11 Dinner invitation

The process of building the cooking school building went smoothly. Eira was just inspecting the construction side when Helen walked to her.

"Miss Morgan. I just got a call. Mrs. Henning called me and asked me if you could attend dinner with her family tonight. What should I answer her? You don´t have anything planned after this inspection."

"Okay, I will call her back later. Go back to the car and wait for me. I am almost done here. Oh and Helen? You did send Henning Corporation the thank-you-present I told you to prepare right?"

Helen nodded and Eira dismissed her satisfied.

She turned her attention back to the architect who is continuing to explain in detail what they were planning to in the next step. When she finished the inspection she went back to her car and took out her phone. She dialed the number Helen had given her and waited for Mrs. Henning to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Henning. It´s me, Eira Morgan. You have called me before." Eira spoke in her business tone.

"Oh right right. Ei- Miss Morgan. I wanted to invite you to dinner since both companies have a good relationship right now. We also want to just have a nice dinner with you and I wanted to thank you in the name of Henning Corporation for the wonderful present you got us."

"There is no need to thank me for that Mrs. Henning. I just wanted to thank Henning Corporation for the generous donation."

"So what do you say? Can you come to eat dinner with us tonight?"

Eira had understood the meaning of the dinner invitation. If she rejected it, it would be a huge insult to not only the Henning family but the whole Henning Corporation.

So she accepted the invitation and soon ended the call. She sat there for a while lost in thoughts. Now that she is successful her mother suddenly is appearing again. The first time they met at the charity gala was unintentional but this invitation must have to do something with her because she personally called her.

She first let the driver drove Helen home and then drove herself home. She quickly changed her clothes and ordered her driver to pick up a small present for the Henning´s.

She was about to leave the house when her driver arrived with some flowers and a bottle of wine. She took them, thanked the driver and seated herself in the backseat.

After a while, they arrived at the mansion of the Henning family. Eira got out of the car when her driver opened the door for her. She had a quick glance at the mansion then rang the bell. Soon a butler opened the door and greeted her.

"Welcome Miss Morgan. Mr. and Mrs. Henning are already waiting for you in the living room. Please follow me." He bowed at her and led the way to the living room.

He made a left turn and then gestured her to enter the room.

Mr. Henning was sitting on a lounge chair and reading a newspaper while Mrs. Henning was standing at the window looking outside.

Eira entered and quickly greeted them.

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Henning. Thank you for the invitation. I bought a little present for you."

Mr. Henning looked at her and nodded at her approvingly. Mrs. Henning quickly came to Eira and took the presents.

"Thank you. That is so thoughtful of you. Come have a seat while we wait for George." Mrs. Henning gave the presents to the butler and took Eiras's hand and led her to the couch beside Mr. Henning.

Eira froze at the sudden contact and wanted to push the hand of Mrs. Henning away but she held that urge in because she knew it would be rude to do that in front of Mr. Henning. So she just let Mrs. Henning seat her on the couch and she sat beside her.

"Miss Morgan I have heard from my son that your project became very well known. I guess the work is running smoothly?" Mr. Henning asked her.

"Yes, it is going very well thanks to your generous donation. It helped a lot and work is going more quickly than expected."

"I have heard my son was a little bit rude to you when you were about to sign the sponsor contract with him, is that true?" Mr. Henning looked at Eira with piercing eyes meaning her to speak the truth.

Eira just blatantly ignored his look and calmly answered: "We had to postpone our meeting several times because our schedules didn´t match and in the end, we decided to not sign the contract because I was then not sure if we were suitable as a company to get your sponsorship."

Mr. Henning looked at her skeptical. From what he had heard of his son's secretary, that was not what happened. But he couldn´t just force her to tell the truth so he just nodded at her explanation.

George who had listened outside silently smiled and casually walked inside the living room.

"Mother, father I am back. Good evening Miss Morgan."

Mrs. Morgan stood up and gave George a kiss on the cheek.

"George you´re back. Let´s go have dinner then." She made an inviting gesture to Eira to follow her. Eira stood up together with Mr. Henning and walked behind Mrs. Henning and George to the dining room.

The table was already set and each one of them took their respective seats. Mr. Henning at the top of the table, Mrs. Henning at his right and George at his left. Eira wasn´t sure where to sit. Besides George, who she still didn´t like very much or beside the woman she resented.

What a difficult choice. In the end, she sat beside Mrs. Henning because she didn´t have to look at her while eating and she didn´t have to sit beside George. Mr. Henning was watching her while she made her decision where to sit.

Every now and then Mrs. Henning would ask Eira about her life. She asked about her deceased father and pretended not to know him. That made Eira really sad but she kept her feelings hidden and was trying to look composed. Mr. Henning was watching her very sharply at every move she did and George was only smiling to himself and eating quietly.

"Miss Morgan. Can I ask what happened to your mother?" Mr. Henning suddenly asked.

Mrs. Henning beside her who was happily chatting until now tensed up after hearing her husband ask that.

Eira secretly had a quick glance at Mrs. Henning and then answered Mr. Henning in a clear voice with only three words:

"She is gone."

Mrs. Henning held her breath to cover her gasp and George looked at her surprised.

Mr. Henning just nodded and didn´t question her further.

After that, the atmosphere became very awkward. Eira quickly finished her meal and looked for a way to go home soon.

"Mr. Henning and Mrs. Henning, thank you for the wonderful meal. If you would excuse me I would like to go home because I still have work tomorrow."

Mrs. Henning looked very relieved seeing Eira had the intention to go home. Her expression became more relaxed.

"Yes, it´s already late. Let George drive you home." She suggested.

"Oh, no need. I can call my driver to pick me up." Eira quickly declined.

Mr. Henning just watched her while looking at his son giving him a signal to drive Eira home. George understood his father.

"Miss Morgan let me drive you home. That´s faster. There is no need for you to call your driver."

Eira had no reason to refuse so she gave in and agreed.

George walked her to his car and opened the passenger door for her. She thanked him and took a seat. Then he walked around the car to the driver's seat.

He started the car and drove off.