Taming the Shrew

"Is he rich?" she asked cutting her mother off.

"No, he's not...rich...but he has a very good job and he owns quite a nice home in the suburbs."

"He is cute," Aria finally admitted. "Gorgeous, in fact. He's not gay is he?"

Lindsay ignored that jab too, and assured her daughter he was most definitely not gay. "I'm only asking because you don't exactly have a great track record in that department and you said he has the soul of a poet so..."

"Okay, point taken," her mother admitted. "He's been looking for a wife for quite some time and the um...poems you wrote have made quite an impression on him. Just as the ones he's written to you have made on well...you."

"You're kidding? You wrote him poems pretending to be me? Please tell me you're kidding."

"I can't because I'm not," Lindsay said. "You should probably read them just in case he mentions them."

"What makes you think I'm agreeing to do this?" she asked.

"Again, I saw the way you looked at his pictures. Besides, you already invited him and he's already accepted." Aria shot her a death look and before she could remind her mother that she invited him, Lindsay said, "Please do this...for me...this one time. If you don't like him then fine. But don't throw away the chance to meet a really wonderful man just because..." She paused and said, "What reason is there you wouldn't want to meet him?"

"Other than the age difference, I guess I can't think of one." She came back over to the desk and looked at his pictures one more time. "Jesus! He is one beautiful man." She looked up at her mother again and said, "I guess one date wouldn't be all that bad. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen? I suppose he could bore me to death with his poems or something so...okay. Why not?"

Lindsay stood up and walked around the desk and hugged her daughter. "Wonderful! All you need to do is send him a suggestion for what to bring as a gift. I told him he didn't need to bring anything but he's too much of a gentleman to show up without one. You can do that, right?"

Aria huffed and sat down at the desk. "Shopping is my forte, Mother. Of course I can do that."

"Just tell him not to spend much money on it. Something very small, very plain, and very inexpensive. The key is to get him here, not to scare him away."

"I got this," Aria assured her as she opened 'her' account and got ready to send Pete her first own reply.

A couple of hours later Aria let her mom know Pete would arrive at 7 o'clock with a very appropriate gift in hand. Before Lindsay could say anything she said, "Don't worry. I'll wear something nice." She actually smiled this time and for once didn't say anything snide or sarcastic. Maybe her matchmaking scheme would bear fruit after all!

Saturday was another cold, raw day in February but Lindsay's heart was warm and full as she got ready to celebrate her 50th birthday. Even though it was a milestone year, she insisted on having only a handful of her closest friends and family members in attendance. Lindsay made sure Aria's new love interest, this Declan, was not on the guest list and Lindsay had high hopes her daughter and Peter would hit it off and agree to see each other again and maybe even...again.

Aria had insisted on doing all of the planning for her mother's party then turned around and hired a caterer and a party planner to take care of all of the details. By the time they left at 4pm, everything looked fantastic. And by 6:30, so did Aria.

"That dress looks so good on you, honey!' her mother told her honestly. It was an off-white mesh combo shift dress by Julia Jordan. It wasn't expensive, but it was very pretty. The dress itself had a micro-bead embroidered mesh insert which beautifully contrasted with the gently-tailored shift midi cut from white crepe. Her silver necklace and matching earrings made her beautiful daughter look absolutely stunning and the heels she wore did nothing but add to her beauty.

"So do you think he'll like it?" she asked.

"He's going to love it! It is just so pretty, Aria. I love the way you've done your hair, too. I like it when it's long and silky without all the gel in it."

"When it looks like yours, right, Mom?" she teased.

Lindsay did have beautiful hair. It was a very dark brown that was close to black without a single strand of grey, and she could still wear it long. It wasn't long long but it was below chin length, something few women her age could still pull off.

Then again, few women her age looked anything like Lindsay Hammond. She not only had beautiful hair, she still had an incredibly young-looking face with bright eyes, a gorgeous smile, and a body that was regularly worked out doing aerobics and spinning. No one who didn't already know her would ever guess she was turning 50. In fact, most people would be shocked were they to hear she was turning 40. Part of it was genetic and she knew that was the luck of the draw, but the rest of it was due to taking very good care of herself. Whatever the reasons, Lindsay really did often get mistaken for Aria's older sister.

This night, she chose not to wear a beautiful dress as she wanted the focus to be on her daughter. She chose instead a very nice-looking green sweater and a raspberry-colored skirt which fell to about three inches above her knees. She wore a simple gold necklace and a pair of matching studs and a pair of 2 1/2-inch black heels. While it wasn't her intent to upstage her daughter, it was hard for someone like Lindsay not to be noticed regardless of what she wore.

Guests began arriving right at seven o'clock. Both Lindsay and Aria greeted each of them letting them know where to place their gifts and their coats. Lindsay saw him first coming up the walk and said, "Oh! I see Peter. I'm going to go chat with your Aunt Kathy for a minute. Remember—soul of a poet!"

Aria glared at her mom then smiled. "To be or not to be, right?" she said reciting the only thing she knew that was even close to a poem.

Aria let Pete ring the doorbell and waited for a couple of seconds before opening it. "Pete?" she said not really feigning surprise as it was quite genuine.

"Aria! Hello. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you." His smile made her weak in the knees and that was before he said, "I didn't think it was possible for you to look any more beautiful than in the pictures you sent me, but I couldn't have been more wrong."

Aria smiled brightly and said, 'Oh, thank you. That's so sweet of you to say."

"It's true," he told her sincerely. "The only picture even close was the one you sent me in the black dress. Remember?"

Aria had no idea what picture he was referring to. Rather than answer him she changed the subject and said, "Um...let me introduce you to my mother, okay? After all, this is her big night. She's turning 50, you know."

"Oh, okay. Sure. That sounds wonderful. And what should do with this?" he asked about the small gift in his hand.

"Oh, we'll set that right over here," she said pointing to a table just inside the foyer. She set his gift next to the others then led Pete over to where her mother and Aunt Kathy we taking.

"Mom?" She waited for her to turn around and when she did, it was very obvious, at least to Aria, that she wasn't seeing Pete for the first time in spite of what she said.

"Oh, hello. We haven't met. I'm Lindsay, Aria's mother. And you are...?"

"Mother, this is Pete Sullivan, my date for the evening. Pete, this is my mother who already introduced herself."

"It's my pleasure, Ms. Sullivan. Beauty obviously runs in the family."

Aria watched her mom react like a girl in high school as she said, "Oh, well, coming from a young man as handsome as you, Peter, that's quite a compliment."

"It's...Pete," Aria said with a forced smile.

"Peter is fine," he said. "Most of my friends call me Pete, but my mom still uses my full name so I don't mind."

"Older people seem to do that," Aria said as she pulled him away from her mom.

Before he left he said, "I don't consider my mother to be older and your mom doesn't appear to be much older than you, Aria, so..."

"Okay, so let's go on into the kitchen and get you something to drink," Aria said literally pulling him with her.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Sullivan," Pete as he followed Aria.

"Lindsay! Call me Lindsay, okay?"

"Okay...Lindsay!" he said as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"So, would you like some wine or perhaps some champagne?"

"Champagne sounds great," he told her. Aria grabbed two glasses from a tray and handed one to Pete.

"To the soul of a poet!" she said with a smile.

"From one poet to another?" he suggested back with a smile.

"Well...I do try!" Aria said with a nervous smile hoping to move on to some other topic. "So, Pete. Tell me a little about your job." She realized she should already know what he did and quickly added, "I mean, a little more than you already have, of course."

"Oh, well, what's to tell, really? I'm an engineer with Boeing. I design and modify several different parts for a handful of different aircraft and I really enjoy my job. But as I told you, I enjoy many other things and would prefer to talk about them. After all, how interesting can it be to talk about the way air moves over a wing or..."

"Okay! You've made your point," Aria said still smiling. She didn't know which was worse—talking about poetry or airplane stuff.

"So do you like hip hop?" she asked hoping to find something in common with him.

Pete nearly choked on his champagne. "Hip hop? Oh, no. I don't really listen to that. I've heard a song or two by Eminem, but other than that, not really. I prefer Mozart or Chopin, as you already know."

"Oh, right. I do remember you telling me that," she said having reached another dead end. "So what about television? Do you like Dancing With the Stars or The Bachelorette? I'm just dying to find out who Angela chooses. I think it might be Jacob but Avery is also way hot."

Aria's raised eyebrows indicated she was fishing for information which surprised Pete because he'd mentioned he almost never watched television and thought reality TV was the shallowest of shallow. "Um, no, I don't really catch much TV. I prefer books or going to galleries, museums, concerts, etc."

"Concerts? I love concerts! Did you get to see Taylor Swift when she was here last month? I know, I know. People say it's teeny-bopper music, but she is just SO talented. She was a country artist before she turned pop and made millions in both. So call it whatever you like, but that's talent, right?"

Pete had a puzzled look on his face and Aria felt like a fish out of water. In a last-ditch effort she said, "Beyonce is really amazing, too. I saw her just last year and I'm hoping to..."

"So how are you two getting along?" they heard someone say.

"Oh, hey Mom," Aria said grateful for the interruption. "We're doing...really great, right?" she said to Pete.

"Right. Really great," he said with a nod.

Lindsay sensed the discomfort and said, "Aria showed me that last poem you wrote her. It was the most romantic thing I've ever seen. How long have you been interested in poetry, Peter?"

Aria saw his face light up as hers turned to a frown. Pete turned his back on her and said to Lindsay, "For as long as I can remember. Poetry just...speaks to me, you know?"

"Oh, I certainly do," she told him. "I...um..we have several collections in my library."

"Right!," he said enthusiastically. "Aria told me that in one of her emails. I know her favorite is The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson." He turned around and saw her and said, "Oh, there you are! Isn't that right, Aria?"

"Um...yes. Definitely. She's...really good."

Lindsay saw the look in her daughter's eye and said, "Honey? Why don't you take Peter into the study and show him...your poetry collection. You know, the ones I recently moved to the upper right side of the bookcase near the door. That's where I put your Emily Dickinson."

"Oh, right! Yeah, come on, Pete. I'd love to show you my um...collection of poems and stuff."

"Okay! Now we're talking!" he said. He looked at Lindsay as he walked away and said, "I was beginning to think I was at the wrong house talking to a completely different person for a while there."

Lindsay smiled and gave him a nervous wave and thought, "Oh, my. This is not going well—at all," as they walked off arm in arm.

Pete spotted the book as soon as they walked in saving Aria from having to hunt for it.

He pulled it off the shelf and said, "This edition is hard to find. Where did you get it?" he asked as he leafed through the pages.

"Oh, um, well..."

"Ah! I found it," he said once again saving her from herself.

"You did?" she asked trying to find out just what 'it' might be.

"Uh-huh. Your favorite poem. And look. It's all underlined and marked up in the margins. I love your handwritten notes. It's obvious how much you love this particular poem."

Aria peeked over his side and had no idea what she was looking at other than her mother's handwriting.

"Because I could not stop for Death—He kindly stopped for me—The carriage held but just Ourselves—And Immortality." Lindsay smiled at them at said, "That's her favorite, all right."

Aria took her cue and said, "Well, there are so many to choose from, but yeah, that's gotta be my favorite."

"I can tell," Pete said. "It looks like it's been read a thousand times."

"Well, it's a good one, that's for sure," Aria said. She carefully took the book from his hands and said, "You know, it's about time to sing happy birthday to my mother and eat some of that delicious cake out there."

"Of course," Pete said. "I'm looking forward to it." He waited for Aria to lead the way and smiled at Lindsay as they walked on by. Lindsay didn't initially move and Pete reached out and grabbed her hand. "Come on. We don't want the birthday girl to be late, do we?"

Lindsay went along with them and said, "No, we definitely don't want that."

After a pleasant of diversion in the form of cake and ice cream, Lindsay opened her presents thanking each person as she carefully unwrapped them then doted over whatever it was she'd received. She saved Peter's for last and when she saw it, she felt a lump in her throat and a flutter in her tummy. She held the book in her hands as she looked at the cover and then the table of contents. The Complete Poems of Robert Frost. Lindsay blinked back a few tears as she looked over at him and said, "Peter, it's absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much!"

After some more champagne, most of the other guests had left and Pete was once again trying to steer Aria back to their earlier conversation. "I have to admit I was really flattered by all the nice things you said about that last poem I sent you, Aria. I spent quite a bit of time on it and I'm glad you noticed."

"Right, right. Yeah, it was pretty obvious from all the things you said," Aria told him hoping to say something generic enough to avoid any serious missteps. In her mind she was thinking, "Dear God, he is SO hot. Please, please, please cover for me this one time and I'll..."

Before she could finish her supplication to any Higher Power Pete said, "I especially loved what you said about men 'waiting their turn to speak.' I'd never heard that before." He looked directly into her eyes and asked her, "How did you get to be so insightful at such an early age?"

"She came to this earth to learn and grow and with each passing day she is doing so. She's learned so much from her journey so far..." he heard Lindsay chime in again.

"And you have often been a shining star..." Pete filled in and both she and Lindsay laughed at how he even knew that obscure poem, too.

He looked over at Aria and said, "So who influenced whom here? Did you get your love of poetry from you mother or did you pass yours on to her?

"Oh, um, I guess it was kind of mutual. Right, Mom?"

"Yes! Exactly. Mutual is the best way to put it. Aria learned so much in college and poetry is just one of her many interests," Lindsay said coming to her daughter's rescue.

"Well I have to say it's so refreshing to find any woman today, let alone two in the same house, who appreciate the finer things in life. Speaking of which, thank you for the champagne, but I don't want to overstay my welcome so I should really get going."

"Oh, you don't have to run off, Peter," Lindsay told him. "Please stay. I'm sure Aria would enjoy your company for a while longer."

Pete looked at Aria who said, "Yes, definitely except that we have that um...meeting tomorrow. The really early one. Remember, Mom?"

Lindsay's eyes narrowed as she looked at Aria then said, "Oh, right! Yes, that meeting. It's a good thing you reminded me. Yes, the one that's really early in the morning."

"Well, it looks like I really should run along then." He turned to Lindsay and said, "Again, thank you for inviting me to your home on this special occasion, Lindsay, and a very happy birthday to you."

"It was our pleasure, Peter. We're both so glad you could join us. I certainly hope we'll be seeing you again and soon."

"Well that's up to Aria, of course, but I'd like that very much." He turned to Aria and said, "You'd already made quite an impression on me through your emails, Aria, but having met you and gotten a sense for how in touch you are with the things I...I mean...we both love, I'd be honored to see you again."

"You would?" she said not expecting to hear him say that.

"Very much so. In fact, there's a poetry reading at the University of Washington next weekend. I don't know if that avant garde kind of thing interests you, but I find them very intellectually stimulating. Would you care to join me?"

"A poetry reading. Wow, that sounds really...fascinating. Um...sure, I'd love to!" she said trying her best to sound excited.

"Great! So I'll touch base with you in a day or two and give you the details."

They walked him to the door and said their goodbyes and Pete was no sooner out the door than Aria said, "Mother. You HAVE to help me!"

Lindsay laughed and said, "No worries, honey. We'll go over all the names of the major poets then I'll make up some flash cards with all the basics on them. By next weekend, we'll have you up to speed enough to get through this second date. But at some point you're going to have let him know poetry isn't exactly one of your great loves in life."

"I know, I know. He's just so freakin' gorgeous! Do you think we can pull this off in one week?"

"I'll get started first thing in the morning," she said. "Right after our meeting, of course."

Aria tilted her head and said, "What meeting?"

Lindsay just smiled and said, "Good night, sweetheart. Thank you for an absolutely unforgettable birthday. You know I love you, right?"

"Of course I do. I mean, you set me up with Pete, right?" she said in a very serious way.

"Yes, I did," her mom said to her. Then to herself she said, "What in God's name was I thinking?"

The following day, Lindsay spent several glorious hours doing research to tutor Aria and it seemed like every topic lead her to something else even more interesting. She thought she might need to buy a large three-ring binder rather than flash cards at the rate she was compiling information.

She could only shake her head when Aria found one reason after another to avoid studying at all. By Saturday, she still didn't know Emily Bronte from Walt Whitman. "I guess tonight will be the perfect time to let Peter know you're not exactly a fan of poetry," Lindsay said as Aria got ready to go.

"No way," she told her mother. "I'll just wing it tonight and worry about that later." Aria's only real concern was what to wear to a poetry reading.

"Jeans and a sweat shirt will be perfect, honey," she told her daughter.