"Double scotch please." Ellie said as she sat down at the bar.
"Coming right up." Tifa genially replied, pouring the drink for her new customer. "I haven't seen you in here before."
"Nope." Ellie agreed. "Heard about this place so I decided to come check it out. My name's Ellie by the way."
"Is Reno going to come in today?" one of the barmaids asked Tifa, who had been just about to ask Ellie who recommended her bar.
"How would I know?" Tifa frowned. She felt like Reno was stalking her, and him not showing up yet was weird, but mostly welcome.
"Did you two have a fight?" another barmaid asked Tifa. "I could never imagine fighting with him. He's so gorgeous!"
Tifa sighed in frustration. "I'm not involved with him!"
"Who's this Reno?" Ellie asked innocently.
"He's this really hot guy who's been coming in every day and ogling Tifa the whole time." the first barmaid replied.
"And you're not interested?" Ellie asked Tifa.
"No, I'm not." she firmly replied, wondering why she was even talking about it, but it felt good to let it out. "He's…"
"Is he as good-looking as they say?" Ellie inquired.
"I suppose so." Tifa grudgingly admitted.
"But that's not enough for you?" Ellie took a sip of her scotch.
"No." Tifa said unequivocally. "And I don't like someone trying to buy my affection either, anymore than I like someone thinking I'm easy."
"So you are looking for a special someone, but no luck so far?" Ellie picked up on the undertones to Tifa's words.
"No." she replied with a tinge of sadness.
Reno walked into the diner and quickly spotted Ellie. Sitting across the small table from her, he looked expectantly at her as he gave the waitress his order. "Well?" he finally asked. Ellie still didn't say anything, she just reached over and smacked him upside the head. "Ow! What's that for?"
"You're an idiot, that's what." she told him. "Didn't I tell you all those years ago that you have to actually listen to women if you want to get anywhere with them?"
"So?" Reno gulped down the stale coffee he had ordered.
"You didn't even find out so much as her favorite color before jumping the gun, did you?" she pointed out.
"Uh…" Reno muttered.
"That's what I thought." Ellie said condescendingly. "Luckily for you, I don't think it's too late. But no more screwing up, you hear me?"
"Whatever. What's your advice?" he wanted to know.
"It's not advice, it's an order. Do exactly what I say, you hear me?" Ellie demanded.
Tifa stared blankly at the young couple who had burst into song in the middle of her bar. "Um, thank you." she managed to say. "Do I need to tip you?"
"No, that's all been taken care of. Please hire us though if you ever need a singing telegram." they told her before leaving.
"Oh you are so lucky!" her barmaid blurted out. "Reno's not only hot, he's so romantic and classy too! You're going to say yes, aren't you, boss?"
"I'll think about it." Tifa said. "We've got to focus on work now though." However, her mind was still on his invitation…did he really just offer to provide a gourmet catered Thanksgiving dinner for her and the kids? It was a sweet gesture, but he didn't seem like a family man to her, though she was impressed that he actually did something that wasn't about sex. And it was true that she really wouldn't be able to do much of a Thanksgiving dinner, not with working until mid-afternoon that day.
"That should be Reno." Tifa said, feeling nervous. She felt almost like it was a date, but it wasn't, she reminded herself as she went to open the door. "Please come in." she told him, surprised how…nice…he looked. He hadn't done much to change his appearance though, just buttoned up his shirt and tucked it in, but it made a difference.
"Thanks." Reno was noticing how different Tifa looked as well. She had always been attractive, but wearing a burgundy dress that complimented her eyes as well as wearing her hair up made her even more stunning. "The…um…caterers should be arriving soon with the food."
"How many pies are they going to bring?" Denzel asked, followed by Marlene's question; "Will they have extra stuffing?"
"I don't know, I've never used them before." Reno answered truthfully. "So…um…have you done your homework yet?" He felt horribly awkward trying to make small talk with two children, and wished the caterers would hurry up and get here.
"We're here!" the grandmotherly woman said when Reno gratefully opened the door, holding a steaming casserole dish. "Stitchin' Catering at your service! Just show us to the kitchen and dining room!" she said merrily as she entered the apartment followed by four other women, all carrying food.
"This way." Tifa said as she led the way, surprised that gourmet caterers were not younger snobby chef types. "Stitchin' Caterers? That's an unusual name."
"Well, we're actually the Stitchin' Bitches Caterers." the first woman whispered to her. "But it's not really appropriate for jobs for younger clientele, so we just put a little Scottish Terrier on our logo after Stitchin'."
Ellie stayed with the van so Tifa wouldn't recognize her and blow her cover, and handed out the rest of the food for the other women to bring up. She hoped Reno was using his brain and not spoiling this. She might have to remind him he wasn't too old for a spanking if he did. Tifa had some rough edges, but she was a class act, and a perfect match for Reno, they just both needed to get with the program.
"This looks lovely." Tifa said when her dining table was full of the Thanksgiving dinner and the caterers said they'd be back in two hours to clean up.
"Yeah, let's dig in." Reno was eager to try out all the food and started filling his plate.
"No." Tifa reverted to the mom voice she used on the children when they were about to misbehave. "We have a tradition here, we each say one thing we're thankful for first. Then we can eat. Why don't you go first since you're our guest?" she smiled mischievously at him.
"Um…okay." Reno tried to think of something to say. "I'm thankful…" he paused for a moment, since he had been about to say he was thankful this evening was going to be over soon. "I'm thankful for all this food." he finished lamely.
"I'm thankful for our new puppy." Marlene said with a big smile.
"I'm thankful I don't have any homework for a week." Denzel sighed with relief.
"And I'm thankful that we get to have a nice dinner provided by our new guest." Tifa concluded. "Now we can all eat.
"Okay, that's enough TV for now, you two. Bedtime!" Tifa announced, and Denzel groaned in protest.
"Thanks for a wonderful dinner, Mr. Reno." Marlene said, stopping by the recliner he was sitting in, impulsively hugging him and kissing his cheek before going to her room, as Reno sat there looking a bit stunned while his cheeks reddened.
"Yeah, I just wish Cloud could have been here too." Denzel admitted as he went to his own room.
"Well, I guess I should be going to." Reno stood up before noticing the crestfallen expression on Tifa's face. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm all alone." she confessed. "They keep thinking Cloud's going to come back."
"And he's not?" Reno asked, remembering what Ellie said about listening.
"You mean you really don't know?" she looked at him in surprise.
"Know what?" Reno returned her look as he sat down next to her on the couch.
"He and Tseng have been having the time of their lives with each other." she told him. "All I've got is work and the kids."
"Cloud and Tseng?" Reno couldn't believe it…what would Elena think?
Tifa laughed bitterly. "You guys are too used to keeping secrets, you even keep them from each other, don't you?"
Not sure what he should say to that, and feeling a bit off his game after such a family holiday meal, he leaned over and kissed her to get things back on familiar territory.