Within seconds, one of her daughters opened the door. She tilted her head to the side, causing her wavy red hair to fall with her, and she blinked several times. She was the spitting image of Claire, only she had more dominant freckles on her cheeks and her eyes were a much paler green.
“Mom! It’s that guy you told us about!” She called behind her shoulder. Then she stared at me.
“Are you going to let me in, Ashley?” I smiled.
“Whoa. How do you know my name already?”
“Your mom told me a while ago, but you’re still wearing your name tag from work.”
“Oh yeah...” She stepped back and let me in.
Her other daughter—Caroline, came down the steps and stood next to Ashley. Then they both stared at me, blinking in unison.
They were dressed in the same work uniform—white collared shirts with khakis, and all their freckles were in the exact same places. I wasn’t sure how anyone could ever tell them apart.
I handed them the rose bouquets, hoping they would lead me to Claire, but they simply said “Awwww” at the flowers and continued staring at me.
“I guess he’s hot after all. Mom did a really good job.” Ashley nodded. “I like his tie.”
“I like his shoes.” Caroline tapped her lip. “Do you think he dresses like this every day or he’s dressing like this to impress her?”
“Probably just to impress her. He can’t afford to dress like that every day...I bet he got these flowers at the discount stand down the street.”
“Or maybe he works at the discount stand down the street.”
“Yeah...He’s probably a salesman—a hot salesman though.”
Do they not realize that I can HEAR them?
“What’s his name again?”
“Jonathan, ladies.” I smiled. “Where’s your mother?”
“Dining room,” they uttered in unison.
Okay...
I realized that they were never going to lead me in the right direction, so I walked around them. I saw Claire setting the table and handed her the last bouquet.
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I don’t think the hundred I receive in my office every morning are enough.”
“I’ll be sure to increase the amount. Do you need any help with dinner?”
“No, thank you. It’s already done.” She set down a stack of napkins. “Ashley! Caroline! Dinner’s ready!”
The next few minutes that unfolded were like a scene out of a fifties television sitcom: Ashley and Caroline rushed into the room and took their places at the table. They passed around the plates and bowls, laughing at nothing at all. Then Claire set down a huge bowl of pasta and the girls took turns spooning out huge helpings.
They talked excitedly about their day at school—a second successful bake sale with the cheerleading team, an A they both received in Physics class, and some “lame loser” who liked Ashley but couldn’t tell her apart from Caroline.
I’d only seen this type of behavior in movies or on TV. I didn’t know this actually happened in real life.
“So Jonathan—wait, we can call you Jonathan right?” Caroline passed me the breadstick basket.
“That’s perfectly fine.”
“Great! So, what’s it like being a flower salesman? Do you get good tips? Do you cut your own stems?”
I laughed. “I’m not a flower salesman.” I wondered why Claire hadn’t told them that. “I’m the CEO of Statham Industries.”
“What!” She gasped. “You’re the CEO of mom’s company?” She pulled out her phone and scrolled across the screen. She raised her eyebrow and hit Ashley on the shoulder. “Ashley, he has his own Wikipedia page...Wait, why isn’t his picture on here?”
“Maybe he has low self-esteem...” Ashley shrugged.
WHAT? “No, I just prefer to keep a low profile.”
“Weird...” Ashley tapped her phone’s screen and looked at me. “So...you’re a billionaire? You’re like filthy rich?”
I smiled. “You could say that.”
“You didn’t tell us he was rich, mom! You should’ve said that first! In that case...Caroline and I are trying to get my mom to make a certain decision for us and we need your rich opinion.”
Oh god...
“What is it?” I noticed Claire glaring at her from across the table.
“We think we each deserve to have our own car. We do everything right in school, we work part-time at the airport, and we hardly get in any trouble. If you had a twin brother, would you want to share everything? We just got our own rooms a few years ago, and we think it’s way past time for a car. What do you think?”
I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle this. I didn’t have any experience with teenage angst.
“Um...” I cleared my throat. “Are either of you trying to buy your own car?”
“Is he serious?” “Did he really just say that?” “Ask him again. Maybe we heard that wrong...”
“We didn’t.” Ashley rolled her eyes. “If you’ll excuse us—mother, Jonathan...We have some work to finish...”
They both stood up and narrowed their eyes at me before disappearing into another room.
What did I say?
“Thank you for telling them that.” Claire walked over and brushed her lips against mine. “We didn’t bore you too much tonight, did we?”
“No, not at all. It was just different.”
“What do you mean, different?”