"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.
He was a good looking man, though. Beyond handsome! But that was all he'd ever be to her: a handsome man she could never have.
***
"Happy mother's day, mom!" Aiden walked in to the kitchen of his parents house with a huge bouquet of two dozen yellow roses and a small gift bag.
"Hi, baby, thank you!"
Aiden gave his mom a kiss and handed her his presents. Ava smiled widely at her son as she received the gifts from him.
"Open your present, mom," he told her excitedly.
Ava reached into the bag and found the small velvet box. She opened it and found a gold necklace with a small diamond heart pendant.
"Thank you, baby!" she hugged her son and kissed his cheek.
"You're welcome, mom."
"Hey, hey, hey, what's all this?" Owen walked in and clapped his son's back.
"Look what our son got me," Ava held up the necklace and asked Owen to put it around her neck, which he quickly obliged to.
"Good taste, son. You've definitely learned from the best," Owen joked.
"Well is is mother's day, and I am feeling sappy, so I'll agree that our baby had learned from the sweetest, most loving man."
"Aww, sweets, I'm touched," Owen kissed his wife on the forehead.
"It'll pass, sweetie."
Ava laughed and Aiden couldn't help but laugh along with his mom. His parents had a great relationship. In fact, he and his sister, Ondine, had a perfect model of a loving and lasting marriage. No, his parents' weren't perfect, and their marriage certainly wasn't, but he was a witness to how hard they worked to keep the love alive, how they kept the fire burning. He saw that their love for each other triumphed over whatever trial what Ava and Owen went through as a couple.
He was not ready for commitment now, not even at 28. He wouldn't classify himself as an eternal bachelor, but he certainly wasn't anywhere near ready to be in a serious relationship at the moment.
He just wouldn't have time, and it would be unfair to the woman he would be in a relationship with, whoever she may be.
***
Owen, Ava, and Aiden decided to have dinner at MNL. Ava hadn't been there for a while, and she was really craving for their sisig. It being mother's day, the two Carter men obliged. Aiden drove his parents and had the valet park his car and they walked into the restaurant, undetected. That was one reason why Ava and Owen loved going to MNL: because the paparazzi never follows them. It was really out of the way of the Hollywood hotpots so it was never in the paparazzi's radar. The host led the Carters to their table and as Owen sat down facing the bar, he spotted a familiar face. He excused himself from his parents, where Owen was pulling out Ava's chair for her. Aiden walked to the bar and greeted the bartender.
"I didn't know you bartend as well, Ms. Miller," he said flashing his pearly white teeth.
"Hi! Yeah, occasionally. How are you? Who are you with?" Emily Jane looked behind him.
"My mom and dad. Mom wanted to eat here for mother's day."
"Ah, good choice," Emily Jane winked. "What will you have? On the house."
"Two lagers and a margarita."
"You got it."
"Can you bring it to our table? I want to introduce you to my mom," Aiden said easily.
"Sure," Emily Jane answered quickly, feeling giddy again. 'Why did he do that?' she thought to herself. 'Probably so I wouldn't be surprised on the event date, duh,' she quickly added. She watched him sit down and give her a little wave so she knew which table he was in.
Ava turned to the direction her son was looking at and looked back at him with a smile.
"She's cute," she said to her son then wagged her eyebrows up and down to her husband. "Do you know her?"
"I've met her here before," Aiden quickly said.
Aiden mentally kicked himself. His mom was not supposed to know of Emily Jane and the fact that she was planning her parents' super secret wedding anniversary party. Too late now, for here came Emily Jane with a tray of his order. She carefully settled the margarita in front of Ava and the two beers in front of the men.
"Em J, meet my mother, Ava," Aiden introduced the two women.
"Hello, nice to meet you, Mrs. Carter. Happy mother's day," Ava shook the older woman's hand.
"Please, call me Ava. Em J?" Ava asked.
"Emily Jane," she explained.
"Emily Jane. What a lovely name. Do you work here, Emily Jane?"
"I bartend every now and then when I'm bored. My father is actually the co-owner of this place."
"Oh, really? Well this place is a fave of ours."
"Thanks. I'll pass the message along."
"So, how do you know Aiden?"
Emily Jane looked at Aiden, and was about to open her mouth when he spoke suddenly.
"Em J and I are dating."
"We are?"
"You are?"
Emily Jane and Ava said at the same time.
"Yes, just recently," Aiden continued.
Even Owen looked at his son, not knowing whether to believe him or not.
"Okay, well, I should get back to the bar. These are on the house, by the way," Emily Jane smiled at Ava and Owen.
"Thank you," Ava said once more.
"I'll just walk her back," Aiden said and abruptly stood up. He jogged to catch up to Emily Jane.
"Em J, wait up," he said as he caught up to her.
"What was that all about?"
"Sorry, It was the first thing I thought of. I didn't want her knowing the real reason why I know you."
"Oh, that's okay. I understand."
"Thanks for not saying anything."
"Sure."
"Okay, bye."
He watched her get back behind the bar before heading back to his parents.
"She's cute," Ava repeated.
"She is," Aiden agreed and looked at Emily Jane who was now busy taking drink orders from new customers who just walked up to the bar.
***
Emily Jane and Aiden went to a farm where the house had been converted into a bed and breakfast. The farm itself was no longer in use for crops, but the new bed and breakfast owners still grew pumpkins in a small patch. Emily Jane told Aiden it would be perfect in October, when pumpkin would be in season. The owner took them to the renovated barn which was to be used for the party. The barn was gigantic, and painted a dark brown, not the imposing red when one thinks of a barn. Emily Jane help up her sketches and handed them to Aiden to take a look while she pointed at the exact location of where the tables and things would be.
Aiden remained completely impressed. It was only a month before the party, and things were starting to get really busy and hectic for Emily Jane, but she showed no signs of stress. She was calm, cool, and collected, genuinely excited to show him how she envisioned the party to be. Her excitement was contagious, for now that they were in the barn, he can picture how things would look for the actual party.
"Em J, you continue to impress. My mom will love this. She will definitely be surprised."
"Aww, thank you, Aiden," she said shyly. "After I met your mother, I really wanted to give her the best. She really is the sweetest woman. I can't believe it, I used to just read her books, and now I met her, and planning her party. She and your dad are the sweetest...well, aside from my own saccharine sweet parents," she giggled.
Aiden laughed along with her. Everything about this woman was adorable; she was so magnetic that one would just be apt to copy whatever it was she did. If she laughed, you laughed along with her; if she pointed at something, your eyes would instantly be drawn to what she was pointing at. In the months that he had spent with Emily Jane planning for the party, he found that she wasn't shallow; she was actually a very caring individual who didn't bother much with celebrity gossip. He felt remorseful for having thought that in the first place.
He followed her back to her car and opened her door for her. She smiled at him and said a polite thank you.
"Em J, before you get in, I would just like to apologize to you," he began.
"For what?" she asked curiously.
"For listening in on your conversation all those months ago. Unbeknownst to you, I thought you were shallow and ditzy, and I would like to apologize. I couldn't have been more wrong about that."
"Oh, that," she said reddening. "Yeah, that was embarrassing. I'm sorry, too. I'm sure that made things awkward for you. I know it did for me for a while."
"So let's just put that behind us?" he asked.
"Yes, definitely," she smiled. "But I do have a confession to make."
"Okay, shoot."
"You are definitely so handsome, and a girl would have to be blind not to be attracted to you...and it turns out you're a nice guy, too...gah, I can't believe I'm about to say this," she stopped her rambling.
"Go on," he reached for her hand.
"Aiden, after this party and you are no longer my client, would you at least just consider getting coffee with me?" she asked, talking quickly before looking down at her feet.
He squeezed the hand he was holding and lifted her chin up with the other hand.
"I would do better than consider it."
She looked up at him questioningly.
"How about we upgrade coffee to dinner?"
"Really?"
"Really."
"Okay, wow. Thank you. I promise not to act like a fangirl around you."
He laughed and she got into her car. He shut the door closed for her and waved as she started driving away. He got into his own car and sat for a minute, pondering about what had just transpired.
He was now officially letting himself get distracted.