After dinner, the air in the apartment softened into something more relaxed, though traces of the earlier tension still lingered faintly in the corners of the room. Rachel and Cecilia, despite their usual verbal sparring, had toned it down during the meal, and now both seemed ready to leave.
Rachel was the first to stand, smoothing out her skirt and offering a warm smile. "Thank you for the dinner, Ms. Nightingale," she said, bowing politely to my mother, who waved it off with a laugh.
"Oh, please, dear, you're welcome anytime," my mother replied. "It was lovely having you here."
Cecilia, naturally, stood in a far less formal fashion, stretching her arms above her head as if she'd just completed some arduous task. "Yes, yes, thank you for the food," she said with a lazy grin. "Not bad for a home-cooked meal, really."
"You're lucky my mother is so gracious," I said dryly, earning a chuckle from my dad and a mock glare from Cecilia.
