All I Ever Wanted

Chapter Twenty-Four

I sit at the kitchen table listening to Mike ramble on and on about Layla and how she seems to be avoiding him. He seems to have forgotten the argument between him and his friends. Instead Layla occupies his thoughts. Mike is just saying the same thing repeatedly and it’s getting frustrating. This guy sure can talk, and talk, and talk. Finally he turns around and asks me "What should I do?"

I sigh with relief. "Finally! I thought you'd never ask!"

He scowls at me "It's kind of degrading asking an eight year old for dating advice."

I roll my eyes "I give good advice so there’s nothing wrong with it. I'm offended!" I declare although I'm not offended at all.

"You do give good advice. How did you become so insightful?" Mike ponders.

I think it through. Insightfulness is a skill you need when dealing with a temperamental mother. Plus a lot has happened to me, I've learnt from mistakes and not just my own. "Circumstance." I answer cryptically. "Anyway we're digressing. Do you want my advice or not?" Mike nods so I continue "She probably thinks you've done something wrong. If you have you’re screwed, but if you haven't you need to talk to her and tell her what actually happened."

Mike sighs. "Unlike you I'm not an omniscient fortune teller so please enlighten me to what I did."

I roll my eyes "How am I supposed to know? I didn't do it, you did." I mean seriously! I can figure out problems but I’m not a mind reader.

"Please help me. I have no idea what I did!" Mike begs.

I contemplate his request. If I ignore him he’ll irritate me until I give in. Also I like helping people, even Mike. So I start to question him. "When did she start ignoring you?"

"Two days ago." Mike replies promptly. I think to two days ago. That was when we had dinner with Evelyn. I run mentally through the day. Phoebe and I found out about grandmothers disease but Mike wasn't there. The only thing Mike did was go to dinner with his mother, Phoebe and I.

Realisation dawns slowly upon me. Mikes mother, Evelyn looked young from a distance. She was sitting with Mike talking. If Layla had seen she could have easily jumped to conclusions and thought the two of them were dating. She could have thought she was being cheated on.

Phoebe and  I were sitting at the table. She wouldn't have recognised me or known who we both were. Evelyns hair was obviously dyed and straightened. Originally she could have had wavy, golden blond hair. It might have looked as though we were her children, And Mike was the father. Holy chocolate she thought Mike was married and she was cheating on his wife with her!

What a mess.

Mikes panicked voice breaks through my concentration. "The look on your face is telling me I'm doomed."

I look grimly at him. "Big time."

"How bad is it?" Mike winces.

Now how to break it to him? "When we ate lunch with your mother, what would it have looked like from a distance?" He frowns in confusion so I carry on. "She would have seen you with a woman probably around your age with two children..." His face pales and I know I've said enough.

He gulps. "How do I fix it?"

I shrug "You probably can't."

He hugs his legs to his chest and buries his head in his knees. "I was afraid you we're going to say that." He mutters. He looks up "Probably?" He asks the faintest trace of hope in his voice.

I grin widely "That’s what she said." I get lost in my thoughts for a moment as possible scenarios run through my head. A lot of them end with Layla getting a restraining order against Mike, or something less polite. This is going to require a lot of flowers I muse. I wonder what her favourite flower is. If Mike turned up with a bunch of her favourite flowers Layla was less likely to throw him out of her apartment. Layla didn't say why she was mad so maybe the innocent approach would be best. Wait until she asked and then answer truthfully? I mentally slap myself, that would only work for small things like accidently killing her favourite goldfish.

I rack my brains a little. I’m good at problem solving so I must be able to think of something. There has to be at least one solution to this problem... Then I have an eureka moment. It’s crazy, terrifying and faulty. But there is hope. It’s actually a brilliant idea, it doesn’t even include flowers. I swallow and explain to Mike. "I have an idea."

Mike literally jumps for joy. "YES! Thank you! You’re amazing, how can I ever make it up to you..." He talks too fast I have to take several moments to decipher his words. Halfway through his speech he trails off. "Why do you look terrified?"

"Because I am." I reply.   

“Emma, what’s wrong?” Mike asks demandingly.

I breathe deeply and answer “Nothing’s wrong, yet.”

It’s my fault that Mike is in this situation. If I had not been at the dinner Layla’s thoughts wouldn’t have wondered to marriage. This means I owe Mike which is why I’m currently trying to talk myself into this crazy plan my mind has thought up.

 The reasoning behind the plan is this. Layla thought Mike was cheating on Evelyn with her. This isn’t true because Evelyn is Mike’s mother and if they were seeing each other that would be very weird, and gross. Layla doesn’t know this so someone has to tell her. There were only four people at that table so only four possible people to tell her the truth. Evelyn is unlikely to co-operate so that leaves three people. Only two of the three know Layla. Mike is the obvious choice but Layla won’t listen to him. That leaves one person.

Me.