I look away from Paul so it won't look like I'm staring and soon enough my aunt returns with a small plastic bag of cat food that she sets on the counter and tells us to make sure we don't forget when we leave. I stand up and hand Paul the soft cat while my aunt pours milk into a dish that she sets on the floor.
"Would you like a piece of pie and maybe a cup of tea? I wouldn't mind." Maggie offers and I see Paul lean over to let the kitten down who slowly treads over to the dish and then dips his or her head down to drink the milk.
"I'll have a piece and a cup. Paul?" I turn to see him with his hands folded on the table.
"Yeah, sure. That'd be great. I haven't had a piece of homemade pie in years."
I smile and then take a plate from my aunt that I hand to Paul whose eyes get big when he takes the plate holding a piece of fresh pie on it. He grins big and waits for me to give him a fork, even though he looked as if he was going to start eating it without the utensil. Oh, what a dork. But he's my cute dork after all.
"Ta, Ms..." Paul trails off after having downed a bite of the pastry.
"My last name is Howard, but you're welcome to call me Maggie." she responds to Paul while she serves me a piece of the gooey pie that I would look forward to eating when I came over here when I was little to help her make it and tend to her garden.
"Wow, this is delicious pie." Paul remarks while cutting another piece and I shake my head with a smile. He looks to me and winks at me and then I take a bite of the hot pie.
"Thank you, son. It's made from a recipe handed down from generations of my family. You know, Jamie, you'll have to bring him over more often so I can cook for you two. I haven't really had anybody to cook for these past couple of years since your Uncle passed, bless his heart, but I'd love to have you pair over every once in awhile for din." she suggests while she pours the water from the steaming kettle into the tea pot while three cups on plates sit lined up behind me on the counter.
"Uh, we'd love to and it'd be so nice to but-."
"We'd love to, Ms. Howard, and with this delicious pie of yours I'd be up for trying more of your food." Paul interrupts me and I look over to him and he mouths 'what' while he holds the fork in his hand and I see a crumb at the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, excuse me for a moment." Maggie tells us once she hears the loud ringing of the phone that sits in the entry way.
"What's the look for?" he asks and I check on the kittie who slurps hungrily at the milk still and then I place my attention on Paul.
"What about you being gone for the whole summer and most of the fall?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Crap, I was really looking forward to being fattened up by your auntie." he remarks with a sad sigh and I can't help but to chuckle at his comment.
"Don't worry, love. Christmas isn't too long after that and she always makes a juicy ham and green bean casserole. I'm sure she'll invite us over to help eat all of the food she'll end up making then."
I see his eyes just about pop out at me saying 'ham' and 'green bean casserole' and I smirk again at the goofy guy who I'm still adjusting to thinking of as my boyfriend.
"I hope she will, because I'll mark that date on my calendar. I won't even miss it if World War three were happening and we were getting bloody bombed again."
I look down to my plate where the piece of pie sits with the point at its end gone and I feel the smirk spreading across my face. Oh, how he makes me smile.
"I'm sorry for that, loves. It was about work. Oh, and here is the tea. Help yourself." Maggie steps back in and speaks and she takes a seat to my right and I look to the floor where the kitten waltz back over to me, seemingly drunk off of the milk.
"Hey, little one." I greet him or her. It really does bug me that I don't know if it's a boy or a girl.
I let Maggie pick the kittie up and she pets it and speaks to him or her while I slowly work on my piece of pie as Paul finishes his up.
"Is it alright if I have another?" he asks and I look to him with a surprised look to see his plate to be clean, like he licked it. I admit that I wouldn't be surprised if he actually had.
"I should probably say that you don't want to spoil your appetite for dinner, but go ahead." Maggie responds while mindlessly running her fingers through the pets fur.
I catch Paul's eye after he had sat back down from getting himself another piece and he makes a wacky face at me, and I smile. I suddenly remember how different he was earlier when we are having that row; how his anger took over his voice, his rudeness, and his obvious temper. I'm hoping I won't have to encounter that for awhile.
We all finish up our pie and down our tea after it had cooled down enough to drink and then I decided that maybe it should be time to leave since Paul who I've learned tonight has quite the sweet tooth kept on eyeing the pie and glancing to the cookie jar sitting next to the containers for flour and sugar. In that time we found out from my aunt Maggie that the kitten is actually a boy, since she had a job as a veterinarian's assistant as a teenager. How convenient.
"Darling, is everything alright between Paul and you now?" Maggie questions as I help her clean up the dishes before we leave, while Paul is using the loo and the kittie who is still unnamed is asleep on one of the chairs cushions.
"Yeah, things are um okay now."
"You don't sound so sure about that to me, love. What is it?" she must of heard it in my voice or from my obvious stuttering that I figure had given it away.
"He has to be away on tour all summer and most of the fall too. The band has show after show and this big Christmas show in December. I don't even know if the next time I see him after he leaves will be this year." I report sadly and she frowns and holds out her arms for me. I walk into them and share a comforting hug with her.
"I'm sorry, dear. I had to wait three years for your Uncle Arnie while he was overseas fighting those damned Nazis. I know that this is different, but I'm sure time will go by like one of those pies when Paul gets his hands on it," she tells me and I chuckle loudly and I move away to look at her. "Have you two spoken about it, by chance?"
"Yeah, we basically got into a row about it after we bolted from graduation. Mags, I'm just scared that we both might be different people when his touring is over, and that things won't be the same again." I express my thoughts that are also fears to her and she brings me in for another hug.
"Even if the both of you change or only one of you does, I think that if you were set on it, you could make it through."
"But what if he meets some French or American girl while on tour and falls in complete love with her, and just forgets about ordinary me?" I bring up and she lets go to look at me and she shakes her head with a smile.
"You are a simply beautiful girl, Jamie. Boy, you have just blossomed like those petunias I have in the garden. I remember the very day you were born and look at the woman you are now. Anyways what I was saying. Honey, I'm sure he's going to run into women while he's gone but tonight I saw the sparkle he has in his eyes when he looks at you and how he looks at you with a smug smile. Sure, you've known each other only one month and are just beginning to know each other, but darling you mean something to him, and a big something at that, even if he's too afraid to say it. It's not hard to see when you two are together. Your uncle and I got married after three months of knowing each other before he shipped off for war, after all."
"Thanks, Aunt Maggie." I tell her and I hug her one more time with a thankful smile grazing my lips before Paul returns while fiddling with his tie. I love the little quirks he has about him.