Larry tried to hold his laughter in. “I’ll call to get them to hurry up.”
Before he could pick up his phone, Joan saw two figures walking toward them. “They’re here! Look, they’re here!”
As the pair got to the table, Nancy slung her bag over one of the empty chairs. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “We were held up by traffic.”
“Did you drive here?” Larry asked as he accepted the menu from one of the servers and passed it to Nancy.
Nancy nodded earnestly.
Larry pointed at Caspian and burst out laughing. “Come on, Caspian. You have to improve your driving skills! Aren’t you ashamed to always have Nancy drive you around?”
“But that’s only because Nancy doesn’t let anyone else touch her precious car,” Caspian whined.
Joan ignored them and looked at Nancy. “What would you like to get?”
Nancy cast a cursory glance at the menu before handing it to her husband. “I can’t think of what to order. You can decide for me, Caspian.”
Caspian seemed to be in high spirits as he placed an order for four different coffees. He had a smile on the entire time he was chatting with the server, a stark contrast from his usual scowl.
“Boss, how has Leslie been?”
Larry and Joan exchanged glances and smiled. “Speaking of Leslie, we really have to thank Nancy for the brilliant idea of sending him to my parents’. We’ll pay him a visit when we’re free.”
“Ever since what happened to Norton Corporation, I realized that having a child is a lifelong commitment and responsibility. No matter how much we as parents have to suffer, we can’t drag our children down with us,” Joan said with a sigh.
Nancy looked at her quizzically. “Joan, that was too profound for me.”
“You’ll understand when you have a child,” Joan replied while stifling a chuckle.
Larry immediately added, “Oh yes, if you have a daughter, we can be in-laws! And if you have a son, our kids can become blood brothers!”
Caspian lowered his head and smiled. When he saw that Nancy had become speechless and turned red, he gently nudged her to get her attention.
Instead of turning to him, Nancy looked straight at Joan and Larry. “We don’t have plans for that,” she said matter-of-factly.
Caspian’s heart dropped as soon as the words left her mouth, but he still tried his best to look normal and salvage the awkward situation. “Well, yes. We don’t have plans yet.”
Joan found Nancy’s reaction very strange. Being so straightforward about not having children made it seem as if she was intentionally avoiding something. Joan thought she might be overthinking when she noticed Larry also had on a forced, awkward smile. She knew then that he felt the same as she did.
The awkward silence had become too much to bear, and Caspian knew he had to do something to break the ice.
“Larry, Joan, because of some of the misunderstandings Nancy and I had in the past, we have made you worry about us. Now that we finally have this opportunity, please let this meal be my treat. It’s our way of thanking you for all your help. Isn’t that right, Nancy?”
Nancy wasn’t expecting Caspian to lob a question at her, so her surprise was palpable when he did.
“Yes, that’s right. Even though we have settled some of our differences, there are still other disagreements. Hopefully, things will get better as time goes. But even if they don’t, we can only do our best with what we have now and live every day to its fullest.”
Larry and Joan couldn’t help but feel that there was an underlying meaning to Nancy’s words. But no matter how hard they tried to decipher, they just couldn’t figure it out.
Caspian may not be the brightest bulb around, but even he could tell something has changed. Ever since that fight, Nancy was never the same again.
