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“About twenty minutes.” She nods before pulling the mirror down and wiping under her eyes. “Stay with me tonight.” It comes out more like a statement than a question.
“I feel much better than I did last night.”
“Still. I need another night.”
She purses her lips and narrows her eyes like she’s thinking about it. “We can’t be up late.”
I nod my head rapidly in agreement. “I can commit to an early bedtime.”
“Can you?” She raises an eyebrow at me. “Because you seem to get a second wind around two in the morning.”
“It’s not the time. It’s you rubbing your body against me in your sleep.” I smirk at her and I can see the grin lurking behind her annoyed expression. I think she’s about to respond when her phone starts to ring.
I watch as she narrows her eyes at it like she’s not sure if she’s going to answer it but I watch as she slides her finger across the screen where the word Mother is displayed.
“Helloooo?” she says. “Probably in about twenty minutes or so. Why, Mother?” she says, and then her eyes widen before she squeezes them shut.
FUCK. I watch her mouth.
“Mom, that’s really not necessary.” She looks at me with a worried expression. “Because it’s new and I don’t want you all scaring him off. I am not ready for that.” I don’t know what’s being said on the other side but I wonder if I’m about to walk into something we may not be ready for. “Nothing in our family is a quick hello!” she huffs. “Ten minutes in what world?! Is Aunt Theresa there?” She nods. “Of course, she is. Mom, for once can you just…not?” She pinches the bridge of her nose and I can see the anxiety all over her face. Though I’m not exactly calm over the idea of meeting what sounds like a number of Marissa’s extended family, I rub her leg gently. When her eyes meet mine, I give her a smile that I hope conveys that everything will be okay.
“I’m good with families,” I tell her quietly and she sighs.
“Ten minutes, Mother. I mean it.” I haven’t heard anything from the other side of the call the entire time they were talking but I hear the response to that which is a loud cheer causing Marissa to pull her phone away from her ear.
“Do not eat or drink anything they offer you,” she says when she hangs up the phone.
“Well, that’s rude.”
“That’s how they get you!”
“I feel like that’s a little insulting. How much of your family is there?”
“Probably just my parents and my uncle and aunt.”
“Not your siblings?” I’m not sure if her siblings will be just as intimidating as meeting her parents, but I figure it couldn’t hurt to have someone closer to my age in the mix.
“No,” I shake my head. “They’re both always working. I think it bothers my parents that they don’t make more time for them. Maybe that’s why I have it so easy.” She shrugs. “They really don’t want me to leave. They loved it when I was away at college but now that I’m older they like having me around. Honestly, I think they just like having a live-in designated driver.” She shakes her head. “Okay, I was not prepared for this. I really was going to have you drop me off down the street but you can’t do that now, can you? You won over my mom easy enough. My dad is…” She puts a finger to her temple and continues to ramble. I’m not even sure if she’s talking to herself or to me at this point. “I don’t even know how to prepare you for this. Just don’t let him rattle you. He can smell fear and if my uncle is there it’s just going to rile him up.”
“Babe, I can handle it. It’ll be okay,” I tell her, and although I’m a little bit worried myself, part of me believes it.
Her eyes dart to my left hand that’s on the steering wheel and I know what she’s looking for. “I haven’t worn my wedding ring in years. You think I’ve been wearing it this weekend?” I shoot her an incredulous look.
“No, I know. I guess it was just a knee-jerk reaction to check.”
I nod before changing the subject. “Do you want them to know I’m technically your boss, or are we skirting around that?”
“I’m fairly certain you showing up to my house in a Maserati debunks the belief that you’re just my co-worker with the same entry-level salary.” She points at the Rolex on my wrist. “That certainly doesn’t help.”
“Is this your way of asking for a raise?” She glares at me and I smile. “I do have some pull you know.”
She puts a hand up. “Now is really not the time.”
“Will your parents have a problem with it?”
She bites her bottom lip and I’m reminded that I haven’t really kissed her in several hours. I’d given her a few gentle pecks this morning but she hadn’t let me deepen it so I wouldn’t get sick. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation. Maybe if I tell them that we met at the wedding and that this is all just a coincidence they may back off about it for now. They shouldn’t really give you a hard time about it. They’ll save that for me later.”
“Will they have a problem with my age?”
