Chapter 16

A second clink of cutlery against plate brought Lance's face up from his food. If he dared to not respond, Anna would clink him into deafness.

"What is it?", he asked sourly.

"The eggs," she replied, nodding at his plate. "You don't like eggs, so let me have one."

"Fine," he conceded and transferred one of the two hardboiled eggs in his plate over to hers.

"Thank You."

But he did not respond. She shrugged and went to work on the egg. She loved eggs and would do anything to get them. Lance, on the other hand, was not a big fan of eggs. Whenever his mother would persuade him to have some in his food, Anna would be there to help him get rid of the unwanted burden.

Seconds later, he dropped his knife and fork with a loud clatter and her eyes quickly shot up. One glance told her that his plate was empty save for the cutlery and the second egg. Even before he could push the plate to her, she reached forward and grabbed it.

"Thanks, Lance."

But again, he said nothing in response. In any other situation, she would bother him until he would be forced to say something. But in this case, she was quite satisfied or rather, indifferent about his silence.

As she munched on her fourth egg and as Lance sipped his water, they suddenly heard Carol call her son's name. Like flash, Anna scooped the rest of the egg left on the plate and dumped it into her mouth, making Lance chuckle in amusement. It was common knowledge that Anna ate faster than both Carol and Lance. If she were to be found still eating, and eating an egg at that, while Lance's plate was empty, Carol would deduce the whole truth in a split second.

"There's a letter for you," Carol said as she approached Lance, (who was already on his way to answer the summons), white envelope in hand.

"From who?", he asked as she handed him the envelope which had only his name on it.

"Don't know. An old girlfriend perhaps. Just found it near the front door."

"Don't you think it's anthrax or something like that?", he asked, turning it over in his hands.

"Now, who would want to kill you, my dear boy? If you're scared, darling, I could open it for you and die in your stead."

"No, it's fine. I'll open it."

But she took it back from him and swiftly tore it open.

"Looks harmless," she said as she peered at the contents of the envelope.

"What is it?"

"Money. Not much."

She handed it to him and went her way.

As soon as she was out of sight, Anna jumped up from her seat behind the dining table.

"Hey, lemme see," she ordered, rushing up to snatch the envelope from his hands.

"Who do you think sent it?"

"Rex maybe," Lance shrugged. "It's the exact amount I paid when I ate at his restaurant."

"Wow. Good guy. I guess I can keep it then?"

His only response was a shrug and she flashed him a rare toothy smile. Lance raised his eyebrows in surprise, but she was already skittering off to her room.

He sighed and slumped down on a chair. That crazy friend of his named Rex whom he had only just given a loan yesterday sent back every last cent of the money he had paid for those delicious mushrooms. The reason why he'd hidden the money under the plate was so the bastard would not be the first to find it, which had clearly happened. But how did he manage to discover later on that Lance had paid for the food?

With a shake of his head, he picked up his phone and typed a quick text to his friend. Two words: u mf.

Just as he hit send, his eyes caught sight of the time and he jumped to his feet immediately. There was work to be done! He took the stairs two at a time and went straight to his room.

His computer was turned off and not hibernating like he had expected, so he had to wait for it to boot up. Meanwhile, he picked up a pad and began listing what he'd need to do. He wasn't going to be paid for this gig. It was just a favour for an older woman who was his coursemate in the local college he'd recently started attending.

"Hey," Anna whispered from the open door just as he finished writing.

"What's new?", he asked her, turning his attention to the computer.

For reply, she drew up a chair and sat down beside him. He looked sideways at her and found her holding a notebook and a sharpie.

"What do you know about Shakespeare?", she suddenly asked.

"Shakespeare? Well, I think it's a spear that shakes on its own every now and then."

But to his surprise, instead of delivering a sharp retort, Anna started jotting down something in her notebook. When he tried to take a peep, she closed it shut.

"Don't tell me you wrote that down," he said, wide-eyed.

"I did. What's the difference between six and half a dozen?"

"What's all this about?", he asked warily.

"I'm supposed to get the most foolish answers to twenty questions. So what's the difference between six and half a dozen?"

"I.. I.. I don't know. Mayb..."

But she was already jotting down his answer. He tried to peep again and she shut the book.

"This isn't funny," he complained.

"Who's laughing?", she countered, staring at him with a dead serious expression on her face. At last, he broke eye contact and turned his focus to the screen.

"Question Three. Bad and good, which is better? And why?"

But just then, Lance's phone vibrated and he picked it up. It was a message... from Cara. All it said: cum ovr NW!

"I'm waiting," Anna urged as he stared at the phone.

But he remained silent. Then all of a sudden, he jumped up from his seat and rushed out of the room.

"Hey, what's wrong?", she called after him. But he did not stop to reply.

**

Lance's car came to an almost screeching halt in Cara's driveway and he jumped out of it, rushing up to the front door as fast as his legs could move him. He didn't take any notice of the black sedan parked beside Cara's car. His only aim and objective was to make sure that she was okay, safe and at home. It was very much unlike her to summon him like that. A relaxed and comfortable Cara would never send such a message, not when she knew how risky it was with his mother being overprotective and all.

He knocked for the second time as the first one went unanswered. That was when he heard the raised voices. He didn't even bother to listen to decipher who and who were shouting, he simply grabbed the door knob and turned it. Fortunately, it was open and in less than a second, he was in his girlfriend's sitting room.

A tall, dark and unhappy-looking man was standing opposite an equally unhappy looking Cara with a happy Lisa on his shoulder. By the time Lance stepped in, they had suspended the quarrel and were just eyeing each other. Noticing his presence, the man scowled at him.

"Who the hell are you and who gave you the right to barge in here?"

Lance didn't answer, but instead returned the scowl with equal force.

"He's a friend... our friend," Cara intervened in an effort to diffuse the tension in the room.

"Really? Does he know who I am?", the man said through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes off his target.

"Lance.. my ex-husband," she introduced.

But contrary to the man's expectations, Lance was unfazed. Frankly, the young man had earlier failed to recognize him since he had only seen him from afar a few times when he was still married to Cara. But now that he knew who he was, his hatred for him only increased ten-fold. It was a miracle that he had not yet lashed out with an insult or even a punch.

The stare-down continued for several more minutes without a single word from either combatant. Cara watched on with stopped heart and bated breath, and Lisa too could feel the charge in the room. Suddenly, Cara's ex took a step forward towards his opponent and the young man quickly matched it.

"Lance," Cara called immediately, smelling trouble in the air.

It took him some seconds to reluctantly turn his attention to her. She shook her head ever so lightly, expressing her disapproval of any further escalation. But Lance turned his focus back on his opponent and her heart skipped a beat. Was he going to disobey her? But instead of going any further, he simply turned away again and stalked over to her.

She breathed a sigh of relief as he put one arm around her waist in a blatant show of possessiveness, his eyes not leaving her ex-husband all the while. Lisa's look of confusion almost made Cara blush in shame, but she managed to keep a blank face as she focused on her disgusted husband.

"So.. this is what..."

"Don't." She cut him off immediately. The last thing she needed was a quarrel over her relationship with Lance right in front of her daughter. Although Lisa was very much used to seeing her parents quarrel, she certainly would find such a topic very strange and confusing, not to mention the enormous embarrassment that Cara herself would feel. Luckily, her ex got the message and kept his mouth shut. With one last glare at his ex-wife and her 'friend', he turned to his daughter.

"Hey cupcake, what say you, we go get some icecream for you right this minute, hmm?"

"Yay! Vanilla!", Lisa concurred, sporting a face-splitting grin. "I'll bring some for you, Mommy."

"Don't worry about me, dear. Just have fun."

Her father was already walking out of the room, with her little frame hopping in his arms. Lance's eyes followed them to the door, but he was forced to put up a brief smile as a grinning Lisa waved him goodbye.

"Hmm," exhaled Cara as soon as father and daughter were out of sight. Lance pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"You okay?", he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

"I'm fine," she whispered as she leaned further into his arms and breathed in his scent.

They remained like this for 30 seconds or so before she slowly separated herself.

"Lemme go keep an eye on them."

As she made for the door, Lance could not help but stare at her bouncing and rolling backside. He could feel the all too familiar stirring in his pants and if she wasn't careful, he would throw decorum to the wind. His concentration was so intense that he did not notice when she stopped at the door and caught him staring.

"Like what you see?", she teased.

"What's not to like?", he returned, licking his lips like a dog.

"By the way, sailor, are your friends having a big party tonight?"

It didn't take him more than a few seconds to catch onto her meaning.

"Hell yeah! It's a huge one. Can't miss it for the world!"

Her only response was a smile and a wink before walking out of the house.

**

Lance drove back home after leaving Cara's. To his immense relief, Anna had gone to see a teacher, attend cheerleader practice or something of the sort. He didn't care which, just provided she was not in the house. Without wasting time, he settled down to work on his friend's project.

As he put the computer off its sleep, he wondered what Cara would think of his friendship with Selene - the woman he was doing this project for. He was yet to find out if she was the jealous or suspecting type, but at least he knew she wasn't the nagging type. Cara was mature-minded and used her eyes more than she used her mouth. But certain feelings like love could show a very different dimension of you. But wait! Did she even love him? Didn't she call him her boyfriend? What if, to her, all this was just about lust? Why else would she reject his marriage proposal?

This was the first time, since the rejection, that Lance was thinking deeply into this matter - he had been distracted by the lust too! But as he thought more and more of it, he felt more and more disappointed. All this time, he had been holding onto the assumption that Cara felt the same way about him as he did for her and that she was only scared of his mother. But what if she had no feelings for him? And more importantly, how would he find out if she really did or didn't? In fact, had she even thought of what she felt for him?