Of course you did,she thought with a benevolent internal sigh. Ash had an uncanny ability to pick hobbies that she just could not wrap her head around, no matter how hard she tried. On the other hand, though, she loved that he was forging his own path in the world, and she would support him no matter what.
“What else did you get up to?” she tried. “Or did you just play chess all day?”
“We played Uno as well,” he said.
Diana perked up. At last, something she could play with Ash. She made a mental note to dig out the Uno deck, wherever it had gotten to.
“And there was a ping-pong table,” he added.
Diana’s eyebrows went up. “Did you play?”
“A little.”
He sounded uncertain, and Diana smiled. “Did you enjoy it?”
“I think so,” he said, his voice subdued. “But I wasn’t very good at it.”
“That’s okay,” she said, doing her best to be reassuring. “You’ll get better the more you practice. But even if you’re never great at it, as long as you’re having fun, that’s the important thing. I’m not all that good at ping-pong, but Idoenjoy it.”
Ash hummed noncommittally, before apparently deciding to change the subject. “What did you do today, Mom?”
Hoo boy. How to describe my day?
“Well,” she said, picking her words carefully. “First of all, I went to the diner with Calvin to get some waffles. They were really good, by the way – maybe we can get some next weekend as a treat, if we eat well in the meantime?”
Ash hummed again, and Diana assumed that it was accompanied by a nod. The roads around here were twisty enough that she didn’t dare take her eyes off the road for a second.
“And then we caught up with Uncle Kieran for a bit, and then we went hiking.”
“Was it good?”
Diana tried to keep from smilingtoomuch, but instead ended up pulling a giant, goofy, incredibly incriminating grin.
“It was all right.”
She didn’t need to be able to see Ash’s face in order to tell that he wasn’t convinced by her cool-as-a-cucumber act.
She tried again. “We saw some baby raccoons. They were pretty cute. Oh, and a little pond with a tiny waterfall.”
“That sounds cool.” Ash’s voice clearly indicated that he wasnotbuying it, but that he was willing to give her a pass. Probably because the alternative would’ve been to hear her gushing about Calvin, and that was something that he obviously didn’t needin his life. And he probablydidthink that the raccoons and waterfall were cool.
“Oh, and we have some cakes from Aunt Sylvie that we didn’t have a chance to eat, so you can help us eat them, if you like,” she went on. “Though they’ve been in my purse all day, so I can’t promise they’ll be perfect.”
“Sure, Mom.”
There – that was adefinitehint of interest. She was experienced enough in reading his emotions at this point that she could tell that he was excited about the prospect.
“You said to help ‘us’ eat them,” Ash said. “Is Calvin going to be there?”
“I can’t slip anything by you, can I?” Diana said with a laugh. “That’s right. Is that okay?”
“Mm-hm.”
That was plenty enthusiastic by Ash’s standards, so she took him at his word.
She hoped, at least, Ash’s seeming to be impressed by Calvin would last, and hopefully grow into seeing him as a father figure – eventually. Now that she knew the truth about her bond with Calvin –Fated mates! It sounds unreal!– at least she didn’t have to worry that Ash would grow attached to him, only for things to not work out between them. Now, she just had to be sure that Ash really wanted Calvin in their lives too.
So I’ll definitely need to take my time making sure he’s happy.
