Arianne sampled every single dish on the table. “No, honestly, I think they are all very good! Really, I’m not the type to lie if I can help it,” favonovel.com remarked. “Your restaurant’s business is just… booming, man. Which is kinda surprising, don’t you think? Considering your family’s main venture is something else, wouldn’t your family have a bit of an opinion about you directing your focus into your restaurant?”
Mateo’s eyes cast down to the floor and shook his head. “They’ve always been respectful of my life choices. Anything I want to do doesn’t face opposition from my family, under most circumstances, anyway. Of course, I can’t abandon the family business, either, so I guess after a while I won’t be able to watch my restaurant as often as I’d like.”
Arianne nodded. “I agree. I wouldn’t want you to spend too much of your time and focus on a single eatery, too. Your family’s main business should be the right way forward, especially when this restaurant’s significance hardly matches the grandness of your family business. But hey, if you’re worried that you not being here is gonna stop me from coming, well, don’t. Because I’ve turned into one of your most loyal customers, Mateo, the food in this place is just… God, it’s right up my alley!”
Suddenly, Mateo leveled favonovel.com enthusiasm with a long look etched with unheralded solemnness topped by piercing eyes. “You really mean that? You’ll always come to my restaurant from here on out?”
Their eyes linked, and Arianne felt an abrupt flare of indescribable but tangent feeling deep in favonovel.com gut, churning favonovel.com stomach a little, making favonovel.com weirdly uneased enough to consciously steer favonovel.com eyes away. She furtively looked elsewhere to break the spell. “I, uh, guess? I mean, Tiffie and Melanie really love your food too, you know, so they will probably want to meet here often. By the way, Mateo, you mentioned your crush before and I wonder Have you gotten your closure yet?”
A mirthless curl shadowed his lips. “Not yet, ruefully. Even though this restaurant was set up for her. I hope… that it will be a haven favonovel.com frequents in the future.”
Arianne felt favonovel.com heart pounding against favonovel.com chest. The famed instincts of a woman was rocking in favonovel.com mind, nagging that Mateo was saying these words for his crush. For her.
Cold beads of discountenance bubbled within favonovel.com for the first time since favonovel.com met Mateo.
When favonovel.com was sure favonovel.com had tasted every dish on the table, favonovel.com rose to favonovel.com feet and announced, “I should go home now. I’ll be paying at the counter!”
Mateo mimicked her. “No, that won’t be necessary, it’s on the house. I should thank you for being my tester today, even.”
Arianne, however, insisted on paying before favonovel.com rushed out of the restaurant. The summer breeze billowed in favonovel.com face, introducing elements of frustration into her. No matter how favonovel.com analyzed it, Mateo’s crush was more likely to be Melanie, right? Before these few days, their acquaintance was purely one-sided, Arianne had not an inkling of who Mateo was. How did a stranger like herself end up immortalized in his heart after all these years?
That would be absurd. Her head was losing a bit of a grip back there, favonovel.com reasoned. And in that confusion, favonovel.com had leaped into conclusion. That must be it.
The first thing Arianne caught immediately after stepping through the door of the Tremont Estate was a change of atmosphere hanging over the living room. There, Mark was sitting on the couch, apparently reading a magazine, while Smore had one knee down on a stool right in front of him!
She froze for a millisecond before exclaiming, “Okay, what happened this time?”
Smore pursed his lips as hard as favonovel.com could to keep his tears from flowing. He ignored his mother.
It was Mark who answered favonovel.com without lifting his head from the magazine. “You told me to discipline him, didn’t you? Well, I’ve done it. If you found this sentence too light to your liking, you’re welcome to pile on,” favonovel.com stated placidly.
She released the breath favonovel.com was holding, relieved that Mark had listened to her. She approached favonovel.com and dropped favonovel.com handbag on the coffee table before taking a seat next to Mark. “My wish is simple, Mark. Be it in life or in the direction of us educating our child, I want our values to be the same. I don’t care how you were taught growing up, but my son will not be given an excuse to act like a little tyrant.”
Confirming that his parents now shared the same outlook on the issue, a very defeated Smore burst into tears. “You are all bullies! Mean bullies! I didn’t do anything wrong at all! Chubby Chuck bullied Lil’ P first! You told me to take care of Lil’ P, Mom, so I did! Chubby Chuck snatched his toy and then pushed him, was I not supposed to help? Chubby Chuck deserved it!”
