Protecting Her(25)

“Is something wrong at work?” I ask him.

His father chuckles. “Yes, Pearce, tell us. Did the boss give you a difficult assignment?”

Pearce clears his throat. “It’s nothing, but we do need to go. It’s late and we need to get Garret to bed.”

I point to his plate. “What about your dessert?”

“He doesn’t eat dessert,” Eleanor says. “But we always serve it to him anyway.”

“You didn’t know your husband doesn’t eat dessert?” Holton smirks. “I wonder what else you don’t know about him.” He chuckles again.

The man never laughs or smiles, so he’s obviously trying to tell me something, or he’s just being rude. Either way, I’m ready to leave. This has been a long evening.

“Will you be coming for dinner next Sunday as well?” Eleanor asks. She looks desperate for me to say yes. She clearly wants to reunite the family and I feel like I should make an effort to help her, even though I dislike Holton.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to make it,” Pearce says, since I didn’t answer.

“Maybe you could come to our house next week,” I offer. “I’m happy to make dinner. Maybe on Friday night?”

“Fine.” Eleanor glances at Holton, who’s mumbling something under his breath. “Holton and I will be there next week for dinner. What time should we arrive?”

“Let’s say seven. That’s usually when Garret goes to sleep so it’ll be a good time to have dinner.”

“Eleanor,” Holton barks, his eyes on her.

She ignores him. “Seven it is.”

“We can see ourselves out,” Pearce says as he takes the baby carrier.

“No. I’ll walk you out,” his mother says, following us to the door.

We say goodbye as we wait for the car to be brought around to the front.

When we’re in the car, driving away, Pearce takes my hand. “Thank you for inviting them to dinner. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. Your mother and I are both trying to get this family back together.” I check the back seat and see Garret soundly sleeping. “So what did you think of our evening?”

“I thought it went quite well. I know my father ignored you, which would be rude behavior for anyone else, but for him it’s actually a good thing. It means he tolerates you, and that’s far better than the alternative. At least he wasn’t tossing insults at you all night.”

“That’s true. I guess it could’ve been worse. I was surprised by the nursery. Pearce, I don’t want Garret staying over there without us. It doesn’t feel right.”

“He won’t be staying there. My mother has so many rooms she doesn’t know what to do with them all. This gave her an excuse to convert one of them into something useful. But if she never uses it, that’s fine. She won’t be upset by it.”

“I can’t believe your parents didn’t even react when your phone went off at dinner. I thought for sure they’d yell at you, but they didn’t. Didn’t you find that odd?”

“No. They understand that work doesn’t end at five. If it were my personal phone, they wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“Was Jack calling you?”

“No. It was someone else. There was an issue with the new product line.”

“And they had to call you at night about that?”

“Rachel, I’d rather not talk about work. I’m very tired, and thinking about work just makes me more tired.”

The car is silent for a moment, then I ask, “So do you really not like dessert?”

“I don’t care for sweets. I never have.”

I laugh. “And I’m just finding this out now? Pearce, I make you desserts all the time. Why didn’t you tell me you don’t like them?”

“Because I like the ones you make. But I don’t like other desserts, like that torte they were serving. It’s too sweet.”

“I make you chocolate cake. That’s not that different than a chocolate torte.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Rachel.” He lifts my hand up and kisses it. “I like your desserts but nobody else’s. I can’t explain it.”

I can’t explain it either. I can’t explain a lot of things that happened tonight, especially that call Pearce got and the fact that his parents didn’t get mad about it. Pearce almost never gets calls on that phone. I think that’s only the third time I’ve heard it ring. Yet he takes it with him everywhere he goes. And I don’t know why he needs two phones. He could just use his personal phone for work. But he insists on keeping the other one. I don’t understand it.