Chapter 20
Eri heard the car door close and lit the two candles. There was rustling in the entryway, and a minute later, her dad came into view. She sang “Happy Birthday”, and her dad blew out the candle when she finished.
“Thanks, Bean,” he said, pulling her into a hug. He glanced at the simmering pots and pan on the stove. “Something smells good.”
“I made your favorite,” Eri told him. She’d made him the same birthday meal he’d always requested from her mother. Five years had passed with her keeping the tradition, but it didn’t get any less bittersweet for the two of them.
“I’ll go wash up and get out of this suit,” he replied, kissing her forehead before exiting the kitchen.
Eri removed the candles from the cake and covered it, leaving it in the middle of the table.
She placed the gift bag, which had originally been on the floor, in the chair beside where her dad would sit.
He would open it after they ate. The rest of her time alone in the kitchen was spent putting the finishing touches on the food and taking out dinnerware.
She was plating the food when her dad returned twenty-five minutes later, freshly showered and dressed in a T-shirt and lounge pants. Eri set the plates on the table and grabbed drinks from the fridge.
“How was work?” she asked as she took the seat across from him.
Her dad sighed. “I’m getting ready to issue written warnings to an entire department.”
“An entire department? What did they do? Go on a work strike or something?”
“If that was what it was, then I wouldn’t even write them up because we could sit down, they could tell me why they were doing it, and come up with a solution that worked for everyone.
As it stands, there’s drama throughout the entire department that I think stems from them all sleeping with one another. ”
Eri furrowed her brow. “Seriously?” Her dad nodded. “Doesn’t your office have some sort of rule against interdepartmental dating?”
“We do. If two employees decide they want to date, they need to be in different departments or one needs to be willing to move to a different one if they aren’t.”
“But no one transferred, and now it’s causing issues.”
“Yes,” her dad responded. “I don’t know for sure that they’ve slept together, but the tension that’s between them only comes from knowing one another intimately, and since the only thing they’ll tell us when we ask about it is that they’re having a difference of opinion or aren’t seeing eye to eye, I can’t ask them anything regarding my suspicions.
” He released another sigh. “Tomorrow they’re all getting written warnings, and I’m hoping it snaps them out of it and causes them to get over it, or we’ll end up laying off the entire department if things don’t turn around. ”
Eri nodded. That did make getting to the bottom of it difficult. If every person in the department gave the same answer, there wasn’t much more her dad and the rest of the company’s human resources department could do other than follow the appropriate steps.
“Enough about that. How’s your spring break going?”
“It’s good. I’ve just been relaxing. I finished the assignments in my course outline. The only things I have to finish are projects for finals.”
Which she’d planned to work on during the break, but hadn’t yet. She’d mainly been lounging around Elias’ house, watching drama series or continuing her rewatch of The Powerpuff Girls while he was at work, and then doing something with him when he got back.
“I’ve also been making advertising media for this competition Avian’s husband is putting on in a couple of months. It’s going to look great in my portfolio, and I think the turnout will be excellent.”
They conversed for the rest of dinner, and when they finished, Eri cleared their plates before giving her dad the gift bag.
He pulled out the new tie and pocket square set, and she was hoping it wasn’t a design or color he already owned.
Her father had an abundant collection of them and rotated them daily for work.
It would not be an exaggeration to say he had enough to wear for a couple of months without repeating any.
He reached in again and pulled out a new panini grill. They’d been speaking on the phone a couple of weeks ago when he’d casually said the one he’d had forever had finally kicked the bucket. Eri knew it had put up a good fight, considering her dad used it once or twice a week.
He thanked her for the gifts, then helped her clean the kitchen, even though she’d protested since it was his birthday. Once finished, they went into the living room to watch one of her father’s favorite movies, which was anything with Denzel Washington in it.
As they waited for the movie to start, her dad asked her what she wanted for her birthday in a couple of weeks. There really wasn’t anything Eri could think of, but she asked him to let her sleep on it.
She would spend the night, get up in the morning to make her dad breakfast before he left for work, and head out herself sometime afterward. If she still didn’t know by the time she got ready to leave, she had a little time to let him know.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
They pulled into the parking lot of his favorite restaurant, and Elias glanced over at Eri as she found a parking space.
When she’d originally asked him if he wanted to do something that weekend, he hadn’t known what she had in mind because she wouldn’t tell him, but he’d gotten an idea as the week went on.
Elias would have to be slow not to notice that she’d used the week to reconnect with him. She was showing him she could communicate with him when something bothered her, like after she fell into the toilet in the middle of the night because he’d left the seat up.
It’d been nice spending the week with her. It wasn’t like they lived in different cities, and as long as they both were free, he could see her at any time. But there was something about having her in his space that hit differently.
“What do you usually get when you come here?” Eri asked once they were seated with menus.
“I rotate through a few different options. It depends on what I’m in the mood for when I come,” he replied.
“Will you order for me?”
“If you want me to, Amate.”
“Did you take pictures of the tattoos you did today?” she asked.
Elias nodded and handed her his phone after bringing up the pictures. Their server came while Eri scrolled through them, and he placed their orders.
“This is the bike you’re currently working on?” she asked, turning the phone for him to see.
“It is,” he responded. Elias took pictures of his progress at different stages for every motorcycle he built.
Most customers understood the timeline of how he worked better when they had a visual representation.
Taking pictures at each stage was also a reminder to him of how much work he’d done. It was a sense of accomplishment.
“Are you going to work on it tomorrow?”
“For a couple of hours.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Sure, baby,” he replied.
Tonight was the last night she was staying with him, and she would go home tomorrow afternoon.
He didn’t mind her coming with him if that was what she wanted to do.
Elias didn’t plan on being at his shop long since his family was having their usual dinner.
One that he knew Avian might still snitch on him at, regardless of things between him and Eri being better.
If she didn’t, then he knew he’d get an earful from her.
“I’m surprised that as close as you and Marco are, he doesn’t own a bike you’ve made.”
“He does,” Elias countered. “The first motorcycle I made after deciding it was what I wanted to do was for Marco. He commissioned me, even though he’d bought a new one a few months before I made the announcement. He rides it now and then, but it isn’t really made for a passenger.”
Eri nodded. “I get it. Avian’s new addiction is riding with him when the weather is nice, so he hasn’t been riding it as much. He keeps it in the storage with the other one?”
“He does. And so there’s no misunderstanding later. I’m trying to make that your new addiction too,” he smirked.
“You want my new addiction to be riding with Marco?” she inquired with a playful smile. “Odd.”
Elias chuckled. “Cute.”
They continued talking throughout dinner, and when the server brought the check and handed it to Elias, she plucked it out of his hand when they were alone. He raised a brow at her.
“I planned the date,” she reminded him.
“What does that have to do with me paying?” he inquired.
“I wanted to take you out. So, I get to pay.”
“Amate, be a good girl, and give it to me,” he requested.
Eri let out a surprised little squeak before looking around to see if she’d drawn attention from any of the nearby tables, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Elias was almost sure she’d give it to him before she shook her head, as if clearing it.
“No, baby. Let me pay for it,” she responded.
“Okay, Amate. You want to pay,” he started, taking out his wallet and handing it to her. “Then pay.” She glared at him. “This way, we both get what we want.”
“That isn’t the same, and you know it.”
Elias shrugged. “It’s the only way you’re paying.”
She sighed, opening his wallet. “Fine. Does it matter what I use?”
“Nah, it doesn’t.”
As they waited for the server to return, Elias wondered when she’d realize he was serious about not letting her pay when they went out.
He didn’t mind doing it. It came along with dating him.
On top of that, he knew Eri didn’t work.
Her scholarship paid for her campus apartment, and from what she’d told him, she had a little left over each semester, but mostly, her dad sent her money every month.
Elias wanted her to take care of whatever she needed, and he would handle the rest.
They were soon in the car, headed to their next destination. The drive was relatively short, and they pulled into the parking lot of an old building downtown. To Elias’ knowledge, nothing in that area was open, but there were several other cars parked, with a few people waiting in the parking lot.
“We’re going on a ghost hunt,” Eri started. “Well, it’s a tour, but they call it a hunt.”
“A ghost hunt?”
“Yep. You’ve never been?” she asked. He shook his head. “I’m surprised, with as much as you like horror movies, you haven’t. Come on.”
They exited the vehicle and moved to the trunk of the car, leaning against it as they waited to get started.
“The better question is, do you think you’ll be able to handle it, considering you hide at the sight of anything scary in a movie?” Elias teased.
Eri moved to stand in front of him, draping her arms over his shoulders, and he settled his hand on her waist. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. I doubt we’ll run into any real ghosts, but if we do, I know I’m safe with you.”
Elias gave her a soft kiss. “Always,” he told her, and he meant it.