Page 57 of Survival Game

“Come, sit,” she fussed as she pushed Kyle physically down into an armchair covered with varying degrees of what looked like knotted multi-coloured cords. She swept them onto the floor with an impatient flip of her hand and turned back to Eric.

“Tea? Aaron and Leah will be here in a while. They walked to the shop to get me some more milk, although I’m sure they’ve taken the opportunity to make out somewhere along the way. They’ve been gone a while.”

She motioned to the chair full of ropes. “Chuck that on the floor if you need room—it’s only my macramé project for the local Women’s Institute.”

“Tea would be good, thank you. We’ll sit and wait for Aaron.” Eric smiled at Norma who gave him a beaming smile and scurried off into the kitchen.

Kyle was up in a shot, standing in front of Eric. “What the hell? You didn’t warn me some crazy Yiddish grandmother was going to accost me. I’m assuming that’s Aaron’s bubbie.” He glanced uneasily toward the kitchen. “I mean, she seems nice enough but she gets a bit personal, doesn’t she?” He fingered his eyebrow stud nervously then his fingers drifted to the one in his lip. He’d finally taken the plunge and had it done. “Should I have taken these out to visit? I would have if I’d known—”

Eric silenced him with a swift kiss. “No, never. I love you just the way you are, so I’d never ask you to remove anything that makes you, you.”

Kyle looked down at the floor. “That’s the second time you’ve said that to me,” he muttered. “I’ll be starting to think you mean it soon.” His violet eyes flashed with emotion and Eric choked back the words that sprung to his lips.

No, not yet. You have a plan, remember? Stick to the plan or Aaron will kill you. He spent hours shopping with you for the right thing. His hand drifted to his pocket, and satisfied the item was still there he gave a sigh of relief.

“Yes, that’s her. She’s quite the character. And, as you can tell, forthright. She’s amazing though.”

He didn’t miss the disappointment on Kyle’s face. They hadn’t really talked about their expressions of loving each other since the accident. It had been a time devoted to healing and recovery, but Eric was damned sure that was going to change tonight, with his close friend and a woman he counted as a surrogate mother.

Ten minutes later, Aaron arrived with a pretty, dark-haired woman he introduced as his girlfriend, Leah. She was tall, curvy and had short, spiky hair that suited her round face. Eric could see the couple were besotted with each other.

They all sat down while Norma forced slices of cake, homemade rugelach and copious amounts of tea upon them.

Eric sat next to Kyle, his hand loosely resting on his thigh.

“So, my Eric, what happened to that bad woman who stabbed you? And her poor mother. Oy.” Norma fanned herself. “What a terrible thing to happen.”

“She was admitted to hospital and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation,” Eric said. “We’ll have to see what happens when they finish with that.”

“Well, I hope they lock her up forever,” Kyle spat out fiercely. “She deserves to go to prison for what she did. Bashing the poor woman’s brains in and nearly killing you.”

Norma laughed. “You have a little spitfire there, Eric. I like him already. So, when is the—”

Aaron cut her off with a glare and a wave of his hand. “Cut it out, bubbie. Don’t even ask that question.”

Leah giggled beside him and he took her hand. “And don’t start on us either. I told you, when we’re ready, we’re ready.”

Norma sat back and folded her arms across her chest. She pouted. “You don’t let me have any fun, do you? I have a yen to plan a wedding. Someone get married, please.”

Her eyes glinted as she leaned in toward Kyle. He made an instinctive movement back. She raised one finger and waggled it at him.

“A little bird told me—”

“Bubbie, could you please fetch the stuff from the kitchen? You know—the stuff we need to do the thing?” Aaron’s voice was desperate. He shot an apologetic glance at Eric, who was having trouble breathing with the need to laugh and the knowledge of what he was about to do.

“The thing? What thing?” Norma looked confused. Then, as Aaron’s glare grew fiercer, she nodded slowly. “Oh, that thing. My wish is your command, grandson. I am but a slave here to do your bidding.” Muttering under her breath, she disappeared once again into the kitchen.

Eric swallowed down his nervousness and turned to Kyle, who looked like a hare caught in headlights. “What’s going on?” he asked dazedly. “I swear I feel like I’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone. Have I missed something?”

“No, baby.” Eric shuffled closer to Kyle and reached up to draw a hand through the spiky hair. “I have something to tell you and I wanted to do it with my friend and his crazy grandmother present.”

Kyle looked visibly nervous. “Oh, wow. Way to pressure a guy. That sounds ominous.” He fiddled with his lip ring again.

Norma came in bearing flute glasses and a bottle of champagne. She set them down and then settled in her armchair again, cherubic smile on her face.

“Go on,” she commanded to Eric. “Do it.”

“Oh, God,” Kyle said faintly. His lip ring twiddling got worse.