Chapter 13

"Seriously, Ira, what have you been up to?" The kitchen door flew open, and Elisha bustled in with, at least, five huge shopping bags. "Why are you ignoring my calls and messages?" 

Because I've been trying to not let the earth move from under my feet. 

"Just been busy. Sorry, Eli." I smiled. 

She placed the shopping bags in one clean corner of the kitchen that had been untouched by flour and icing sugar and then plopped down on a stool that was close to me. 

"Busy?" She stared at me with an incredulous expression. Her chest heaved with each breath. "Ira, you're always busy. But you've never behaved this way before. I was so worried about you. My grandma fell ill, and I had to stay with her in the hospital these past two days. Therefore, I could not come and see you myself."

"Oh no." My eyes widened. "What happened? How is she now?"

"She's fine now, thank goodness. Her sugar levels had dropped dangerously low," she said, shaking her head. "Anyway, she got discharged early this morning and she's back at home." 

I nodded. "Thank goodness." 

"You know, I called your mom yesterday and she said you were at the cafe. That's when I breathed a sigh of relief." She glared at me with an accusing look in her eyes. "Honestly, though, who just stops answering calls and messages? I thought something had happened to you after Stefan and I left the carnival. Oh, by the way, Stefan was also trying to reach you." 

I was grateful that Mom had not told her about me being 'sick' on Thursday. She had probably thought that it was nothing significant. However, if Elisha had learnt about it then she would have bombarded me with a thousand more questions. 

"Nothing happened. I was feeling a bit low and weighed down. Maybe it's work stress," I said, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder after I had fetched her a glass of water from a nearby counter. "Drink this and relax."

She gulped down the water. "Thanks. I needed that."

I focused my attention back to the cookie dough that I had been rolling. "What's up with all this shopping?" 

"I was hoping that you'd come with me but then I figured that you were probably not in the most excited mood. So, I decided to finish shopping myself and then come here to help you out since it's Saturday and you would definitely need my help," she said. 

I shot her a grin. "Lovely! Please get started with cutting out cookies. The cutters are in that drawer." 

Elisha looked amused but she got up and fetched an apron for herself. 

"What's all the shopping for though?" I asked. 

She took out the cookie cutters from the drawer and made space for herself on the counter beside me. "You're asking me, Ira? Did you forget?" 

I frowned as I passed her a ball of cookie dough. "Forget about what?"

"Your family dinner." She sighed. 

"Oh yeah," I said, shaking my head. "It just slipped my mind."

Since Stefan had started dating Elisha, he had always brought her along to the family dinners. Bringing your partner was definitely allowed and, in fact, encouraged because it allowed everyone to get to know each other. 

Aunt Mellanie had always shot quite a few taunts towards me regarding my lack of interest in dating and finding a partner. And because of this, although she wasn't exactly fond of Elisha, she had accepted her for the sake of her son, at least, having a partner. She saw it as a validation to taunt me. 

Thank goodness that Sierra isn't here, otherwise Jace would have been invited as well. 

Sierra and Jace would come as a couple. 

Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness. 

"Two dinners. That's all. We can do this, Ira," said Elisha, as she began rolling out the cookie dough. 

Elisha, too, did not have it easy with Stefan's family. Apart from Stefan, that family was plain difficult to deal with in all sense. 

Though Stefan always stood by Elisha and supported her in front of his family, Elisha could not escape the constant scrutiny that she was subjected to by Aunt Mellanie and Sierra. Uncle David, however, did not interfere much in this respect. 

This was also the reason for Elisha's huge shopping spree for mere family dinners. Last year, Aunt Mellanie had made Elisha change outfits thrice before she was satisfied that Elisha looked like she was remotely associated with their family. 

Elisha was only tolerating them for the sake of Stefan, who had always fought for her against his family. She hated Sierra and all just as much as I did, if not more. 

"We will, Eli," I said, taking in a deep breath. "We will."

"Why is it so sudden, though?" she asked. "I was expecting it to be next week or something."

"Sierra's coming on Monday. So, we wanted to get done with, at least, one dinner before she got here," I said. 

"Brilliant idea. One horror is better than two." She mused. 

I let out a small laugh and worked on my dough, trying not to pay attention to my heart that was sinking even at the mention of Sierra's return. 

I would not have usually been this bothered by Sierra coming back. But this time, Jace was involved, and I could almost palpate the impending trouble that was waiting to explode all around. Maybe it was my sixth sense, but I just knew it, I could feel it. 

We worked in silence for a few minutes, then Elisha spoke. 

"Ira, what's up with you and Jace?" she asked. 

I had handed over all the cookie doughs to Elisha to finish and started the preparation for buttercream frosting. 

"Nothing. What do you mean?" I emptied three boxes of softened butter into the bowl. 

"You said you were school friends," she said. She stopped what she was doing and stared at me. "But the way you both behave around each other and the way you look at each other… it seems more than just some school friends. How do you know each other so well?" 

"Well, we were good friends, Eli. You're thinking too deep." I laughed her off though my gut twisted. 

"It definitely does not seem like that." She frowned and got back to working. 

I switched on the stand mixer and the noise drowned out any further questions.