“Uh,” Anya clears her throat. “So Danny’s here?”
Her mum whirls around, wooden spoon in hand. “Oh!”
She pierces me with an assessing glare. I change the bag to my left hand and extend my right for her to shake. “It’s lovely to finally meet you, I’ve heard so much about you.”
Sabine shakes herself and rushes forward, ignoring my hand and pulling me into an awkward hug. Anya gently pulls the shopping from my hand, freeing my arms up to return Sabine’s embrace. The top of her curly hair barely reaches my shoulder but I feel strangely comfortable.
She releases me and steps back. “It’s lovely to meet you.” She beams at me, her smile so similar to Anya’s. “Sit, sit.” She bustles me into a chair.
“Anya, get the wine.” She commands her daughter without taking her eyes off me. “The nice one.”
Anya rolls her eyes at me and pulls a bottle out of the rickety wine rack near the fridge.
“So Danny, what are you doing here?” I pull my eyes away from Anya as she opens the bottle with a corkscrew.
I clear my throat and look directly in her mother’s eyes. “I came to ask Anya to give me another chance.”
The bottle in Anya’s hand pops like punctuation. She gapes at me. If she was expecting me to be more coy around her mother, she must think I’m a fool.
“Oh! Well that’s just lovely.” Sabine shoots her daughter a knowing grin.
Anya pours us all a glass and sits down next to me at the kitchen table. She gulps her wine quickly. She’s close enough that I can brush her thigh with my knee.
Sabine peppers me with questions as she dishes up and doesn’t let up until our bowls are clean and the wine is half empty. Anya’s long fingers play with the stem of the glass and it takes all my willpower not to take her hands in mine.
I chance a glance at her and see she’s already looking at me.
She clears her throat. “Devon offered me that job, mum. I start on Monday.”
“Oh!” Sabine exclaims and I wonder if it’s a word she says often or if we’re just continuously overwhelming her. “Cabbage, that’s amazing. Isn’t that amazing, Danny?”
The smile that overtakes my face is effortless. “It is.” I can’t help but feel this is a good sign, one of the obstacles we faced at the beginning that’s now resolved. Anya could still turn me down but at least she’ll know that she can make her own way regardless.
“I told her, I said it wouldn’t matter either way for you to be together and her to work in the industry. Who cares, that’s what I say!”
“Mum,” Anya hisses.
“She’s always wanted to work in film. She used to get the old camcorder and make home movies. Starring herself of course, I still have them all on the old computer. I’ll show you—”
Anya pushes to her feet before her mother can. “I’m going to show Danny my room.”
Sabine settles and raises her hands. “Of course, of course. Ignore me.”
Anya nudges my shoulder until I’m out of my seat and following her up the narrow stairs. The small hallway has three doors, one propped open to reveal a family bathroom. She leads me to the first door.
Anya’s room is lived in. A faded desk chair sits up against a small desk, her bed is pushed to one wall and twinkling lights stream from corner to corner. I put my hands in my pockets as she collapses against the bed. I don’t want to assume and sit next to her, so instead, I wander the small space. Jewelry hangs on a small tree on her dresser and little bottles of her skin care that used to be in Chez Claudette are lined up neatly on her bedside table.
“I love your house,” I say, gently flopping in the desk chair.
She waves a hand. “It is what it is.”
I roll the chair towards her, getting caught on the pink rug poking underneath her bed. Eventually I’m close enough that our knees are touching. She doesn’t move. I lean forward, hands dangling between my thighs,
“What are you thinking, freckles?” I ask softly.
She takes a deep breath and the hands that were neatly folded in her lap edge towards mine.
“I didn’t expect this. For you to show uphere. How did you even find this address?”
