She shook her head in affirmation and returned to the kitchen.
“Be careful not to burn your tongue. I think it’s rather too hot.” She winced when I sipped.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“How does it taste?” She queried.
“Just fine. Didn’t you make a cup for yourself?”
“No, I-”
“You are entitled to have a cup of tea.” I let her know.
“Hm.” She gave a nod.
“Shall we leave?”
“Sure.”
Grabbing her purse and my jacket, she led the way, and Liam was already outside waiting for us.
*****
“We can be sure the project will skyrocket with these changes.” Mason was saying when Fiona walked in.
“Sorry to interrupt your conversation, Mr. Carr, but your attention is needed.” She looked somewhat perplexed.
“By whom?”
“Your mother.”
I sighed.
“She wants you to answer her call.” She continued. Glancing at my phone, I saw about seven missed calls from her.
“Alright. Thank you.”
“I’ll leave you be,” Mason said, preparing to leave.
“Fiona, please give the flash drive I gave to you earlier to the President.”
“Sure.” She said, exiting the room.
“I’ll see what I can put in place and get back to you,” Mason said as he followed her.
Then I was left alone. I contemplated picking up my mom’s calls or not. To think of it, I didn’t know what she wanted to say, but I had the palpable feeling that it would be to my detriment.
My mom was a conservative woman, and she was prone to doing things that she thought were best but, to me, was pretty biased. She and Allison often had conflicts regarding many things, but we managed to avoid such conflicts when we could.
My father, on the other hand, was a man who had an unrepentant attitude towards any course that would promote or contribute favorably to his business. So, I tried to veer away from such things, especially since I became CEO.
My mom’s call came in and broke my thoughts. This time, I answered.
“Have you now taken your own mother to be unimportant?” Her cool but authoritative voice could be heard from the other end.
“It’s not so; I was in the middle of a business meeting.”
“Well, I still don’t like to feel left out. You can answer the call when your father isn’t there, can’t you?”
I remained quiet. I had no suitable response to her question.
“Won’t you ask why I called? You really detest speaking with me, huh?” She cried.
“Why did you call?”
“Now you want to hear it, well, I am inviting you to have lunch with us over the weekend, Genevieve’s wedding is on Sunday. We can grace the occasion as a family.”
I knew it had to be because of something so insignificant. Who was Genevieve? I hated this flaunting of wealth she always indulged in.
“Seriously, Mom?”
“What now?”
“Nevermind. I have a busy weekend already.”
“Do you not know Genevieve? Her mother and I are friends; she attended the same kindergarten as you.”
“I don’t care, Mom. I can’t change my schedule for the wedding of someone I don’t even know!”
