What Happens Next

Mother

"Hi, Ma! Happy mother's day!" Emily Jane excitedly greeted her mother.

"Thanks, baby!" Beth replied.

"Ma, I wish I was with you on this special day."

"I know, baby, but soon! Your dad and I were thinking of planning a trip there soon. He wants to check on MNL."

"It's still doing great, ma. Did you know it's one of Owen and Ava Carter's favorite restaurants?"

"I've heard a rumor or two."

"Well, that's why I got them as a client, because they were dining there, Owen and Aiden."

"How is that going, by the way?" Beth asked her giddy daughter.

"Fantastic! Owen greenlighted the whole thing. Ma, this was the break I've been waiting for! Ah! I can't believe it!" Emily Jane screamed into the phone.

"Em J, my ears!" Beth laughed on the other line. "Your dad just walked in. Hold on. Babe, it's Em J."

"Hi, my darling daughter," Jake said.

"Hi, Pa!"

"You still wearing your chastity belt?"

"Very funny, Pa!" Emily Jane retorted with a roll of her eyes.

"Just making sure. I mean, I do have the key here."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I've been a good girl."

"That's my girl. That's what I like to hear."

"Pa, I think you've failed to remember that I am 25 years old."

"Still my baby."

"Ugh, Pa!"

She heard her mom playfully reprimand her dad and ask for the phone back.

"By, my darling daughter! Here's your mom. I love you!"

"I love you, Pa!"

She heard her dad kiss her mom and her mom laugh. Soon her mom was back on the line.

"Okay, baby, the coast is clear. Do you have a boy?"

"Ma, really? A boy? It would be more of a man," she giggled.

"To-may-to, to-mah-to. So...spill. I can tell. Your voice is overly chirpy."

"Ma, it's just a crush. He's a huge movie star, he will never see me as a potential girlfriend."

"Baby, you are a beautiful girl, and I'm not just saying that because you are my daughter. I'm serious. Which movie star?"

"Aiden Carter."

"Uh huh."

"That's all you have to say, ma? Where's your nuggets of wisdom?"

"Well, baby, you are no longer a teenager. You are now a successful business woman. All I have for you is 'be yourself'. This Aiden Carter, if he's a smart man, will like you for who you are. The right man will love you for you, baby, not because of what or who he wants you to be."

"Thanks, ma! You really are the best. I love you."

"I love you, too, baby."

"I miss you, ma."

"I miss you, too."

"Happy mother's day, again, Ma," Emily Jane said as a final word.

Beth said I love you to her daughter one last time before ending the call. Emily Jane really did miss her mom, even her dad. Sometimes she just needed a hand to hold, and her situation with Aiden was that time. She didn't know why she felt insecure when she had no intentions of going beyond their client/wedding planner partnership.