Relaxing at Crimson Lights
Mattie was standing at the counter at Crimson Lights. It was a Saturday, and she had the day off from work. She was dressed in a light wash colored sleeveless denim jumpsuit, that was sleeveless and exposed her shoulders and some of her back. She was also wearing pink strappy sandals. She was wearing her hair down, and she looked pretty and was feeling very relaxed.
"Looking like a snack." She hears a familiar voice as someone approaches her at the counter. She looks up into Monty's playful eyes. He smiles at her and she feels her face grow warm. He is dressed in a gray fitted T-shirt and a pair of green trouser pants. He looked very handsome as usual and was also feeling relaxed and getting ready to enjoy his day off.
"What did yo-ou say?" She stammers a little as she looks into his eyes.
"I said it looks like you are enjoying a snack." He indicates to the plate in front of her that had an assortment of cheeses, crackers fruit and some nuts up there.
"Oh, I thought you meant... uh..." Mattie touches her neck and looks up at him. "You're right… I am enjoying a snack."
"It looks good too." Monty observes. "It's good to see you getting your protein." He says in a lighthearted manner.
Mattie smiles. "Yeah…."
"Look, I don't want to bother you or anything, I just saw you standing here, and I… just wanted to come over and say hello." He tells her looking her over and smiling.
"Well... hi..." Mattie says to him and hopes she doesn't sound awkward.
"Hello…" He says. They smile at each other.
"You know this is a good day to have off." Monty comments. "Nice weather outside, it's a good day to have some fun." He observes. "I have some plans for today. Do you?" He asks curiously.
"Uh…" Mattie shakes her head. "Not really. I think that today will probably be a day that I just chill… you know."
Monty nods. "I understand. Nothing wrong with that." He pauses for a moment and then continues. "Though, if you don't mind me saying, you look very nice today." He compliments her. "You look like you should be going somewhere."
"Uh… Thank you." Mattie says looking into his eyes and feeling her face grow warm again.
"But I get wanting to relax and decompress from the work week." He remarks understandingly. He pauses and continues. "Speaking of that... I thought we had a productive first few days at work." He remarks. "I liked some of your ideas you had about some of our marketing strategies."
"Well, I may not have the most twitter followers, but I think that I have good ideas for other ways to help market the collections." Mattie tells him confidently.
"You do." Monty tells her. "And I think together we can really help launch these new collections in a good way that could be good for Jabot and for us." He makes a gesture with his hand. "Together you and I along with Boyd and Valentina could really help Jabot continue to be successful." He states optimistically.
"I think we all have some good ideas; Valentina has some good ideas that I think can really help us promote these products. I was talking with her just last night about them…"
Mattie frowns when she hears him mention Valentina's name. "Yeah… that Valentina, she is just bursting with ideas…" She says.
"She's really smart. And very ambitious. I really like her." Monty admits to Mattie.
Mattie frowns again. She crosses her arms. "Well, that's good you like her, it's a good thing for people to like their co-workers, or at least that's what my mom says…"
"Well, I'm glad to hear you are listening to advice from your mother." A voice says from behind Mattie. She turns around and sees Lily who had just arrived behind her.
"Mom…" She says.
"Hi, honey." Lily says and hugs her.
"Sorry, I'm late." Lily apologizes to her. "I had just had to stop off at Hamilton-Winters and do a few things." Lily looks down at Mattie's plate. "And it looks like you ordered something to eat already." She observes smiling. Lily then looks at Monty and her smile becomes wider.
"And you were talking to your... friend?" She asks.
Mattie makes a face. "Mom, this is Monty Lattimore." She introduces him. "We work together at Jabot."
"Oh…. so you're Monty." Lily says looking at Monty and smiling again. "Nice to meet you." She reaches out and shakes his hand.
"Nice to meet you Ms. Ashby." He says shaking her hand.
"Mattie has been telling me about some of what you guys have been up to at Jabot." Lily informs him.
"It is exciting. Your daughter and I have been strategizing about some ways we can promote some new clothing collections. And it's been interesting and fun." Monty tells Lily.
Monty chats with Lily a little more. He then looks down at his watch. "Oh, I guess I better be getting out of here. If you ladies will excuse me, I'm going to go spend some time with my brother." He laughs.
"I'm going to get him out of the house to have some fun. He's been working a lot and making preparations for his new baby. I figured today would be a good day for him to relax and for us to have some fun together." He pauses and then continues."We're supposed to go rock climbing today. And then maybe go for a nice bike ride." He turns to look at Mattie. "Have you ever been rock climbing?" He asks.
Mattie shakes her head. "No."
Monty smiles at her. "You should try it sometimes it's fun." Mattie feels her face getting warm again. They chat for a little more and then Monty orders some food, grabs it and bids the ladies good-bye.
"Nice to meet you Ms. Ashby." He tells Lily. "And see you at work on Monday, Mattie." He says looking at her and smiling.
"Nice to meet you Monty." Lily says.
"See you later." Mattie says and they watch him walk away. They then turn to look at each other and Lily gives Mattie a big smile and a knowing look.
"Well, you didn't mention how handsome he is." Lily teases Mattie.
"Oh, is he…" Mattie says looking down at her plate and picking up a grape to eat it.
"Yeah, he is…" Lily states laughing. "And it looks like you think so too, considering how you kept blushing when he was talking to you."
"I'm not blushing." Mattie denies her mother's claims.
Lily shakes her head amused. "Yeah, you were, you still are, your cheeks are rosy honey..."
Mattie touches her cheeks and wonders if Monty noticed.
Lily laughs. "That's awesome Mattie. I'm glad you made a very handsome friend. And he seems nice." Lily shrugs. "And maybe you could do something like go rock climbing with him some time." She lightly touches her daughter's arm. "Get out and have some fun, with a handsome young man..."
"He wasn't asking if I would go with him…." Mattie says.
Lily makes a face. "Hmmm, well maybe one day he will ask you to do something with him. And if he does, you should do it." Lily encourages her. "Not only are you smart, but you're young and pretty and you deserve to enjoy yourself sometimes." Lily folds her arms and looks at her. "Especially with a nice handsome young man."
Mattie nods and eats some more of her food.
Lily orders her a drink and some food as well. Her and Mattie eat and talk to each other. While they are doing that Nick shows up at Crimson Lights and heads to the counter to place an order as well. He smiles when he sees Lily.
"Hey, Lily." He greets her.
Lily wipes her mouth with a napkin and returns his smile. "Hi Nick." She says cheerily. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing, fine." Nick says and grabs a seat beside her at the counter.
"How are you doing, Mattie?" Nick asks her.
"I'm doing fine." Mattie tells him smiling. "How are you doing?" She asks him.
"I'm doing well actually." Nick confirms to her.
He then looks at Lily and continues to talk to her. "Just came in here to grab something to eat and drink. I'm taking a break from Newman today and later I will be spending some time with Faith."
Lily nods. "Sounds great. I had went into Hamilton-Winters earlier this morning to help with some things." She informs him. "Devon is a bit swamped right now with the situation with his wife's family and taking care of a little baby. I wanted to offer an extra pair of hands to help out." She takes a sip of her drink.
"Sophia has decided to take the job offer of running Power Communications and with her fully on board now, I think that will help ease some of the workload."
Nick nods. "I hear that."
Lily lightly touches Nick's arm. "Oh, I wanted to tell you that Summer threw the lovliest bridal shower the other day for Ana. We all had a blast there." She says to him graciously.
Nick smiles. "Summer is having fun helping Ana and Fen plan their wedding. She's pumped to be planning the wedding of her two best friends." Nick states knowingly to Lily.
"Well, she really is a doing a great job and it's exciting watching this wedding be put together. I got my invitation the other day. It was very nicely done." Lily pauses and continues. "You know I'm actually very excited for this wedding." She confesses to Nick.
"You are?" Nick asks.
Lily nods. "I am." She sighs. "Ana and Fen are such a lovely couple, and I want them to be happy... I remember what it was like to be in love and be excited about the idea of getting married..."
Nick nods. "Me too on more than one occasion." He admits sheepishly.
Him and Lily laugh. "Oh, yeah you know I am apart of that club, too." Lily says truthfully.
"Including more on one occasion to the same person." Nick says and they laugh again.
"Yeah..." Lily admits sheepishly. She then places her hand on the counter and looks at Nick. "But here's hoping that one time is all that Fen and Ana need and that they don't have all the struggles and breakups that some of us have unfortunately had."
"Right on." Nick agrees.
Lily holds her cup. "So yeah, I'm looking forward to attending the wedding and seeing some people that I haven't seen in a while like Ana's mom Harmony and a few others. It should be a nice event. And very romantic." Lily says smiling. "I do love weddings, I just can't help myself."
"Is Cane coming to the wedding?" Nick asks curiously.
Lily shrugs. "You know I'm not sure. He got an invitation... so maybe. You know he's been enjoying himself in Europe with Traci. Her latest is book is doing well and he's been supporting her while she's on a book tour over there."
"They're still going strong, huh." Nick remarks.
Lily nods. She puts her cup down and puts her hands on top of each other on the counter. "You know at first, I admit it was a little strange to see Cane and Traci date." She admits to Nick. "I mean don't get me wrong she is a wonderful person and any man would be lucky to have her."
Nick nods. "That true." He agrees.
Lily makes a face. "But you know she's is the twins' godmother and her and I have always had a connection because of Colleen..."
"I understand."
"So, it was a little different at first... but you know like I said Traci is a really good person and she's good for Cane." Lily admits honestly. "And after our last divorce my biggest wish for him was him to continue to try and be the best father for our children. And he has done that. And Traci has not stopped him from doing that.." She shrugs. "So.. I'm cool with it." She states firmly. "Plus, she's a good mother figure to Sam, who needed a mother."
Nick smiles. "It sounds like it all worked out for them."
"Yes it has." Lily acknowledges. "And I'm happy for them... and who knows maybe Cane will show up with Traci as his plus one to the wedding. And of course Sam. He's invited too." Lily laughs. A thoughtful look then comes across her face.
"Speaking of plus ones, we all are allowed one. I wonder who I should bring..." She thinks for a moment. "I mean this is a family event, so all my relatives are already invited. It's not like I can bring one of the twins, as my plus one." Lily muses. "Hmm..."
"Anybody else you can think of?" Nick asks.
Lily looks at him for a minute and smiles. "Hey... would you like to go to a wedding?" She asks.
Nick touches his chest. "Me?" He asks a bit surprised.
"Yeah, you." Lily says laughing. "You are the father of the matron of honor, so you already have a connection. Plus I can invite anyone I want." She gives him a look and smiles. "So are you interested in going with me? As my plus one and friend?" She asks.
"When is it?" Nick asks. Lily tells him the date.
"I'd have to double check my schedule, but I do believe I am free that day." Nick tells her. "So..." He thinks for a moment. "Yeah, I will go with you."
Lily smiles. "Awesome. We can enjoy great food, dance to some good music and hope that Fen and Ana have a better outcome with their marriage than either one of us did with ours."
Nick laughs sheepishly. "Sounds like a plan. It's a date."
They laugh and talk some more enjoying their time together.