Something was different, Rose thought. Looking over at where Nate and her mother were talking quietly. The two of them were cooking lunch, moving around each other with ease, and even laughing together from time to time. Her mother had never done that with any of the men Rose had brought home.
She was always polite of course, but she was nice to them in the way one was nice to passing strangers. Welcoming but not overly familiar. But here she was, chatting to Nate like they had known each other for years. The woman had even let him borrow one of her aprons. The pink frilly thing looked ridiculous, and Rose had secretly snapped a few pics. Capturing the two as they laughed, their faces warm and relax.
A mother and her son.
Her mother had accepted Nate. Not just accepted him, but actually liked him. Whatever it was that the old woman saw in him, that she had not seen in the others. Rose was glad it was there, her heart doing a little flip when a pot boiled over. Nate rushing over to take it off the heat before Rose's mom even realized what was happening. For that he got a warm pat on the cheek and her mom went back to her story. Regaling him with her many triumphs over the young market stall owners who thought they could pull the wool over her eyes. The way he was listening so intently, Rose was pretty sure Nate had been one of those nerdy kids who noted down everything the teacher said and then went through the notes with a fine toothed comb. The thought of a younger Nate, all long limbs and knobby knees. Glasses askew as he nodded along to whatever the teacher was saying, had Rose giggling loudly.
The duo in the kitchen immediately stopped talking, looking at her expectantly.
"It's nothing- I just remembered a funny joke about a llama," She said, mentally wincing at how lame her cover was.
Nate and her mother were still staring, so Rose decided to stick with her story.
"You know, a llama and an alpaca walk into a bar…" She stopped looking over at them, they were still watching, waiting.
"I don't actually remember how it ends," She said, picking up her phone and pretending to be very busy, her cheeks aflame. Noise resumed in the kitchen after a moment.
"See how she is, always off in her own little world, my Rose," Her mom said, the sound of a knife against a chopping board punctuating her words. Their conversation resumed and Rose let it wash over her. She send a picture of the two Lili, the other woman replying with a row of hearts and lamenting on how she was once again chained to her desk. Working through the weekend. The two of them talked a little while longer, and by the time their chat ended, Rose was feeling even more relaxed.
Lunch ended up being moussaka, with her mom giving most of the credit to Nate.
"Our Nate, did all the work. You should be thanking your husband for the meal, not me," She said when Rose thanked her, a teasing glint in her eyes as she looked over at a blushing Nate.
Dinner followed along the same vein, only this time it was Rose in the kitchen, putting together a Greek salad. Her mother and Nate out in the living room playing cards, betting with cookies. It would have been fair to warn Nate when the game began that her mother was a shark. But Rose had chosen to keep her piece, laughing quietly to herself each time she looked over into the other room.
Nate had started off confident, looking for all the world like he was just humoring his mother-in-law. By the end of their first game, his brow was furrowed confused. Looking from his diminished cookie pile to her mother who was giving him a look like butter would not melt in her mouth. An hour later, Nate was looking frazzled, down to just crumbs and Rose's mother had dropped the sweet old lady façade, biting down on fruits of her labour. Eying the crumbs Nate was left with, with hungry eyes.
It was then that Rose decided to rescue him.
"Food's ready," She called, hiding a smile as quickly threw his cards down and headed over to her.
It was fun, nice in a way spending time with her mother had not been in many years. The addition of the extra person in the room, chasing away the loneliness that always crept in on them when it was just Rose and her mother. She ended up snuggled up to Nate on the sofa, his hand around her shoulder. The three of them talking well into the night, enjoying the last few hours they had together.
By the time they went to bed, Rose was too tired for propriety. She had enjoyed being snuggled up to Nate, and though there was no one to pretend for. Rose did not want to stop, so as soon as he got into bed, she rolled over, plastering herself to his side. She heard his startled gasp, his chest expanding beneath her cheek, but after that, he settled, arms coming around her.
Neither of them spoke. Simply listening to the sound of each other's breaths until they fell asleep.