But of course

“Oh Anne, these are phenomenal.” Mary said, hovering over her coffee and cinnamon roll like a dragon protecting its treasure hoard.

“Glad you like them. Now, you said your friend’s name was Marissa?”

“Anne, leave the kids alone, you’ll run her off before Doug even has a prayer.” Mr. Carter called from the other room.

“I’m sorry, our Doug is so picky, if he finally liked a girl that much. . . well, I’m just fascinated to meet her.”

Mary gave Scott a lighthearted scowl.

“They seemed to really hit it off, Mrs. Carter, I’ve never seen Doug like that before.”

Mrs. Carter beamed. Mary punched Scott in the leg under the table.

“I’m going to go check my hair.” Mrs. Carter said, running off to the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” Mary whispered to Scott accusatorily.

“Trust me, it’s better if she’s more concerned with charming Marissa than interrogating her.”

“Good morning?” Doug’s voice came from near the stairs.

“Morning Scott, breakfast is on the table, coffee on the counter.” Mr. Carter’s voice answered.

Doug and Marissa came into the kitchen, holding hands.

“Mom’s not in here?” he asked.

“Yeah, she went to fix her hair.”

“Oh no, seriously? Maybe we should just go.” Doug’s face was a mix of fear and embarrassment. But it was too late, Mary had handed Marissa a cinnamon roll and she was sitting down.

“Don’t be a baby Doug, your mom is great.” Scott said, smiling at him.

“You’re going to enjoy this, aren’t you?” Doug said, glaring at Scott.

Scott ignored him. “You want coffee Marissa?”

“Yes please, this cinnamon roll is incredible.”

“Right?” Scott replied, “if you play your cards right, she’ll make them for you whenever you want.”

“Scott!” Doug said, glaring daggers at him.

“What? it’s true.” Scott said, delighting in tormenting his best friend.

“I don’t know, these might be worth coming over for breakfast more often.” Marissa said as she winked at Doug.

Doug turned beet red.

“Oh, hi!” came Mrs. Carter’s voice.

Scott set Marissa and Doug’s coffee on the table. “Anne, this is Marissa, Marissa, Anne.”

“Oh my, aren’t you lovely.” Mrs. carter said, practically gushing.

“Hi Mrs. Carter, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I think your son might be broken.” Scott said, trying hard not to laugh as Doug stood unmoving, his face an unreasonable shade of red.

“I’m going to kill you, Scott.” He muttered under his breath.

Marissa ignored the men, “These cinnamon rolls are heavenly Mrs. Carter, and your home is lovely.”

“Please, call me Anne.”

“Can I? I noticed your garden outside, do you focus on indigenous flowers, Anne?”

“Oh yes, we try to . . .

Marissa took Mrs. Carter’s arm and they walked off toward the patio doors, Mrs. Carter clearly taken under Marissa’s spell.

Doug looked confused and Mary was glaring at him.

“What did you do?”

“What?”

“What did you do to Marissa?”

“What?” Doug said again, his brain malfunctioning.

“She must really like you. Marissa only does this when she’s serious, she had a fiancée at university that ended up cheating on her, his parents kicked him out when they found out and Marissa still calls his mom on her birthday.”

“What?” was all Doug could muster.

“Take it easy on him Mary.” Scott got Doug to sit down. “Do you like her Doug?”

“Marissa?”

“Yes Doug,” Scott said slow and clear, “do you like Marissa?”

Doug smiled, a big dumb smile, and nodded. “Yeah, she’s great.”

“Well, she likes you a lot too.” Mary said, eating the last bits of her cinnamon roll aggressively.

“Hey, what’s going on out here.” Scott looked and saw Suzie coming into the kitchen in a nightgown, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Morning Suze.” Doug said cheerily.

“Who’s this?” Suzie asked tiredly, pointing at Mary.

“Hi, I’m Mary.”

She looked at Doug, then at Scott, and then at Mary, sitting close to Scott, wearing his shirt. . .

Suzie blushed. “Good Morning.” She managed before running off, back to her room.

“Was that Suzie?” Mary asked Scott.

“Yeah, have you met before?”

“No, Jenn mentioned her last night.”

There was a feeling that something awkward had just happened, and they sat in silence for a few minutes as they finished their breakfast.

“And with her needing a roommate, I moved in with Mary and now I’m closer to work as well.” Marissa and Mrs. Carter came back in through the front door.

“I’m glad to hear it worked out well for you, and I’m glad I got to meet you, Marissa.”

“Me too Anne, we’ll have to meet up for coffee sometime.”

“Oh, I’d love that, let me give you my number.”

Scott looked at Mary with an amused smile.

Mary shook her head and got up.

“Hey Mar, we need to get back, we have the building meeting today.”

Scott looked at Doug, he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“Come on man, let’s get the girls to their cars.”