The Surrogate

“It was when we came for Christmas Eve dinner, and your father decided to make us sing some carols for him.” Esther could not help but laugh as the memory came back to her.

“Your voice was the only redeemable quality of that twenty minutes!” Archie complimented her as he refreshed both their water glasses. “You always had a lovely voice.”

“Well, you always were pretty good at the piano if I remember correctly.”

“Mom insisted that something out of the room got put to use after Father realized he was never going anywhere, so I picked the piano.”

“I remember you being very good at the piano.”

“I was all right.” Archie shrugged.

Esther grinned. “Archie, don’t sell yourself short. Even when were little, you loved classical music. You and I spent a whole afternoon with you showing me your hand exercises.”

“I could show you some new hand exercises,” Archie said with a wicked smile and a impish laugh.

“Archibald, no.”

“Can you blame me? You left it wide open for that one!”

Esther rolled her eyes as they both laughed as the main course came. The primal smell of charred angus beef felt alluring to Esther. She was craving protein, but more so salivating at the idea of red meat. She took a bite of the burger. Between the melted aged cheddar and the perfectly cooked burger, everything she needed in that moment was satisfied, and the food was no exception. The pregnancy might have been creating an iron deficiency, but that was not quite it. As they talked over their respective dinners, Esther also realized the company was needed. The idea of Archie in her life again was becoming more and more normal, and after their ice skating escapade from the night before she knew that she had missed the friendship more than anything.

“Archie,” Esther mused. “Do you notice that we always seem to get to talking about the past?”

“It’s the biggest thing we have in common.”

Esther rolled her eyes at his attempt to be cheeky. Archie grinned at his commentary, sipping his drink.

“Well, what should we talk about besides our history?”

Esther shrugged. “I don’t know. How about our future together? Like for instance, I have a sonogram in a month from tomorrow. You could come if you like.”

“What time?” Archie quickly pulled out his phone.

“10:00 AM.”

He quickly sent a text before replying, “Done. I just sent a message to my secretary to cancel my plans that morning. I will pick you up that morning at your place, if that’s all right.”

“Okay, but don’t forget to remind me.”

He sent another text.

“I let Mrs. Petrolla know that too.”

“Is she even good at texting?”

Archie chuckled. “She can read them, but replies are… they never end well.”

Esther smiled. “Have you thought about giving her a nice retirement party?”

“We tried once. My father and I took her to a dinner at RiverPark and gave her a retirement check on her 80th birthday. She came back a week later and thanked us for the vacation.”

Esther could help but giggle. “When was this? I thought your dad retired three years ago”

“It was five years ago.”

Esther’s giggles turned into a full laugh, which was a bit too loud for the restaurant. She tried to hide to her childish grin, but she could tell Archie was pleased to see her so happy.

“That poor woman,” Esther finally said as she calmed herself down. “You should talk to her children about it.”

“Her children?”

Esther was surprised. “She has twins. A boy and a girl. She obsessed over them when we were young. The boy went to school in California, and I believe he stayed over there. If he has kids now too, he might like to have his mom closer. He was always a Momma’s boy.”

“That’s actually a good idea.”

Esther nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a few up my sleeves.”

“I should keep you around more, Essie.”

“Well.” She smiled politely as the waiter stopped by to check on them before disappearing. “Archibald, I hope you don’t think I am going to apply.”

“Nonsense!” He scoffed at the idea. “You’re much too valuable of a firm to lose in this city.”

“You think so?” Esther couldn’t help but relish the compliment. After all, he was the biggest name in real estate in Manhattan. It was high praise from a serious high roller.

“I looked over your portfolio, and it made me a bit jealous actually. Seeing the way you and Hillary have transformed spaces across New York is really inspiring. So many architects are just modernizing, but you have made a talent of capture the timeless qualities in the architecture.”

“It comes from our masters program,” Esther beamed. “I double majored in historical preservation.”

“Well, cheers to you, Essie. You’re doing an amazing job.”

They clinked their water glasses, and Esther could not stop smiling. Of all the flattery Archie had doused upon her over the past few weeks, none of the other compliments matched up to this one. She felt lighter and more confident, and best of all Archie did not even seem to be using the words to butter her up or get his way. He genuinely meant them.

As the candlelight dwindled between them and Esther’s food disappeared into her mouth, she didn’t want this dinner to end. Sipping her water, she wanted to say a dozen different things to Archie, but she left it all alone. She hated to spoil this moment with stupidity.

Esther finally asked, “So… do you want to order dessert?”