C12 CHAPTER TWELVE - A MEETING WITH HER

Wright drove into the restaurant, parked his car in the car park in front of the restaurant and he stepped out. As he walked down the premises of the restaurant, he was a little nervous as he not sure of how tonight would go. Actually, he had for long been postponing this night because he was having cold feet on carrying on with the whole arrangement.

He suddenly remembered that he did not inform Riona that he would be coming back late from work tonight. His plan was that this meeting would be as brief as possible and so, Riona might not even realize that he had gone anywhere after work.

Ever since Evolette’s demise, Wright had always gone home straight from work and he had never left Riona all to herself. Anyways, it is not as if he used to stay out late at night when Evolette was alive, just that he only become extremely conscious of this since it was just Riona at home and with his absence, she was going to be all by herself which is what he would not want to happen.

He imagined how she would take his absence, and since he did not want her to be worried about him, he stopped and brought out his phone from his pocket as he intends to dial her number and inform her of his whereabouts. But however, on a second thought, he decided against calling her.

“She can take care of herself, she is not a kid anymore” he mused.

He put his phone back into his pocket and continued his walk into the restaurant.

Wright thought about all he done to ensure that Riona was not always alone. He had once suggested that Riona went home with Riley after school, or that she allowed Riley visit her at home so that she would not be all alone at home until his return. But she had blatantly kicked against the ideas and even though Riona had not expressly stated it, by her actions, it was clear to Wright that Riona does not want the names of either Riley or her mother, Maeve to ever be measured to her.

This realization left Wright in a more difficult situation, and made him doubt whether he is actually doing the right thing by coming for this meeting tonight.

Believing that Riona has only been overreacting as a child, Wright shakes off the thought of Riona not wanting to have anything to do with Maeve and Riley.

This would be the first outing that he would be on without Riona since after he lost his wife and he intended to make it worthwhile and have a little of a nice evening.

He entered the restaurant and as he walked to his reservation, he discovered that she was already seated and was waiting for him.

He never knew that she would be here at this time and he hoped that he has not kept her waiting for long.

He got to the table and greeted her as he sat down. “Hello Maeve”

She smiled at him, and her smile had some soothing and comforting effect on him.

“Hi Wright, you made it” she responded.

This time around, Wright smiled.

They never believed that they would finally be having this meeting. At first, Wright’s excuse for delaying the meeting was that he was still mourning Evolette and when it was obvious that the excuse would no longer work, he replaced it with not knowing how Riona would feel or react to it.

Actually, he could not bring himself to tell Riona about tonight but decided to come nevertheless. For if he waits until when he would be able to inform Riona first, then the meeting would never happen.

“Looks like I did” he replied.

They both laughed at his reply, but the laughter ended as soon as it was started.

Wright was the first to stop laughing, as he felt the laughter was not even supposed to happen. Maeve quickly followed suit because she believed as a result of Wright’s reaction, that the laughter was out of place.

“Hope I did not keep you waiting all night?” he asked.

Maeve adjusted in her seat before she responded.

“Not at all Wright, I just arrived about a minute ago, I haven’t been waiting for long” she replied.

Wright sat down and took the restaurant’s menu that was in front of him and he goes through it. After some time, he said.

“I think I would be making do with just red wine this evening”

He did not lift his head up to look at Maeve as he spoke, he was still glued to the menu he was holding.

“That would be fine with me too” Maeve said.

This time, Wright raised his head to look at Maeve.

“Are you sure about that? You know you can actually have whatever you feel like tonight” he said.

He was confused that Maeve’s choice was hinged on his and he would not like to be the reason for her not enjoying the night as she wanted.

“Of course I am” she chuckled.

Wright paused for a while, and decided that she was been honest in her request.

“If you say so, Maeve. So do you have any suggestions, like what brand of red wine do you want?” he asked.

Maeve hesitated for a while before she replied. “I am fine with whichever one Wright”.

Wright knew Maeve better to understand that she was been sincere and there was no need been pushy with it anymore.

“That would be great” he said.

He signaled to the waiter who was some steps away from their table. The waiter arrived, and he placed their order.

Their order arrived and as they were sipping their wine, Maeve decided to hold some conversation with Wright.

“So how has it been with Riona?” she asked.

Wright took his gaze up. He definitely would not want to talk about Riona tonight. However, just so as not to hurt Maeve, he joins her in the conversation.

“She is fine” he said.

Maeve was not looking at Wright when she asked about Riona so she did not notice Wright’s countenance. Maybe if she had, she might have changed the topic.

“So how is she carrying on with the whole thing? I trust that she would be getting better by the day, actually, I haven’t seen much of her lately” she asked.

“Yeah, sure. Though she feels keeping more to herself was the best way to go. But she comes around a couple of times” Wright said.

“Poor child. You know we react to loss differently Wright” she said.

“Riona is a whole lot of difference then” he replied.

On a second thought, he quickly added. “She has come to accept that Evolette is no more, but I fear that she has even lost sight of those that are still here with her except of curse for Rennet Aid”.

Maeve thought on what he had said about Riona. This was not a surprise to Maeve, with the little she already knows about Riona, she was sure that it would take a long time for her to come around.

“That’s okay Wright, she would definitely come around soon enough, you know it’s a blow none of us could come to terms with” she said.

Just then, Wright’s phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller. On seeing who the caller is, he puts the phone back into his pocket. He looked at his wrist watch and realized that he had only been here for just ten minutes.

“Who was that?” Maeve asked.

She has been watching Wright attitude since the call entered, and she was curious to know about the caller.

Wright thought about her question for some seconds, and finally agreed that it was okay to answer her question, so he said.

“It’s actually my daughter, Riona”

“Then why not pick it, she might be worried about you” she said.

“Come on Maeve, I am only late by ten minutes. She should learn to stay without me for some time” he replied.

Maeve was taken aback by his response and she decided to press further.

“You did not tell her that you were coming here, did you?” she asked.

Wright’s disposition said it all. Riona had not the slightest idea that Wright would be late tonight, neither did she know that he was having a date with her. Maeve was not too comfortable with the whole arrangement, she did not like how Wright had handled the whole thing.

She did not like to think that she was sneaking around with Wright, hiding from Riona.

“But why did you not tell her about tonight?” Maeve requested.

Just then, his phone rings again and he decided to ignore it once again.

“You have to talk to her Wright” she said.

Wright kept quiet and pretended not to hear her.

Maeve realized that her insistence was not making any headway with Wright, so she said.

“At least a text would do”

Wright took out his phone and sent Riona a text message which reads

‘Would be back late’

Immediately, he got a reply from Riona which reads

‘Just that, and nothing more?’

Wright glanced at his phone when the message entered. He sighed and switched off the phone and put it back into his pocket.

“So, why don’t we get fully to the business for tonight, we have spent enough time on nothing” Wright said.

Maeve hates to think that Wright had just referred to their date as business, she hated further that he had not taken his daughter’s call more seriously. What if something had happened, what if Riona was in some sort of emergency and had needed to talk to him immediately?

She decided she was not going to let what just happened tonight to slide away just like that, she was going to discuss it with Wright, and she was going to do that now.

“Can I get a minute Wright?” She asked.

“Sure, you can. I would be waiting right here” he replied.

“Not that Wright, I mean a minute here, with you. I want to have some discussion with you, you know, before we start our business” she said.

She was emphatic on the ‘our business’.

Wright was curious and he could not help but to wonder what she was so interested on talking about. However, he was a bit amused with the way Maeve had emphasized on the ‘our business’.

“Okay, you can go on Maeve, I am listening” he replied.

Maeve waited for some time before she began.

“It’s about Riona’s call, do you even stop to think that she might be in some sort of danger and needed you immediately?” she asked.

“I am sorry about that Maeve, I was just a little nervous, I feared what her reaction would be and I was just not ready for it. I will take care of that once I get home” he replied.

They were both so engrossed with their drinks and the time slowly ticks away. They said very little to each during the time spent together. Maeve did most of the talking as Wright barely said much.

Then the music starts to play in the background. Wright started to nod his head to the beat of the music, and slowly, Maeve followed suit.

Wright saw that the dance flow was gradually filling up with couples, who are holding hands as they danced and he was no longer be contented with just nodding to the rhythm.

He looked at Maeve, and make a signal inviting her to join him in a dance and she smiled approvingly. Having gotten the desired approval, he stood up, walked to her side and held her by the hands. She got up and they both soon became lost in the crowd dancing in the dance floor.