"She's a talkative little girl, so I'd believe it." Aiyana said with a smile. "You cut your hair," she said as she pulled in her chair. Blake had already said hello to his cousin and was ordering them wine when Aiyana had made a mention of Candice's hair.
"Oh," she seemed a little embarrassed and her hazel eyes darted toward the table. "There was a mishap with some scissors. I was teaching Mary out to cut her doll's hair because she wants to become the world's first less than ten hairstylist. While I was taking a nap in the sunroom, she decided I needed a haircut. Long story short, I have a new style."
"Uh oh, well, it looks good on you. Short hair always looks adorable pulled back like that, and I'm sure your real stylist did an awesome job. Short is all the rage again." Candice relaxed and took a sip of her water. When she was offered wine, she politely declined. Aiyana noticed, but said nothing. It wasn't her place to make an announcement like that.
"So how was your New Years?" Candice started off the discussion and filled in most of the silent gaps where Aiyana had nothing to say. She didn't want to comment on her relationship with Blake just yet and she didn't want to remember the awful early morning fight, if that's what they could call it.
"I have to visit the lady's room," Candice announced out of the blue, and Aiyana was offered to join her. Feeling the social pressure to go with the herd, Aiyana stood and put her purse over her shoulder. They'd barely gotten past ordering their appetizers and meals before Candice had made the announcement.
The two of them weaved between tables and finally made it to their destination, a quaint bathroom with green tiles on the walls and white on the floor. Candice actually did have to use the bathroom and took her leave, leaving Aiyana to stand by the sinks and stare at her reflection. She decided she needed a little more blush and pulled it out of her bag.
"So Blake's mother's playing hard to get," Candice said as she came out of the stall and washed her hands in the sink. She smiled into the mirror and continued with any prompting. "I know because I saw the look on her face when you stepped out of the limousine. She got it under control pretty quick, but not quick enough. You know, I had a really hard time getting past the woman when I married Jonathan, and she's not even his mother! I always said I feel bad for the woman who caught Blake Hanley's eye because she'd have a hard time living up to his mother's standards." Candice saw the look of shock on Aiyana's face and shrugged her shoulders as she wiped her hands on a paper towel.
"The woman is your best friend when you get to know her. She's sweet and caring once everything has settled, but in the beginning, she's like a lioness protecting her cub. I heard what she said about you, and I'm not going to repeat it because it's rude, but I just want you to know that I don't think that's really it. I think she's acting like a boulder about to run you over because she doesn't want Blake to start ignoring her. She's an old woman and Blake is her only son," Candice explained without an air of disrespect.
"I just don't understand how you can see all of that when it took me until dinnertime to notice it." Aiyana felt guilty about turning down Blake and she didn't know if she should mention his proposal, but at the same time, she recognized a kindred spirit when there was one in front of her, even if the woman came as pale as they got.
"It took me three days to realize Ms. Hanley didn't like me. She was so polite in the beginning, and then it was like a switch had gone off and she was so distant when she realized Jonathan had a mind to propose." Candice chuckled at the memory and pulled a lipstick from her purse.
"Blake proposed to me on New Year's Eve, and I basically told him not because his mother hates me." Candice almost dropped the lipstick tube in the sink but recovered quickly.
"Oh, honey, I know it seems that she'll hate you forever, but she'll come around. Give her some time to get to know you better, and tell Blake he'd better cool his heels before he runs you off like a pack of wolves after a deer." It was right then that Aiyana knew she could be close friends with Candice. She felt relief wash over and was actually a little nervous when she realized they were on the verge of a blossoming relationship.
"So how long have you known you were pregnant?" She regretted the words as soon as they flew from her mouth. It seemed only fair that since Candice knew she was terrified of Blake's mother that she know something about Candice.
The strawberry blond woman blushed and her hand fluttered over her dress as she looked down. "Oh, you're not showing yet," Aiyana informed her with a small smile. "It's just that you were drinking at Christmas and you seemed pretty adamant about water tonight, so I assume sometime between then and now you figured out your you're pregnant." She washed her hands after she put on her blush and dried them.
"Jonathan doesn't know yet. I wanted to surprise him on New Year's, but he was working on that robot he was talking about at Christmas. He's doing this meeting with Blake as a favor to his friend, a gamer who really wants to get his game launched on the big screen this time. I just don't know how to bring it up to him. I'm not sure if he'll be happy or, well, not so happy." Candice bit her bottom lip and her gaze fell to the floor.
"Why wouldn't he be happy?" Aiyana didn't want to pry, but she found the entire thing to be a little crazy.
"Well, we have Mary who's almost five, so that means she's going to be five years apart from her sibling. And we're both so busy with Mary, and then Jonathan starting this business. It's a lot of stress, having a baby. I don't know if he's going to be okay with that." There was a beat of silence before Aiyana stepped forward and wrapped her arm around the woman's petite shoulders. She didn't cry, but she looked a little misty-eyed.
"You should tell him tonight, when the two of you are at the hotel. He'll be ecstatic, believe me. I've seen the way he looks at you, and the way he looks at his daughter, I'm sure he'd love another baby." Candice sniffled and fixed her mascara before she thanked warmly thanking Aiyana for listening to her.
By the time they returned to the table, the appetizers were sitting there and both men were looking at them a little confused. "I slipped with my lipstick and we had to fix it. Took a while," Aiyana offered up at she smiled.
Jonathan and Blake decided it wasn't anything to worry about and continued discussing the options. "What's the extra seat for?" Candice whispered just as a frazzled looking Julia walked through the door. She brushed some snow off her shoes before she looked around and spotted the four of them sitting at the table. A quick chat with the waiter had her heading in their direction.
"I'm so sorry I'm late," she said as she sat down, looking a little miffed. "My taxi broke down. Can you believe it? A taxi in New York breaking down? I mean, don't they check those things before they head out?" A passionate discussion about the pain of taxis ensued around the table, ending with Blake asking her why she didn't just rent a limousine like he did.
After that, the conversation was steered back to the discussion of the commercial, and Aiyana and Candice shared a glance of mutual understanding as they shared their meal.
"So will you be coming to the Easter dinner in March? Blake's mother has it at her place every year and she makes up this huge Easter egg hunt for Mary. It's kind of cute even though she's the only kid who attends." Candice picked at her noodles and looked a little green when she went to bite into them. She had to be two or three months along if she was already feeling sick.
"I'm not sure what Blake and I are doing. We promised my parents we'd see them at Thanksgiving, but we didn't end up going. Then we went to his mother's for Christmas. I assumed we'd visit my parents on Easter, but we'll have to see how that works out." The truth was Aiyana still wasn't one hundred percent sure, and she didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep.
"Well that sounds like a nice idea. I'm sure Blake could use a change of scenery. He sees us so much, he's probably starting to think the world is made up of only five people." Candice laughed it off and took a sip of her water.
Blake leaned across the table and reached out his hand to Jonathan. "I think we have ourselves a deal," he said with a smile. Jonathan reached out and shook hands with his cousin, and then he reached over and shook with Julia. After that slightly solemn moment, the shop talk was definitively over and they all talked about what Jonathan was building. All three women, even Julia, agreed they wanted one of these robots.