Chapter 6

A big arse dinner

Violet's POV

I was making supper. I had invited my neighbors, who moved in a week ago, to come over. I only met the mother, Anne when she was shoveling the snow. I wonder where her husband is, after all, she's in her 40's. But she said she has a daughter my age, 17, almost 18. I invited her family to come over.

I made peas and carrots, meatloaf, hot and fresh buns with butter, and key lime pie for dessert. I hope they like it. I still can't stop thinking 'bout John. What if he's all a dream, that he's not real. That'd be a shame. No, Ella saw him, too.

Ding dong....ding dong....

"I'll be right there!" I called out.

I hung my apron up on the rack and made sure the table was set. Crud, I need to put the flowers on as a center piece and get out the plat- Ding dong... I sigh. I take out the plates, not bothering to straighten them, I put the flowers on next and rush to the door before she can ring it a forth time. I whip the door open.

"Ello," I say out of breath, "Come in, come in."

I move out of the door way to let the three people come in. There was Anne Syder, her daughter, and a boy who looked...I dunno, maybe 13? Each had their mother's brown eyes and brown hair. The gals had thin, arched eyebrows while the boy had rather bushy ones. I took their coats and hung them on the coat rack next to the closet door.

"What a lovely house." Anne looked around.

"It's boring! " sighed the boy.

"Erick," snapped Anne, " show some respect and manners!"

"Sorry." Erick mumbled.

"Not to me, to the kind lady." Anne sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry ma'am. Didn't mean to be...rude." he hung his head.

I smiled and guided them to the dinning room. They all took a spot, leaving two of my chairs empty. I thought she would have a husband, but perhaps not. Erick was eyeing the food, looking as hungry as you can get.

"So, how 'bout introductions?" I smile.

"You know me, I'm Anne." Anne said. She nodded to Erick.

"I'm Erick and am 12." he said cheerfully.

" 'K, I'm Violet, age 19." I stated.

"Lydia." the girl said darkly.

Her mother frowned and gave a small glare to Lydia. Maybe Lydia just had a bad day. Her boyfriend could of broken up with her for all I know. Her attitude made Anne mad, though.

"Let us eat." I shrugged.

We ate in silence for the first five minutes until I saw Lydia wasn't eating, she just was flopping her food around, keeping her head down. Her mother must of noticed, too, whispering in her ears so often. It sounded like the hiss of a snake. Erick just swung his legs, kicking me every so often, then giving me a look that said 'sorry'.

It took us half an hour to eat. Lydia, however, took 45 minutes to eat most of her food. I cleared the plates and got out my dessert plates from the cupboard. I put each one in front of the four of us. I put the pie on the table and cut each one fairly.

"I want that one!" Erick pointed at the largest one.

"Okay, here you go." he grinned from ear to ear and starting eating really fast.

I serve Anne. Then Lydia, then lastly, me. All of us ate in silence, yet, again. Lydia stared down at the pie.

"What flavor is it?" she demanded, getting sent glares from bother her mother and brother. I looked up slowly at her.

"Key Lime." I said after chewing.

She frowned and pushed it away from her. She stood up and nodded towards me. She gave her mother glares before speaking.

"I never did want to come, mother. I excuse myself to going home. Good night." she said before she left.

We jumped a little after she slammed the door shut as hard as she could. I frowned at this behavior. Was she normally like this? I was about to ask, but decided it would be for the best, not to know. We ate for a 5 minutes before we got up and they got ready to leave.

"Come on, Erick." Anne opened the door.

"Hold on, I'll catch up in a minute." he said. Anne shrugged and closed the door, leaving Erick and me, alone.

"Sorry, I mean about Lydia. She has been acting like a big...don't tell my mom I said this...arse ever since it happened." he sighed.

"Since what?" I asked.

"Since dad died. He died a month ago from a heart attack....that's why we moved. Mum couldn't stand living there anymore, so we packed up and sold the house. Thanks for everything, miss. Bye." he waved and he left.

That's really sad. No one should have to go through that. I now felt really bad for Lydia. No wonder she was acting like a brat. Her mother must be going through the same thing, even though Anne always tried to act perfect and happy, she was probably really sad...deep inside. I sighed and cleaned up the table.