Hard-Won Attraction Ch. 02

Cadee was momentarily stunned. Images flew into her mind, if her mother had put the boy up to this, or if this was some prank on her dad's part. Then she saw a look of utmost expectation on his face and realized that the boy sincerely meant what he said. She decided to be merciful and shoot down his little fantasy gently.

"Well I don't know, how old are you?" she asked amusedly.

"13," he replied proudly.

"Well I'm 23, are you sure that you want an old maid like me as your wife? Wouldn't you prefer someone your own age?" she verbally parried.

The boy's honest face screwed up in concentration, before finally coming to another conclusion. "No I guess not," he finally concluded, shuffling kind of dejectedly. Just then the other two boys arrived, taking up flanking positions on either side of the one who called himself Ben. It looked to Cadee as if they were going to protect her from him, although the demeanor when they stopped to size up the situation made it seem like they were about to protect him from her. The younger of the new arrivals, a tall, slender kid, spoke first as he tried to steer the larger one away.

"Well, Ben, did you ask her to marry you?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes," replied the younger Ben, deadpan.

"Well what did she say?" he prodded.

"She said she was too old for me," Ben replied as he was led away. The oldest one, who was still standing in front of Cadee, started laughing hysterically, a deep melodious laugh that surprisingly Cadee did not find unpleasant. When he finally wiped the tears from his eyes, he turned to Cadee with laugh lines still etched around his eyes. His face was expressive, slightly high cheek-boned with lines etched around the mouth, forehead and nose. His eyes Cadee noticed were a deep blue that twinkled when the light hit them just right. The teeth beneath his smile were, while not perfectly white, nice and even, a relic of either good genetics or time spent in braces, one of the few expensive personal vanities that Cadee approved of. The short dark hair that framed his face was ruffled and a little sweaty from his time spent wrestling his brothers. Overall it was a face that Cadee grudgingly approved of.

"Sorry about that, Ben's kind a special like that. Sorry if he offended you in any way, but that was a brilliant way of defusing him, thanks" the gigantic boy/man said, still chuckling in a voice filled with sincerity. Cadee had spent her life surrounded by her mother's circle of acquaintances, and could detect bullshit at a half mile, and there was none in his voice now.

"That's alright, at least that was one that actually took the hint when I gave it to him." she replied easily.

"This is true, at least with Ben you know exactly when you stand. He's a pretty straight-forward guy, no frills and not effort at subtlety, so you know exactly what he's thinking." The old boy was not even looking at Cadee as he spoke, which annoyed Cadee a little until she saw that he was watching the two figures walking over to the BBQ like a hawk. No, not like a hawk, Cadee realized with a shock, like a mother bird, a protector. It was kind of cute to watch, until he swung those deep blue eyes to Cadee, and she realized just how piercing those eyes could be. Although Cadee was tall, especially with her heels on, she was dwarfed by this monster. If Ben was large, this, man, she was forced to conclude, was even larger, thick and muscular and towering at least 3 inches over her. She could feel his eyes mentally taking her in as well, before he shook himself out of his trance and remembered his manners.

"Where are my manners, Evan Watters, pleased to meet you," the giant said, grinning widely. Cadee smiled back, amused at the openness of this caterer's son, and mentally counting down the seconds when her mother would come over and escort Cadee away like she had countless times "from the riff-raff". Cadee had actually made some of her best and funniest friends by determining that her mother hated then. To her astonishment, her mother was at a table near the BBQ just sipping a drink with a rather sour look on her face, but otherwise not interfering. Well, at least she was fee to talk a bit more with this friendly giant, but alas it was not to be, she could see. The other two boys had banded together and were poised to jump onto Evan's broad back, she saw amusedly.

"Excuse me, but I think I'll step this way for a sec," she said, giving a broad go-ahead wink to the boys behind Evan who grinned back at her in approval.

""Wha-umphf!" Evan;s face was a look of equal parts hurt, consternation and suspicion until the boys crashed into him, which brought a look of understanding to his face as he grappled with the other two. Cadee watched for a few seconds with a bemused smile until she went over to sit next to her mother at the table. She really just wanted to get this over with, and get out with her real friends. Her mother, watching her mixed emotions and frown clouding her face, thought she was frowning at the boys roughhousing, and smiled conspiratorially at Cadee. She just rolled her eyes and watched her dad talking with the caterer.

Apparently her dad knew the guy as they were chatting quite amiably. Maybe he's been hired to serve before, Cadee thought, I just wish this family that my mother wanted me to meet would hurry and show up! As it began to dawn on her that there was something not right, the caterer called "Grub's on, come and get it!" Immediately the boys quit wrestling and ran towards the grill. Cadee thought that this was not right, kids being made to work when the others weren't even here yet, and was about to open her mouth to protest, when she saw that the boys were taking the plates of food and sitting at the table with her and her mother and eating.

Now Cadee was momentarily confused, weren't there restrictions against servers eating on the job? As the truth began to dawn on her, her mother spoke up "Howard, you should have let us cater this.." she began, but the caterer, Howard, let out a belly laugh reminiscent of Evan's and shushed her down.

"I rarely get to cook nowadays, being so busy, and if you can't cook for your friends, especially ones that left you a booming business, who can you cook for?" he easily replied. The last piece clicked into place in Cadee's brain. This was the Watters family, the ones that had bought out her father's half of the business. These were the people that her mother wanted her to meet? Cadee' brain spun in confusion, until she saw her father's hand in the dealings. He must have only told her that it was a small get-together, and she must have interpreted it as a more formal thing, like her "small get-togethers", she smiled inwardly. No wonder mom had such a sour look on her face when I was talking to Evan, since she really can't stop me from talking to one of the main guests of the party. Score another one for Evan, and he doesn't even know it, she smiled.

Dinner went well, the food was delicious. Apparently Mr. Watters used to cook all the time but with the appropriation of the entire business, he was seldom home now. Evan was newly graduated from college and trying to get a job or career somewhere. Ben was apparently still in Middle school, although Cadee suspected that he was in a different program. The other boy, Mark, was still in HS.

As the eating was winding down, the conversation stayed pleasant. The boys readily interrupted their father and Cadee's father's conversation with their own interjections, most of which were relevant or hilarious, and Cadee laughed along with some of the most ribald comments made. Her mother's face was turning even more like a dried prune, Cadee noticed, and she was glad of that. A little fun would never hurt her.

As the evening wore down, the conversation centered a little more around Evan. Apparently, he had just graduated college after 4 years, playing football as well, and his father wanted him to take over the business, or at least take part in it. Evan steadfastly refused, unsure of what he really wanted to do, but Cadee was sure he was trying to be his own person, away from his father's influence at home. In this, she could identify with Evan.

As the night was about winding down, the talk turned reminiscent. Even had been away for the past 4 years, and quite a bit had changed along with him. His father and Cadee's father brought up new locations that might interest a young man now. Wanting to be polite, Cadee mentioned that there was a new swing-dance club on the main street.

Her mother took the initiative then and said,"Why that's a great idea Cadee, why don't you and Evan go tonight and check it out?" Cadee silently cursed the woman as Evan was surprised and replied that he would like to go if she wanted to. Cadee, with her mother's stare piercing the back of her head, reluctantly agreed, although she had planned to go out that night with her friends. Oh well, mom's on the hostess path now, nothing I can do to knock her off it now, she thought. Hopefully this evening won't be so bad, at least he's not a "boy prince" that her mother was setting her up with, she thought...