Selene

Feeling Ria’s slender hand lightly grip my shoulder, I turned to face her as she asks, “Hey, Sel, are you okay? If you don’t mind sharing, what is bothering you? I did not mean that joke about eating stuff, you are the most—”

“Ria, shh, you’re fine. I’m not upset, I know you were joking,” I interrupt, reassuring her with a small smile. “I…met someone today at the market and I can’t help but keep thinking about…them,” I hedge with a slight grimace.

Her lavender eyes immediately round, doubling their size. “Who is he, what does he look like, what happened, tell me everything. I need details,” she demands, quickly turning to pull her legs up and crosses them, propping her elbows on her knees with clasped hands.

Stalling for time, I release my hair and hold the large clip in my mouth, slowly twisting my hair and refastening it while composing the events in my head.

“Selene, I swear—”

“Ugh, alright! I didn’t catch his name, but he was huge and wild and kind and ugh, he smelled delicious and—” taking a breath, I blurt, “and he was the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my entire life,” I gush with my cheeks flaming at the admission.

Stunned speechless, Asteria blinks at me, having never heard me speak so rashly before. Her owlish eyes narrow to a squint as she orders, “Explain, and don’t you dare leave anything out.”

Taking a slow breath, I nod and describe, “In the store, I was failing miserably at getting your sweetener. It was on the top shelf and every attempt I made to grab it pushed it further back out of reach. Having no other option, I climbed the shelves and still could not get a hold of it. Just as I was nearly giving up, this tall, burly man with incredible amber eyes offered to get it for me and I immediately accepted, grateful for the assistance. The weird thing is, when we looked at each other, it was as if I could not move, breathe, think. All I could see was him, and there is a lot of him, if you catch my drift,” I enhance my words with a wide hand gesture.

Ria raises her eyebrows with a quick nod and I continue my encounter. “I felt so embarrassed, hanging on the shelf and ogling him like an imbecile that I forced myself to find something to distract me. Get this, he had an entire shopping cart full of raw meats! It was so peculiar that whenever I think of this moment, I call him meat-cart guy,” I giggle at the nickname and glance up to see Asteria’s face rapidly shift from humor to pinched skepticism.

Sensing her doubt, I reassure, “He was a kind man, really. He grabbed the sweetener for me and even handed it to me gently, then left without a word. I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed to not get his name. I wanted to ask you, does he sound like anyone you know from around here? Or maybe one of your friends might know, perhaps? It’s a long shot, but I would hope to maybe see him again,” I admit shyly, my voice growing quiet.

Ria remains silent for a few heartbeats, seeming to digest my story. Wringing my hands, I bite my lower lip and wait for her reply.

Giving me a smile, she simply says, “I don’t know personally, but I’m sure I could ask around,” and gives my knee a light pat.

As if manifesting from thin air, our mother sits on the coffee table and leans in between us, her earthy perfume comforting me. “Hello, dear, how was the market?” she smiles, swiping a stray hair behind my ear.

Before I could answer, Asteria chimes in, “Sel met an interesting man today,” and grins wickedly as she hops off the couch and scampers away into the kitchen.

Glaring over my shoulder at her, I feel my mother sit in Ria’s vacant seat. Internally groaning, I briefly squeeze my eyes shut before turning back to face my mother. Trying to buy extra time before she questions me, I comment, “Your hair looks lovely this way, you should wear it short more often, it suits you,” giving her a bright smile, hoping she will focus on herself and not my inactive love life.

My mother enjoys changing her hair the way some women use clothes, I swear she must have an entire closet full of an assortment of wigs in all lengths and styles to fit her mood for the day. Yesterday, she wore her hair pin-straight down the length of her back, the day before that, it was choppy layers with blunt bangs. She is partial to the color, though, her hair always being raven black. Like Asteria, they have identical, ethereal eyes and tanned skin tone. She is a reserved woman for the most part and she especially values her privacy above all else. Her quarters are off limits-which I can respect-and she extends this preference to our property in general, having it fully fenced and gated to keep unwanted guests away. Her name is Kate—‘pronounced kah-tee and don’t you forget it’, sassy woman that one, it’s no wonder where Ria gets it from—and she is my adoptive mother.

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Sixteen years ago, I was adopted by Kate who had rescued me from a tragic accident. I was in a coma for an extended period of time, resulting in prolonged amnesia. To this day, I have been unable to access memories of my past before waking up in the hospital. I have no painful associations-therefore no grief-over what was perhaps lost, only a mere curiosity; I was told that there was nobody for me to return to.

I moved here when I was fifteen years old and have lived a wonderful, peaceful life for the most part, the worst thing happening to me being my botched ‘relationship’ with that piece of shit Bolvi. With my mother being more than well aware of that ordeal, she tends to be a bit protective of me, especially with men. She and my sister are the two most important people in my life and I have had my fair share of relationships, but nothing has ever been serious enough to have introduced anyone to my family.

Giving me a wan smile, my mother sighs, “Selene,” and folds her hands in her lap. “I would love to hear about your encounter, it has been some time since you met anyone decent. However, do not feel pressured to share anything that you are uncomfortable with. Just know I am always here for you and your sister, no matter what, okay?”

My brow scrunches as I am caught off guard by her solemn tone. I was expecting another harping lecture on ‘taking the time to find the right partner, save myself for someone worthy’, and am taken by surprise with her previous archaic views not being present at the moment. I rest my hand over my mother’s and genuinely tell her, “Yes, I know, thank you. I love you,” and lean over to hug her.

Embracing me strongly, she whispers, “I love you more than you know,” as she strokes my hair briefly before grasping my shoulders with a sly smirk, suggesting, “let’s go bake some desserts, yeah?” and rises from the couch.

We find Asteria at the kitchen island with all the ingredients needed for her no carb, no sugar cookie recipe and together we bake and dance to some folk music crackling from the record player. Hearing the ding of the timer, I don a pair of oven mitts, opening the wood-fire cook stove and remove a tray of sad, crispy, thin cookies. With a frown, I close the oven door and turn to place the baking sheet on the island, giving them a look of disdain.

Cackling, Asteria picks one up and turns it around, stating, “Well, this is completely unappetizing,” and crunches her teeth into it with crumbles falling back onto the tray. About three chews in, her mouth twists down into a scowl as she hurries over to the trash bin to spit out the bite.

Chuckling, I hear the oven door creak open as I take a seat on a stool and turn to see mother sliding in her own tray of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, giving me a wink. I humorously watch Asteria promptly grab the tray of our failed experiment and upend them into the trash bin. Plopping back down onto her stool, she rests chin in her hands and jokingly pouts.

With a thought, I might be able to create something that fits her diet plan, I propose, “Hey, let’s both go to the store tomorrow morning to get some almond flour and anything else you might think would work for you and we can give this another try in the afternoon, okay? I have an idea that might work,” I add with a supportive smile.

Hearing the timer ding again, we both look up and smell the decadent aroma of our mother’s cookies as she places the scrumptious tray in front of us.

Staring hard at the tray, Ria groans and mumbles, “Fuck it,” as she caves and snatches a cookie, shoving it whole in her mouth with her eyes rolling closed. “Mmmf, thith ith tho goof!” she exclaims around a mouthful, pulling laughter from both myself and our mother.

Grinning, I quickly get up and scurry over to the fridge, pulling open the freezer drawer and scooping up my ice cream. Shutting the freezer while reaching over to pull three spoons out of the silverware drawer, I turn and place the pint on the island, holding out a spoon to them both.

The three of us dive in, I take two golden cookies and squish a scoop of ice cream between them, making a scrumptious little sandwich. Before taking a bite, I look at Asteria and ask, “Hey, Ria, do you think Hazel and Melody would like to meet up next Friday? It’s been a little while, you know?” I scrunch my nose slightly, remembering the last time I’d seen our friends was when I had the blowout with Bolvi. We all used to get together weekly before that and it’s been a few weeks since.

Ria eagerly nods her head with a big smile growing across her rosy cheeks. She’s more than likely going to be whining tomorrow about breaking her diet three days in, but I plan to create at least a semi-decently flavored recipe for her as long as she wants to continue it. She’s been a solid support for me through all of this and I intend to fully reciprocate that as best I can.

After giving my mother the rundown of my strange encounter at the store, she gives me a silent, long look then just nods her head once, leaving it without any comments or questions. Glancing over at Ria, she busies herself with intently examining one of the last remaining cookies. Unperturbed, I wash our spoons and toss the empty pint into the trash bin. My family isn’t the most normal and they both behave quite odd at times and being related, I always just assumed it was a trait they shared.

“I’m going to wash up and go to bed. Goodnight mother,” I give her a squeeze, “and I’ll see you in the morning,” I smile at Asteria as she begins wiping the counter tops clean.