Loveless Ages

Chapter Three

There is a knock on the front door and I go to answer it. Cesar stands there with a pan in his hand that has aluminum foil over it. He smiles at me.

"Hi," he says, "Thanks for inviting me. I brought some dessert."

"I'll take it into the kitchen. Thanks," I say to him. I take the pan out of his hand and he walks into the house. I close the door behind him. As soon as I turn back to him I see that his eyes are wide open and his jaw has dropped. He is looking at the walls. I laugh a little bit.

"My grandmother is a bit... eccentric," I tell him.

"Your grandmother painted these?" He asks.

"Yeah."

"Well I see where you got your talent from," he comments. As if on cue, grandmother walks into the room.

"Nice to meet you," Cesar says. He puts out a hand for her to shake.

"You too," my grandmother says. The way she stares at him I can tell she finds him attractive. I stare at her disapprovingly. I could never picture her loving anyone other than my grandfather.

"You have a lovely home," Cesar muses.

"Thank you," she says, "And I'm glad you could join us for dinner."

"Well Malinda is my favorite student," he flashes a smile in my direction, "I couldn't say no to her." There is something about him that makes me so happy. He is familiar. Some of his expressions and his mannerisms create this feeling of déjà vu. We walk into the dinning room where Josh is helping my grandfather set the table.

"This is Josh and this is my grandfather," I say.

"I'm Oliver," my grandfather says.

"Aliza," my grandmother says for herself.

"My name's Cesar," my teacher says to everyone. I put the dish that Cesar brought in the kitchen and then go to help Josh set the table. He shakes his head. "It's fine Malinda, you go sit down," Josh says.

"I'm pregnant not disabled," I say. He rolls his eyes and hands me a fork.

"Happy?" He asks.

"Very," I say.

"Hey I kind of get what you mean when you say that guy looks familiar. He looks that way to me too," Josh mutters.

"So it's not just me?" I ask.

"Nope," Josh shakes his head. We all sit at the table and my grandmother brings the food out.

"That smells really good," Cesar compliments.

"It does, doesn't it?" Josh is nearly salivating. We all help ourselves to the food.

"So how long have you been teaching art classes?" My grandmother asks.

"I've been teaching for ten years," he says with a polite smile.

"And what did you do before that?" My grandfather inquires. Cesar seems to be taken off guard by the question.

"Ah... a little bit of everything," Cesar answers. Josh looks at him

suspiciously.

"I feel like I know you..." Josh says. Cesar looks confused.

"Well I'm pretty sure you don't," Cesar responds. Josh narrows his eyes at him and I hope he doesn't make a scene.

"Are you the father?" Cesar asks, "Of Malinda's baby?"

"No," Josh says, "I'm just a close friend of Malinda."

"Oh," Cesar nods. He puts some food into his mouth. After he swallows he turns to my grandmother.