He approached her from behind. She had no idea he was home, let alone in her kitchen.
Tip-toeing up to her, he caught her completely off-guard as he slipped one hand over her mouth and the other round her waist. Pulling her back against him, he allowed her to twist round and look at him. Her eyes turned instantly from fear and shock to relief and love at the sight of her son.
“Jack you silly bugger!” she yelled, “You frightened me to death.”
They laughed and hugged. The hug was quite prolonged. It had been nearly a year since he’d last been home and Marie had missed her only son as much as he had missed her.
She stepped back to look at him. He had filled out and grown even taller. At 6’5” he towered over her and she had noted the moment they hugged that he was solid and much more muscular than she remembered.
She made tea and they gossiped and caught up with each other’s lives before he announced that she had just an hour to get ready. He had booked a table at a top restaurant and she was his date for the night.
She felt like a teenager again, instead of a 39-year old widow, as she swiftly showered and changed.
As she walked back into the lounge, she gasped in genuine admiration at the handsome young man in front her, now in turn changed into a designer suit with open-neck button down Oxford shirt. He was now wearing his hair in a ruffled, deliberately unkempt style and it certainly suited him.
For his part, he let out a low wolf whistle as he took in the shapely silhouette in the low-cut black cocktail dress. It finished a couple of inches above the knee, higher than most women her age would dare attempt but with her legs, still as fabulous as ever, she got away with it easily. The black patent “fuck me” heels were higher than he expected too, but again they were not out of place on his mother’s feet. She just looked a million dollars and he knew he would be the envy of every man in the room.
The meal was delicious, the chauffeur driven limo an unnecessary expense, but they both laughed at the decadence and they were still laughing when they got back home.