Chapter Two

"Chase! Oh, Chaaaaase?" the unmistakable chirpy voice rang from the stairs. I'd known Maya since we were small. Her voice never did change. "Come on, take a break, let's talk wedding arrangements~!"

"Not now, Maya. I'm cooking." How dare she even think to interrupt something as vital as hand-whipping egg whites. What if the peaks turned out too stiff? She should know how that can ruin a dish.

"But Chase!" she whined. That miserable whine always felt like it was going to make my ears fall off. Without looking, I could tell it was accompanied by the woeful puppy-dog eyes, a weapon of hers so powerful, it deserved to be banned by the Geneva convention. "You promised, this afternoon, we'd pick out flowers!"

Did I? Or did I just say that yesterday to shut her up? I didn't remember making such a promise. But then again, I did come down here early for a reason... then promptly forgotten what it was, probably because I didn't care... "Orange," I replied.

"What?"

"I want orange blossoms," I clarified. It couldn't be a difficult request, could it?

"But orange blossoms are so small, and they don't look good in wedding decorations."

Neither did Maya, but you didn't see me complaining. "They smell nice."

"Who's going to be smelling them? I think we should go with gardenias. They're nice and big, and they're white, and they smell so good!"

"They'll clash with the orange blossoms," I argued. "The two smells don't go together." Look at me, a man, arguing about which flowers smell good together. What was I doing? Where was my pride? "You know what, if it makes you happy, pick whatever flowers you want. I really don't care."

"Okay, then, we'll nix the orange blossoms, and we'll order gardenias and... pink carnations. I like the white and pink, it makes me think of Valentine's. You know, maybe we should wait, and have a Valentine's wedding. Oh, but I'm wearing a short dress..." I tuned her out and returned to my egg whites, absorbing my own thoughts for a change.

The wedding was in two weeks. I thought it was a bit sudden, but Maya insisted. I felt like I needed time to think about it. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go through with it. In fact, I almost turned down her proposal, but I changed my mind as she was sobbing and storming out of the room.

When we told the family, everyone was thrilled. Jake and Colleen were so happy to be seeing their daughter get married. Yolanda said she'd always seen me as a grandson. And Maya was almost crying with joy. She said she loved me, and she couldn't imagine life without me.

Did I love her?

...

Of course I did.

"Chase? Cha-ase! HEY, CHASE!" Maya yelled. I jolted awake from my reverie and formed peaks in the egg whites with my whisk. Stiff as boards. How long was I zoned out?

"I told you, Maya, I'm cooking. I don't care about flowers."

"Flowers?" I heard a small, unfamiliar mumble. A lyrical mumble, one that sounded like it belonged to someone kind and gentle. Or maybe it was just that it wasn't Maya's high-strung chirp.

"We're done with that. Come over here and introduce yourself to the new girl!"

New girl? Oh. The girl who stayed here last night. I wasn't even quite sure what she looked like; I'd only gotten a quick glance at her before she went upstairs. "Can it wait? I've got to put the meringues in the oven."

"But you were making cake," Maya pointed out.

"Well, that's a lost cause," I remarked, spooning globs of sugary egg whites onto a piece of wax paper.

"Well, fine. It's all tasty and sweet. You wait here. I'm going to go, er... freshen up a bit." Maya went upstairs. She must have been talking to the new girl.

The girl moved over to the bar as soon as Maya was out of sight. "So..." she started. Her voice was refreshing. "Your name is Chase?"

"Yep," I said.

"Well, I'm Angela."

"Pleasure."

"So..." Angela drummed her fingers on the bar. "How do you know Maya?"

"She's my cooking teacher's granddaughter." Oh, right! "And we're engaged."

"Oh... really? You two don't even seem to get along."

"No, we do... it's just... well, she was badgering me about picking flowers for the wedding today, and..." Why was I telling her this? "No, it's silly. Forget it."

"Oh, no, keep going."

"Well, I wanted orange blossoms, but she wanted big flowers that don't smell good with orange blossoms. And, well, she's calling the shots, so..."

"Ah, I see." A silence hung in the room like an unpleasant smell, like the smell of the kitchen after Maya had been puttering around. "I like orange blossoms," she wistfully remarked. "They smell sweet, and I think they're cute. A flower doesn't have to be big to be pretty."

"Angela, there you are!" Maya's chirp came from the stairs. "I apologize for my fiancée. He's a bit cold before you get to know him... and after you get to know him..."

"Oh, it's okay... he's, uh..." she stuttered. I glanced over and saw that she was blushing a bit. "Nice," she finished. "He's nice."