“So tell me, what gave you the moral to go after Tracy, I mean, you obviously know about your age difference so you must have picked up a lot of courage to make your move,” Ruth asked like it was the normal thing to do as she scooped spoons of rice into her dish.
Nathan felt embarrassed at the question and he glanced at Tracy who was busy eating beside him. “Don’t look at me,” she said while rolling her eyes as she continued with her meal.
Nathan chuckled and licked his lips, “well, someone actually made it easy for me. We went to Hawaii for my birthday and a girl mistook us as a couple and I went along with it. Tracy got angry and confronted me for giving the girl the wrong impression. I got angry and we had a fight. When I got back to the hotel room later in the night, she was worried about me and we had a talk and she asked me what I want,” he smiled, “that was when I took the opportunity,” he shrugged and scratched his hair. “She let me do what I want and now come to think of it, it seemed she had wanted the same thing because she had been seducing me for the past month.”
“What?” Tracy reacted by staring at him in horror.
“Yes,” Nathan insisted, “when you came back wearing a gown that short, when you undress with me in the room, what could you be doing?”
“I often undress with you in the room,” Tracy said.
“Oh yeah, then what about walking out of the bathroom with your towel hanging so low from your chest?”
Tracy opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
“And slapping my butt in the plane, huh?”
“That one was just for fun,” she rolled her eyes.
Nathan chuckled, “yeah, and a lot more I could think of but you are already blushing so hard so I would have mercy on you today,” he winked while she rolled her eyes once more.
Ruth chuckled, “you are guys are so cute together, I can watch you the whole day. Reminds me of my teenage days,” she shook her head and smiled to a distant memory. The telephone started ringing then and Tracy made to stand up to go get it, “don’t worry, I will get it, you two continue with your sexy bickering,” she winked and stood up, walking out of the kitchen.
Nathan snickered while Tracy glared at him and he laughed out loud, reaching forward and pinching her cheek. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed out so loud and genuinely. He was happy, he could feel it by the swelling of his heart and he knew it has a lot to do with the woman beside him.
Ruth walked into the living room and went straight to the ringing phone and picked it up, “hello?”
“Ruth, it’s Lucy,” Lucy said from the other side.
“Oh,” Ruth said and glanced back at the kitchen at Nathan and Tracy that were lost to each other as Nathan was trying to feed Tracy. She picked up the telephone and moved away to where she was sure they could not hear her. “How are you Lucy?”
“Is Nathan there?” Lucy questioned.
“Yes, he arrived this afternoon,” Ruth replied and heard the woman’s obvious sigh of relief.
“Thank God. He didn’t come back from school and when I called, I was told he left the school during break and no one has seen him since then. I have been so worried, Ruth, he didn’t leave a note or anything, just anything that would let me know where he was going. I was so worried,” she sobbed.
“I understand and I apologize for that, that was wrong of him but when seen from his point of view, he believes you would stop him.”
“How? I wasn’t even around when he got back, so how could I have possibly stopped him?”
Ruth sighed “I’m sure he is so sorry about that and don’t worry, he got here safe and sound.”
Lucy was silent for some seconds before she finally asked, “do you know about them?”
Ruth sighed, “I do now and the boy is very mature and definitely knows what he wants. You raised him well there, Lucy, I will give you that.”
“He just took after his father so much.” She sighed, “so, you are not angry?”
Ruth smiled, “why should I be? Love works in mysterious ways, no one knows where it’s going to come or develop. Even two people that hate themselves so much could find love in each other.”
“You don’t understand Ruth…”
“I understand perfectly Lucy. Let me ask you this, if Nathan was the one twenty eight and Tracy is eighteen and you found this out about them, what would you do?”
Lucy sighed, “Ruth…”
“No Lucy, answer, what would you do?”
Lucy heaved out a deep breath, “I will ask him to marry her if he loves her and if she wants him too.”
“So why is it different now?”
“Ruth…”
“Why won’t you ask him to marry her, since it’s very obvious that he loves her and she loves him too? Why can’t they be together, because Tracy is the one older? But you know that age is just a number right? I can remember someone who often says that. Brian was fifteen years older than you, remember. Everyone said he was too old for you and what did you often reply with?”
Lucy sniffled, “age is just a number, it’s the heart that matters.”
“So?”
“It’s just…” Lucy sobbed.
“Let me ask you this Lucy, are you against this because you are not in support of it or are you against them because of what people will say?”
“I…”
“Lucy, people will talk. No matter what you do, people will talk. If you are fat, people will say you eat too much, if you are thin, they will say you starve yourself. If you are rich, they would say you got it through illegal means, if you are poor, they will say you just don’t try hard enough. People will talk Lucy, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try. And if you live to please people, then you will lose yourself. If they want to talk, let them talk, it’s their mouth, let them give themselves headache and at the very end, they will stop, they will learn to accept everything when they understand that no matter what they say, they can’t break you. So, are you against this because you really just can’t accept it?”
Lucy sniffled, “it’s just…they should have told me. I should have known before the whole town and not what they did, blowing up everything in front of everyone. They should have given me a head start.”
“I know, they should have, it was wrong of them.”
“Exactly, I should have known first.”
“Yes, you should have, you really should have. But maybe, just maybe, they had no idea that they would come clean that day. Have you thought about it that way? Obviously, Tracy had dressed up ready for the wedding right? And then what happened, happened. But you are right, no matter what, you should have known first.” Ruth said and had to look back when she heard Tracy and Nathan’s laughter coming from the kitchen; she smiled and returned her attention to the sulking mother.
Lucy sobbed on the other side without saying anything.
“But then again, it has all happened. Now it’s the solution we should be thinking about. But think about it this way, you have never been the type to care about what people would say, don’t let it change now. Before you take any decision, I want you to calm down and look deep into your heart and ask yourself if what they are doing is really that wrong, if it’s really that abominable as people made it out to be. This is the twenty first century Lucy, age don’t count anymore, what matters most is the heart, you know that. You have always believed in it and it landed you an amazing husband. Take your time, think about this and don’t worry about Nathan, he is here and I will take good care of him, you have my word.”
Lucy sniffled, “thank you, thank you so much Ruth.”
“Anytime Lucy, anytime,” the older smiled and after making sure she would just sleep and not do anything, she ended the call, sighed and walked back to the kitchen, placing the phone on its regular place on the way. “Having fun?” she asked seeing the two people who had obviously forgotten to eat and used her meal to paint each other’s face.
“Oh, granny, you are back,” Tracy said, wiping her face clean from the stew. She chuckled as she licked her fingers while at it.
Nathan chuckled as he picked off grains of rice from his face and hair and had to use a napkin to clean himself up.
“Yes, and only to discover that you two had decided to waste my food rather than eat it,” Ruth replied.
The couple chuckled at that, “we are sorry Granny,” they said and looked at each while snickering.
Ruth rolled her eyes, “it’s not about being sorry, it’s about cleaning up my kitchen,” she said as she walked to the refrigerator to look for something to snack on.
“We will do just that,” Tracy said, standing up and clearing the dishes.
“Don’t worry,” Nathan grabbed her hand to still her, “you go freshen up, I will clean up.”
“You sure, we made a lot of mess,” Tracy chuckled while glancing around them to prove her point.
“I know,” Nathan smiled, “but you need to clean up and have a rest, I will take care of here,” he insisted.
“Listen to the boy,” Ruth said as she took a frozen sandwich to the microwave.
Tracy chuckled, “alright then,” she walked to the door and paused to look at Ruth, “who was that by the way?”
Ruth knew she was asking about the phone call, “oh, just a customer, demanding for five crates of eggs tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay,” she smiled and left the kitchen.
Ruth watched Nathan as he cleared up the dishes and went to wash them in the sink. She sighed and walked up to him, “you should call your mother, let her know you are okay.”
Nathan paused on what he was doing when he heard that, he glanced at her, “she was the one that called right?”
“Yes, smart boy,” she smiled but only to sigh again, “she was worried Nathan, any mother would, just put a call to her, tell her you are okay. I would have said you should text her, but she needs to hear your voice, so call her, okay?”
Nathan nodded, “I will, thank you.”
“Anytime boy,” she winked and walked back to the microwave to get her now hot sandwich, she took a juice from the refrigerator and walked out of the kitchen.
Nathan sighed when he was alone in the kitchen. He turned around to the mess in the once very neat kitchen and remembering what had happened and how it has gotten to that, a smile lit up on his face. It had been so long he played with Tracy and it has been so long he laughed so loud or have so much fun and something about how she had looked at him then told him it was same for her. She had missed his company just as he had missed hers. And now, with how everything had played out, he was happy he took the decision of going there, they needed to be together to make this work. Thinking to that, he rinsed his hands and went into the living room to get his phone to call his mom.