Chapter 13 Eric

Chapter 13 Eric

My mother was looking at me with a thin line drawn on her lips, and she was swallowing her words. But Cathy was the one who was the tensest. She started sweating and looking in other directions to avoid my gaze.

"Cathy, did you finish eating?" my mother then asked.

"Yes, it was delicious," replied Cathy, who had a piece of toast on her plate that she had barely taken two bites of.

"Excellent." My mother pushed her plate away and rested her two clasped hands on the table. "Could you wait for me in the fragrance room?"

Cathy rose from her chair as if she had been waiting for the opportunity to leave since the instant I arrived in the dining room. She smiled nervously and walked down the hall. I followed her with my eyes until she disappeared from my sight.

I put down the pancakes because I didn’t feel like it anymore and got up from my chair.

"Stay, please. I want to talk to you for a bit," my mother said, her voice calm and low enough for only me to hear.

I sighed and sat back down.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I didn’t buy your lies. You guys are terrible liars, you know that, right?" She said.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," I said. Not because I didn’t have the confidence, but because I wanted to keep Cathy’s lie.

"I wasn’t born yesterday, son," she replied. "I saw how she reacted when you came in here, plus your look wasn’t discreet at all."

I settled back in the chair and looked her straight in the eye. "Will you be cool if I tell you that I like her?"

"No, I want to know the whole story," she insisted. "Last night before bed, I went to Cathy’s room to wish her goodnight, but guess what? She wasn’t there, but her car was in the garage. What a coincidence, isn’t it?"

I knew I had lost and that whatever I said, she wouldn’t believe me.

"Okay, you win," I said, "I took her out to dinner last night at an Italian restaurant."

"Very romantic," she interrupted me. "Sorry, I got a little excited. You go ahead."

I shook my head, looked at her, and couldn’t help but laugh.

"You really like her, don’t you?" I asked.

My mother nodded.

"I did everything I could to make her feel like a princess, and when I brought her home, we kissed."

I left out the rest of the details because I didn’t want to start that kind of conversation with my mom at this stage of my life, let alone without my dad around for support.

My mom’s eyes widened like saucers, and they were shining brightly at what I had told her.

"There’s something I still don’t quite understand," she said. "Why didn’t you tell us about her before?"

I swallowed hard and at first thought about telling her everything that had happened, but it’s something very personal to me and something I never shared with anyone.

"Because I didn’t think it was important. I mean, I was engaged to Chloe," I replied. "But what I can tell you is that the moment I saw her and I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world."

She was extra quiet, looking up, devising a plan to get us closer.

"I like her a lot. She’s cute, kind, and respectful, not to mention that she built an empire from nothing, just with her talent and determination," my mother said. "You have a good eye for women, and I like her for you. She would make a good Luna for our pack."

Since the difficulty with Chloe happened, my mother has tried to get me to date many women, including daughters of powerful alphas or council members. She had taken her role as cupid very seriously.

"I’ve never heard you talk about a woman like that," I said.

"It’s just that something tells me she’s the right one. I can see it in her eyes. And it’s also very noticeable the chemistry between you two."

"And what about Candy?" I asked, scratching an eyebrow.

She put her hand to her forehead and grimaced with her mouth.

"I know Candy has a better position among our kind and is the heiress to The Mist Pack, but I can’t think of a better woman than Cathy for you," she said without a hint of remorse in her voice.

I raised my eyebrows and smiled.

"At least this time, you won’t lecture me when I stop dating her," I said.

She rolled her eyes and stood up from her chair.

"It’s been long enough. I have to get to my class," she told me and stared at me, waiting for me to say or do something. "Don’t play hard to get. I know you’re dying to come with me."

"I don’t want to invade your space and make you uncomfortable," I replied.

"Bullshit! We, women, like attention to see a man’s commitment to us, his ability to make us laugh, and his willingness to win us over," she said in a firm voice. "Get off your ass and go conquer that woman."

"Mom, but..."

"No buts, the clock is counting down, and she’ll be gone soon. Make the most of this time she has left with us," she encouraged me.

"Okay, no excuses," I added, getting up from the chair and feeling my adrenaline pumping. "I’ll do my best."

We walked to the lab in silence, she went in first, and I followed. Cathy seeing me made her cheeks redden, and she avoided my gaze.

"Will you be watching today, too?" her voice trembled as she asked me.

I walked over to her, helped her adjust her lab coat, and took an extra one that was hanging. "No, in fact, I’ll take your offer, and I want you to show me too."

Cathy looked at my mother, but she pretended not to pay attention to what was going on.

I put on the safety glasses and waited beside my mother for Cathy’s instructions.

She was nervous. Just my presence alone managed to upset her like that, but at the same time, she was trying her best to act like nothing was going on. One moment she would look at me with a blank stare, but the next second she would change her expression to a harder one.

"Let’s get started then," she said, bringing over a small woven basket containing an apple, peaches, pears, and a few pieces of coconut. "Today, we will extract the essential oil from fruits and use it as a base for our perfumes, choose a type of fruit."

"I want the peaches," said my mother cramming as many as she could into her hands.

Cathy then stepped in front of me. She was calmer now and looked at me with a totally serious expression.

"Which one do you recommend?" I asked her.

"Coconut," she answered just like that.

"Why coconut?" I asked her as I grabbed them.

"Because it has a tropical scent, it’s one of my favorites," she mentioned.

Before I took the last piece, I ran my hand over hers, and I did it intentionally to see her reaction.

"Sorry," I said.

"No problem," she replied, pursing her lips. "Let’s get started at once because this process is longer."

She set the basket down on one of the shelves on the side of the lab.

"Lydia, you must put the fruits in the press to extract the liquids and then start the filtration process," she told my mother, taking her to the end of the workbench where she had already set up the small mechanical press and explained in detail how to do the process.

Cathy turned to me with a serene and very professional expression. She was into her role.

"Yours is simpler, you must grind the coconut pieces with water, and when you get a completely white substance, we will separate the liquids from the solids and heat the liquid until it all evaporates, and we are left with just the oil," she said without a single pause.

"That’s all?" I asked, biting into a piece of coconut. "It’s tasty. Do you want some?"

She took the coconut from me. "You won’t get perfume if you eat the ingredients."

I concentrated on everything I was doing so she would notice my interest in learning about her passion. I wanted her to see that I was not one of those men who say things just to impress women but one who speaks from the heart.

She walked from one place to another, solving my mother’s doubts and giving us instructions for the next process.

I just watched her and listened to what she said, stunned by her beauty and how lovely she looked doing what she loved. Although I tried to focus on what she was working on, I couldn’t help but admire her every time she wasn’t looking at me.

"Very nice job," she said, dipping her fingers into a small glass container in front of me where she had stored the coconut extract. "Yours came out excellent the first time. You have a talent for this."

"Good gracious," my mother exclaimed, causing Cathy to almost drop the small jar. "I had forgotten my dentist appointment. I have to go."

She took off her safety gear and hurried to tidy things up as best she could.

"Then we can continue tomorrow with the next step," Cathy said.

"No, no, dear, don’t stop this for me," my mother said, taking Cathy’s hands and looking her in the eyes.

"Are you sure?" Cathy tried to run away from me one last time.

"Absolutely, you guys go on without me, I insist."

Cathy nodded with resignation painted on her face and walked toward me. My mother took advantage of the fact that she wasn’t looking at her and modulated the word ’good luck’ with her lips, then turned and walked out of the lab without further ado.

"Now we must purify the coconut extract and separate the oily essence from the watery liquid," she said.

I looked at her and couldn’t think of anything else but what had happened last night, how she gave herself to me, and how our bodies had come together. But I controlled myself and focused on what I was doing, so I listened to her instructions and followed them to the letter.

"Looks good. Put out the fire," she told me.

I turned off the flames of the small portable heater and waited until the oil separated from the water in two layers. The whole room smelled of coconut, and the aroma was mild, but you could feel it all over the place. I lifted the container with the contents, but as soon as I held it, both layers were mixed.

"Now, how do we fix them?" I asked.

"Do you want the easy way or the hard way?" she asked.

"I don’t want you to think I’m lazy, but this time I’ll choose the easy way," I replied, wiping the sweat off my face from the steam.

"Wise choice," she said, then took the container out of my hands and put it in the small cooler at the end of the lab.

"So what now?" I asked her.

"We just have to wait for the magic to happen," she commented and sat down in one of the chairs. She took off her gloves, let down her hair, and began to massage her head gently.

"Do you want to talk?" I asked, sitting down across from her.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked, crossing her legs.

"About us," I told her.

"There is no us. What happened last night was a mistake," she said, chewing on her words. "We can’t be together. We’re from very different worlds."

"That’s not true," I replied, "You, of all people, know that everything you just said is not true. I feel it inside me, and you feel it too."

"You’re wrong," she exclaimed and adjusted her posture.

"So you’re telling me you don’t feel something for me?"

She tried hard to avoid answering me. Her heartbeat quickened, as did her breathing.

Cathy was about to explode, and I couldn’t hold back anymore, so without further thought, I moved closer to her and covered her lips with mine, knowing she might react badly, but instead, she softened hers and kissed me back.