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“Yeah,” is all I manage.

She leads me into the house and into a bright white kitchen with colorful paintings hung on all the walls. At the stove, the dark-haired woman from the café is setting a hot dish from the oven on top. She shucks off her oven gloves and turns to me with a smile. “Hi, Noah. I’m Trish. So lovely to have you.”

I shake Trish’s hand and ask what she’s cooking, and she shows me the recipe she’s been tinkering with for vegan lasagne. The cooked lasagne on the stove smells delicious, and I read over the recipe with interest.

“The trick is soaking the lentils just long enough,” she says. “They still need to have some body, but you don’t want them dry or crunchy.”

“Noah?” I turn, and Olivia’s mom is standing in the kitchen behind me. With her gray-sprinkled hair bound in the same way Olivia’s is, I instantly see the similarity between them, though she’s taller and heavier built than Olivia.

I smile. “Mrs. Zeston?”

Olivia’s mom laughs. “Oh I haven’t been Mrs. Zeston for a long time. Just call me Rose.”

Another faux pax. I should have realized since Olivia introduced Trish as her stepmother.

“Sorry, Rose. Nice to properly meet you.”

“And you. You know I might not have recognized you if I’d walked past you on the street. I didn’t realize there were supernaturals who had two forms, but Olivia tells me that’s pretty common.”

I shift uncomfortably. “Yeah. The shift happens for krakens when our skin gets wet. It’s not something I can control. There are other types of monsters who can, though.”

“Fascinating.”

“Mom!” Olivia nudges her mother then gives me an apologetic smile. “Mom is a socio-anthropologist currently writing a thesis about how monsters have shaped human culture throughout history. Mom, you can’t make Noah a test subject, OK?”

I laugh. “Well I think for monsters, we’ve been shaped more by living in human society. Or hiding from it.”

Rose gives me a serious smile. “Yes. I think supernaturals have faced persecution from humans for many years.”

Of course it’s true. Olivia’s mother might be the first human I’ve heard say it out loud though. Maybe this dinner won’t be as tense as I had imagined.

When we sit down at the table and Trish serves the lasagne I’m impressed. It’s got a depth of flavor she’s built through stock and herbs and spices. She tells me shitake mushrooms and MSG give it the umami taste on the back of the palate, and I’m mentally taking notes. I might have to add more vegan food to my menu back home.

The conversation flows as smoothly as it can while I stumble over myself trying to think of small talk, and Trish saves the day by talking to me about cooking.

By the time it’s time to clean away the plates, I stand quickly. “Let me help with these. I am a professional after all!”

Rose gives me a wink. “Well that’s an immediate point to you, Noah. Thank you.”

Olivia follows me into the kitchen. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

She turns on the tap and fills the sink with hot water.

“That’s fair. But I’m serious when I say I want to see you. I want a second chance.”

She sighs. “I’d like that, Noah, but I’m so conflicted about it. Obviously I still have feelings. I realized that as soon as I saw you.”

I grin and try to hide it in case she reads it as being cocky. “Well, I should have told you before that I have feelings too. And not seeing you has only made them stronger. I was an idiot not to realize sooner how much you meant to me. How much you mean…”

There’s a long moment where we just look at each other, and I’m too scared to push for her reaction.

She bends and retrieves rubber gloves from under the sink, and I laugh as she tries to fit them over my big hands. “So you don’t have to ruin your nice trousers,” she says, giving them an appreciative look.

“Thank you.” I was prepared to do it, but since I spent a whole week’s salary on this outfit I’m glad not to have to.

We wash the dishes in silence. Olivia dries them and stacks them away.

Finally she turns back to me. “If I say yes to seeing you, what then? I don’t think I can go back to the way things were. I don’t want that anymore.”