Irreversible Choices - An Excerpt (II)

“Something smells wonderful,” Phillip murmured, hugging Carly and kissing her cheek.

“Yes, it does,” Aileen chirped, kissing the air on each side of Carly’s cheek, while glancing around curiously, as if trying to discern the essence of the evening from the rooms.  “Wow, you’ve really outdone yourself,” she added, gesturing toward the glowing candles on the tables, the lights dimmed enough to create an ambience of sorts.

They had barely entered the adjacent dining room when the bell rang again.

“I’ll get it,” Aileen volunteered, turning abruptly toward the door to admit the other couple.

Feeling suddenly resentful, Carly turned to greet Eve and Randolph, plastering that fake smile on her face, her previous feelings of well-being disappearing as she noticed the two couples.  There they all were:  Aileen, Phillip, Eve, and Randolph – and here she was, an outsider as usual.

Somehow everything started to blur as she led her guests into the family room in back.  Here she had set up her bar cart, and David now stood there mixing drinks.  Had they gotten through the preliminaries, then?  Now what should she do?  She felt lost.

But then David was at her side, leading her through the next stage of the evening.  And soon they were all seated, eating the lentil soup and waiting for the next course.

By the time she had served the corned beef and cabbage, she scarcely noticed her guests. 
She did hear Aileen’s jovial exclamation, though…“Wow, it’s peasant food.  How brilliant.”

“Yes, you’ve gotta love the unpretentious Irish.”  Phillip’s comments almost made it sound as if she had captured something…Maybe she hadn’t messed up too badly after all, with this theme.  She felt her muscles slowly relaxing.  A third glass of wine didn’t hurt, either.