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“I told you I could pick you up,” Riki says, putting his arm around her waist and giving her a kiss.
“Nah, your office is in the opposite direction. But you can drive me home.”
Julia’s eyebrows have disappeared into her hairline. “Wait, are you two a thing?”
Sana giggles as she squeezes close to Riki. “Yes. Did Vera not tell you?”
“No! Vera!” Julia calls out. “You didn’t tell me these two were a thing!”
“Hm?” Vera looks up from the dining table, where she’s been busy the past five minutes rearranging the dishes to make sure the spread looks perfect. “Oh yes. Riki and Sana are things. Keep up, Julia. Emma knows, don’t you, Emma?”
Emma nods solemnly, eyeing Riki and Sana. “Are you going to kiss again?”
“Um...” Sana says. “Do you want us to?”
Emma shakes her head.
“Okay, then we won’t,” Riki says with a wink at Emma. “Wow, Vera, this looks amazing. You’ve really outdone yourself.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Vera says, grinning from ear to ear. “I just spend the whole day cooking, but is no big deal.”
For the next fifteen minutes, they chatter easily, sipping champagne and updating one another. Julia is excited to update them about her growing business; it’s been such a long time since she’s had anything remotely interesting to say about her life that isn’t about Emma. Sana and Riki seem genuinely happy for her until Vera says, “Oh, Julia, you can take Sana and Riki’s engagement photos!” upon which both Sana and Riki choke on their drinks while Julia laughs, then the conversation moves on to how Riki is planning on refurbishing Vera’s teahouse furniture.
Strangely, Vera doesn’t seem too enthused about this. “Oh, you don’t have to. It must be such a bother. Just take it slowly.”
“Vera doesn’t want to move back to her teahouse,” Sana teases. “She’s enjoying staying here too much.”
“Such rubbish!” Vera snaps, without any bite to it. “Of course not! I hate being a bother. You know that, don’t you?” she says to Julia.
“You’re never a bother, Vera,” Julia says, giving her a one-armed hug. “Emma and I love having you here. You can stay as long as you want. Right, Emma?”
Emma nods, then says, “I’m hungry.”
“Ah, yes, let’s eat, before food gets cold,” Vera says.
Riki glances at the door. “Should we wait for Oliver?”
At the mention of Oliver, Julia’s heart rate quickens.
“He is twenty minutes late already,” Vera moans. “No, we should eat first, then when he comes he will feel guilty for being so late.”
And so they retire to the dining room, where they dig into the food. Everyone agrees that Vera’s cooking is out of this world and that meeting her has been very bad for their waistlines. It’s right in the middle of eating that the doorbell rings. Before Julia can even get out of her seat, it rings again. And again. They all exchange curious glances as Julia gets up.
“Wow, sounds like Oliver really needs to come in,” Sana says.
As Julia walks to the door, she rehearses what she will say to Oliver. She will be calm and cool, she decides. She will trust that Vera has a plan for tonight. That Vera will make sure that everything goes well. And if it doesn’t, well, Julia is prepared to tell Oliver exactly what she thinks. She opens the door.
“Vera!” Oliver shouts, barging in and storming right past Julia.
“What the—” Okay, so she wasn’t expecting that. And the unexpected rudeness triggers something inside her. She hurries after him. “You can’t just—”
But Oliver stops at the dining room and points at Vera. “I can’t believe you did that,” he thunders.
Conversations stop in mid-sentence. Emma looks up from her high chair, startled, a piece of broccoli halfway to her mouth.Seeing how surprised Emma looks seems to shake Oliver. When he speaks again, his voice is lower, more level, though anger is still simmering beneath the words. “Vera, can I please talk to you?”
“This is not what I plan,” Vera complains.
“I’m serious, Vera.”