments before glancing at the shattered wine glass on the floor. "Should I be concerned?"
"Very."
Grace Collins was looking between them with growing excitement written all over her face while Theodore Silas appeared pleasantly surprised by the unexpected reunion.
"You really know each other?" Grace asked eagerly.
"No!" Ivy answered immediately.
"Yes," Asher replied at the exact same time.
Another silence.
Ivy slowly turned towards him with narrowed eyes.
Traitor.
"Oh!" Grace clasped her hands together excitedly. "How wonderful! Where did you two meet?"
At Satan's summer camp.
"We went to the same gym," Ivy lied smoothly.
Asher looked down at her before raising an eyebrow. "You've never willingly entered a gym in your life."
"..."
"..."
"...She's joking!" Ivy laughed awkwardly before slapping his arm a little too enthusiastically. "Asher loves jokes."
"Do I?"
"You do tonight."
Grace laughed warmly. "You two are adorable."
No.
No, they weren't.
They were the physical embodiment of Ivy's worst nightmare.
Theodore cleared his throat politely before smiling at his son. "Well, this certainly explains why you looked surprised."
Asher removed his suit jacket before casually hanging it over one of the dining chairs. "You could say that."
He still had that annoyingly calm voice. The kind that somehow made people trust him immediately.
Ivy hated it.
Actually, no.
She hated the fact that absolutely nothing about him had changed.
He was still ridiculously handsome. Still annoyingly polite. Still somehow looked like he'd walked straight out of a luxury men's magazine despite claiming he only owned black T-shirts and gym clothes.
It was unfair.
She, meanwhile, had spent the last thirty seconds contemplating whether she could legally fake her own death.
"Sweetheart," Grace smiled towards her daughter, "why didn't you tell me you knew Theodore's son?"
Because I DIDN'T KNOW THEODORE'S SON WAS MY EX-BOYFRIEND, MOTHER!
"Oh, you know..." Ivy laughed weakly while picking imaginary lint from her dress. "Life happens."
"How long have you known each other?" Theodore asked curiously.
She immediately reached for her wine bottle.
"Not very long."
"Two years," Asher answered.
The wine bottle almost slipped from her fingers for the second time that evening.
Why was he like this?
"Oh my goodness!" Grace gasped excitedly. "Two years?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Were you friends?"
Ivy answered before he could open his mouth.
"VERY DISTANT FRIENDS!"
"She cried while watching The Notebook and called me at two in the morning."
"..."
"..."
"...We were emotionally supportive acquaintances," she corrected confidently.
For the first time since arriving, she noticed the corner of his lips twitch slightly.
He was laughing at her.
The audacity.
Dinner somehow became even more painful after that.
Grace and Theodore spent the next twenty minutes discussing wedding plans while Ivy silently prayed for divine intervention.
She would accept almost anything at this point.
A power outage.
A small earthquake.
Perhaps a minor alien invasion.
Anything would suffice.
Unfortunately, God appeared to be enjoying tonight's entertainment.
"So, Ivy," Theodore smiled warmly. "Asher tells me you've always hated vegetables."
She slowly turned towards the man sitting beside her.
"Asher tells you things?"
He shrugged casually while cutting his steak. "Occasionally."
"I trusted you."
"No, you dumped me."
"..."
That was significantly louder than necessary.
Grace suddenly became fascinated by her mashed potatoes while Theodore quietly reached for his water.
Nobody knew where to look.
"Oh!" Grace laughed awkwardly. "Well, relationships can be complicated."
"I wouldn't know," Ivy replied immediately. "I'm currently single and thriving."
"You cried over a cat video three days ago," her mother reminded her.
"THAT KITTEN FOUND HIS FAMILY, MOM!"
Theodore laughed warmly while Asher quietly handed her the salt when she reached for it without looking.
The simple gesture made her pause momentarily.
Of course he remembered.
He always remembered.
Even after two years.
"Thank you," she murmured automatically before immediately regretting speaking to him politely.
"You're welcome."
No.
She refused to become sentimental tonight.
They were strangers now.
Very attractive strangers.
Dangerously attractive strangers.
But strangers nonetheless.
After dinner, Grace volunteered Ivy to help Theodore choose desserts while conveniently leaving her alone in the dining room with Asher.
Of course she did.
The traitor.
For several moments, neither of them spoke.
The familiar silence between them wasn't uncomfortable. Somehow, that made it worse.
Finally, Asher broke it first.
"You still don't eat breakfast?"
"No."
"You should."
"You still eat sixty eggs every week?"
"Seventy now."
She stared at him in horror.
"That's significantly more concerning than I remember."
He laughed quietly at that.
There it was again—that laugh she hadn't heard in two years.
Some things changed with time.
Others simply waited patiently.
"You look well," he said after a moment.
"So do you."
"You're still terrible at lying."
"And you're still impossible to avoid apparently."
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
He looked at her quietly before leaning against the dining table. "Were you avoiding me?"
"For two years successfully, might I add."
"I'll congratulate you later."
She laughed despite herself before immediately stopping.
No.
Absolutely not.
She would not become comfortable around him again.
That was how disasters began.
Before either of them could continue, Grace suddenly appeared beside them wearing the same expression she used whenever she was planning something dangerous.
"Oh! I completely forgot to tell you both!"
That sentence had ruined Ivy's life on multiple occasions.
She was beginning to suspect her mother enjoyed psychological warfare.
"Tell us what?" Ivy asked cautiously.
Grace smiled brightly.
"Theodore and I have decided to move in together next month!"
"That's wonderful," Ivy replied politely.
"And Asher will be moving in too!"
"..."
"..."
"...Pardon?"
"He'll be living here permanently."
No.
No, that wasn't correct.
She was fairly certain she would've remembered agreeing to such nonsense.
Her eyes slowly drifted towards Asher, who looked equally surprised by the announcement.
Then back to her mother.
Then towards the nearest window.
The distance didn't seem impossible.
After all, people jumped out of windows in movies all the time.
Perhaps she could survive one floor.
Perhaps.
For the first time in twenty-four years, Ivy Collins found herself asking one very important question.
Was witness protection still accepting applications?
- Writer
