by Cj Howard
“What?” he asked.
“You made this!” Martha said breathlessly. Then she looked at Delilah, “Oh, you really are sent from heaven, aren’t you? I am literally bursting with pride right now. I’m going to have to take a photo of it so that I always remember this moment. I’d say the cake is too pretty to eat, but we all know that we’re going to be digging in after dinner.”
“Oh, you two have such little faith in me.”
“And he made a proper breakfast for himself. Bacon and eggs. The lot!” Delilah blurted out again, the pride oozing out of her voice.
“Well, look at that. I think you may have found your vocation in life,” Martha said to him.
“What do you mean? Vocation?”
Martha grinned at him. “I mean, dear boy, that all my years of cooking for you have paid off. You must’ve actually learned a few things from all those years of sitting in the kitchen with me. I had no idea that you were watching me so carefully. I have a feeling you didn’t even know that you were watching me so carefully.
But, as it turns out – you might actually be better at this than I am. Now, we can see you’re brilliant at baking – of course the taste test is still to come – but next I want to see how good you are at cooking. I will be giving you my lasagna recipe, and I want you to invite me over for dinner soon.”
James was startled, “Your recipe?! But what about your secret ingredient?”
“That can be our little family secret. So, do we have a deal?”
What had James gotten himself into? “We have a deal.”
Just then, James heard his father walking down the stairs. He had a distinctive way of walking that was impossible to miss. It was probably just the type of shoes he wore that made that sound on the wooden floors, but it made it impossible for him to sneak up on anyone.
Which had always been a good thing for James, who was often sitting in the living room looking up things he didn’t want his father to see on the internet. It was different with Martha who liked to walk barefoot in the house and would glide by unexpectedly.
“James! You’re here!” his father said as he approached. Then he watched as his father noticed Delilah and went up to her first. “And you must be the lovely Lilah. I’m Jason. It’s wonderful to meet you.”
Delilah beamed at his father. He’d always had that effect on people – especially on women, who couldn’t help but feel fluttered in his presence. James knew that he didn’t have the same effect. James was younger and better looking, sure, but people didn’t look at him with the same sense of awe. His father was loved by all, and for good reason.
“Mr. Elton, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Delilah said and shook his hand.
“Goodness, call me Jason. I’ve always felt strange when someone says Mr. Elton – it makes me feel old. And James – keep quiet!” Then his father looked back at Delilah, “He’s always calling me old.”
James walked over and gave his father a hug.
“Well, old man, it’s good to see you again.”
“Good to see you too, James. You’re looking good. I hear we have a full house tonight,” his father said.
“Yeah, Marco, Tom, and Elton are coming, and as far as I know, Elton is bringing his new girlfriend, Ashley, with him.”
His father clapped his hands, “Wonderful. This house gets far too quiet. Most of the time I’m in my office and Martha gets the downstairs all to herself. It’s nice to have guests. And I haven’t seen these boys in forever.”
Just on cue, the doorbell rang, and Marco and Tom stood at the door. They had flowers for Martha and wine for his father. James did his usual introductions. He knew that Delilah was a bit nervous, considering the last time she had met some of James’ acquaintances, it hadn’t gone so well. He’d tried to explain that he hadn’t liked the people around that table either, but he wasn’t sure if she believed him.
Thankfully, Marco and Tom were vastly different. His father had lectured him on many occasions how important it was for him to keep up his friendship with his childhood friends, no matter how rich and famous he got. And he had – but it hadn’t been hard. They were the only people that he knew who actually liked him for who he was.
“Oh, we can’t wait to dish all the dirt on James to you,” Marco was telling Lilah.
“And I bet there’s a lot of dirt to be dished out,” she said, and they all laughed.
“Hey! Why do you say that? I’ve done nothing wrong,” James said.
Tom grinned, “Oh really? Well then… where should we begin…”
James laughed nervously, “Nowhere, nowhere. We can begin nowhere. In fact, we can move swiftly along from this conversation. That’s the problem with staying friends with your school friends – they know all of the embarrassing stuff. You’ll be surprised to know, dear Lilah – but I wasn’t always this handsome man before you.”
“Oh, I’m not surprised at all,” she said.
Marco and Tom burst out laughing. “Oh, I like this girl!”
He was saved by the doorbell. Elton stood with Ashley on his arm – beaming like only two new lovebirds could. Ashley looked different from how James had remembered her – but that was probably because he always saw her in the dingy darkness of the pub, and she was always wearing her standard black uniform dress.
Now she looked casual in jeans and a t-shirt, and her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail that swung from side to side when she walked. She had barely any makeup on and a smile that went on for days.
She was still very cute and seemed down to earth. One of those girls that you get an immediate liking for. It was obvious that Elton was smitten – he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
“Oh goodness, we’re the last to arrive,” Elton said nervously as he took in the smiling faces all around him. “Hi everyone. This is Ashley. My girlfriend.” That made everyone smile. His girlfriend. He’d obviously been dying to say that out loud.
“Hi everyone. I’ve heard a lot about you all. I bought some champagne – I thought it would be nice to celebrate.” She held up two bottles.
“Well, dear – I love you already. Come on in,” Martha said and took the bottles from her. Martha then hurried into the kitchen. There was a big pop as the champagne bottles opened, and everyone laughed.
“Martha doesn’t play around when it comes to alcohol,” James said, although he knew that she was going to come out and give everyone alcohol except him. He wondered if she’d even give his friends any. To her, they were all still young school children coming home to play. But to James’ great surprise, she walked out with a glass for everyone.
She winked at James. “I guess I have to accept the fact that you’re an adult now. I know you drink like mad when you’re not around me. I’ve been trying to pretend otherwise, of course. But I know you probably want some tonight.”
“I’ve always liked the orange juice,” he said and took a sip of wine. “But this is nice too.” They all said a cheers.
“This house is amazing!” Ashley said and then asked if she could go on a tour. So James and the boys led the girls around the house – showing them all the rooms that they used to play in and where they used to get up to no good. The boys knew the house as well as he did. They hadn’t been around in a while, but when they were younger, they were almost a part of the furniture.
“You grew up in this house?” Delilah asked, incredulous. She’d barely said a word through the tour – her eyes widening with each room that they went in. James couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for his childhood home. He knew that it was extravagant – which was so unlike his father – but there was just something about the place that was impossible not to love.
“I know! The lucky bugger,” remarked Elton. “You won’t believe how jealous we were of him growing up. Which is why we came over all the time. I think people used to think we were brothers. My house always looked so small when I got home from this place. I wanted to live here. I asked my mom, but she said no.”
&n
bsp; “You asked your mom if you could live here? I didn’t know that!” James exclaimed.
“Yeah – as you can imagine that didn’t go down so well. I got this huge lecture about how money wasn’t the most important thing in life and how I should be happy that at least I had a roof over my head. Of course, she was right – but I was young and I still wished that I lived here. After that I kept my feelings to myself, though.”
“It’s beautiful,” Delilah said in a whisper.
“Do you know that you’re the first girl that James has brought home?” Tom asked. Before James could say anything, Marco interrupted, “And the first girl that his father has met.”
“Oh, I am so going to regret bringing you guys over tonight,” James said. He looked over at Delilah and saw that she was smiling. She took his hand and squeezed it. They both knew that she was not the first girlfriend that he was taking home to meet his family – because she wasn’t even his girlfriend. Only Elton knew – although he was doing a very good job of hiding it.
“And this was my room once upon a time. Which does not look like my room anymore. Martha wanted to keep it the same, but I felt too weird about that. It was time to move on.
So I took all my stuff and we turned this into a guest bedroom. As it turns out, I still end up sleeping here whenever I come over, even though there are other guest bedrooms in the house that are bigger and better.”
“Yes, but tell Lilah the truth, James. Before it looked like this, it used to be pink and white. James was obsessed with pink when he was growing up!” Elton said.
“And dolls! He had dolls all around the room. It was quite freaky, but he was obsessed with dressing them up,” Tom said.
“Yeah. He had girls’ clothes in his cupboard and a drawer full of makeup, and he’d prance around the room, making us call him Jane,” Marco said.
The three guys were holding onto the wall for support they were laughing so hard, and James stood there with his hands on his hips. “Seriously? I’m not sure why I stayed friends with you guys.”
“Because we make sure that reality is always firmly in place!”
“Pink rooms, dolls, and makeup? That’s reality?”
“Oh, come on – you can’t have an amazing house like this, more money than you know what to do with, and now a gorgeous girlfriend too. We have to at least pretend you were a bit of an oddball growing up,” Marco said.
Then he looked at Delilah. “His room was perfect. It was dark blue, and he had a guitar propped up against the wall even though he didn’t know how to play. He had ‘90s rock posters on his wall and a massive beanbag in the corner. Now, wasn’t our version better?”
“Oh I totally believe your version,” Delilah said, and James stuck out his tongue at her.
“I agree! I can totally picture you in a pink room,” Ashley said, and Elton grinned at her.
“Is this pick-on-James night? You’re lucky my father and Martha like you all so much, otherwise I would’ve thrown you out ages ago. Well Elton, I bet you can’t wait to have this bunch at your place to show Ashley around,” James said.
“That’s okay. Ashley knows all my secrets.”
They all laughed at that. “We’ll be the judge of that.”
They walked downstairs and joined Martha and James’s father around the table. Martha had made two dishes – a chicken and pesto pasta and a chicken stew. James had a small bowl of each. So did Delilah.
“Oh, thank goodness. I didn’t want to be the only one having both!” Ashley exclaimed, and James noticed that she and Delilah were grinning at each other. When they started talking, James was pleased to see that they got along great.
Halfway through the meal, Elton gave him a big thumbs up. After dinner, James decided to be the one to fetch the dessert. He asked Elton to help him in the kitchen.
“Hey, I just wanted to get you alone quickly. Do you think I should tell everyone what’s going on? I feel so bad. They all think she’s my girlfriend. Maybe I should make a big announcement or something. I don’t know. I mean, they all believe what I’ve told them.”
“Well, that was the plan, wasn’t it? You two would pretend to go out and then you’d break up and the whole tape thing could be forgotten.”
“Yeah, I guess. I just feel bad that they don’t know.”
“Nah. Don’t tell them. Remember what we said in the beginning – the more people that know, the more chance there is of the outside world finding out. I haven’t even told Ashley about it.”
“You haven’t?” That surprised James. Elton was an even better friend than James had thought.
“No. I told you I wouldn’t tell anyone. But it looks like it’s going well. I mean, it doesn’t look like the two of you are even battling to pretend.”
James considered this. “I guess you’re right. I think we just get along. She’s really easy to be around. And I hate to admit it – but I’m almost enjoying not going out and getting drunk every night.”
“Who would’ve thought – James has a normal side. Well, that makes this whole thing easier then. Imagine if the two of you hated each other? She seems very nice.”
“She is. Thanks, Elton. You got me out of this mess. Somehow my reputation has remained intact after the whole sex tape debacle. In fact, I think people might actually like me more. It seems everyone just wants to see people in love. Speaking of which… Ashley is cool.”
“I know. It’s going so well! Like really, really well.”
“Hey, you two, what’s taking so long?” A voice came from the living room. They quickly got the plates and the cake and took them to the table. Then there was another round of trying to explain that he had actually made the cake. They looked at him as if he were a completely different person than the James that they had grown up with. But it was a good kind of look. His father looked like he might even cry.
“I’m proud of you, James.”
“Me to, my boy,” Martha echoed.
“Well, wait until you taste it before you say that,” James said. But as he dished up a slice for everyone, he knew that they meant it. And for the first time – he felt like he might even deserve it.
Chapter8
James couldn’t stop thinking about the praise that he had gotten the night before from his chocolate cake. It wasn’t the kind of praise that family members sometimes give just because they’re family.
You know the type – “You’re brilliant at singing!”
“Really? So should I go and sing on American Idol? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. You’re amazing. Go out there and sing your heart out and we’ll support you.”
And the person promptly goes on to make a fool of himself in front of the whole world. This was different. James could tell that they truly meant it. Even his friends, who weren’t the type to praise easily, had said that he was talented.
He thought about that word: talented. He had never considered himself to be talented at anything before. And the last thing he would’ve thought was that he would be good in the kitchen.
Although, as Martha said, it almost made sense. He had grown up sitting in that kitchen with her and watching her cook. But still, he didn’t actually think that he had taken anything in. He held her lasagna recipe in his hands. He had promised to make it and invite her over the following week. And that’s when a thought occurred to him: he had never invited her over before. She had never even seen his house. What was wrong with him?
He looked at the recipe and read the ingredients over and over again, trying to figure out what made it so different from all the other lasagnas in the world. But he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. “It’s love,” she always said with a twinkle in her eye.
James laughed at the words in front of him – either she really did add love or she had left out her secret ingredient altogether. He was almost certain that his lasagna wouldn’t come out as well as hers.
He put the recipe away and made his way out. Delilah and Melissa were coming
over for breakfast that morning. They were going to all meet at a nearby café, but then he changed his mind and invited them to his place instead.
Melissa knew all about the fact that they were just pretending, and he felt a little strange pretending out in public with her knowing the truth. He wasn’t sure why, but he also felt a bit nervous at the thought of having Delilah’s friend over. The doorbell rang and he went to open for them, wiping his hands on the back of his jeans.
“Good morning! Hey Lilah, nice to see you again. And you must be Melissa!” He didn’t recognize her from Betsy’s, but he knew that was because he’d had eyes only for Delilah that night.
“Nice to meet you, James. Wow, your house is amazing! Although, son to entrepreneurial genius, Jason Elton – I expected nothing less.”
“I must tell my father that people are going around calling him that. He’d be mortified!”
“Really? I thought he’d love that. I certainly would love to be called that.”
“Oh no! Not my father. For someone who is so well-known, he sure hates the limelight.”
“Well James, your house is lovely. It really is.” Melissa was very confident and had a very easy way about her that immediately put James at ease.
“Thank you. Uh… can I offer you anything to drink? Coffee? Tea? It’s a bit early for champagne, but I do have it if you want some.”
“COFFEE! Trust me, try the coffee!” Delilah exclaimed and James laughed.
“Okay… now you have me intrigued. I’ll take a coffee then.”
James showed Melissa the coffee machine, and she squealed with delight.
“Melissa. Meet Mrs. Bean. The best coffee maker in the world.”
“Oh, come on, you two… why don’t you just go out for real? Then I can come over every morning for a cup of coffee from Mrs. Bean.”
“The two of you are always welcome – whether we’re ‘dating’ or not.”
“Ah, so is the breakup going to a nice one then? Are the two of you going to pretend it’s a mutual thing and then stay friends?”
