There were two main problems with this whole dinner thing. One, I could not for the life of me figure out what to wear. Don't get me wrong, I had clothes. I had packed quite a lot from my place before coming here. But now, every single article seemed inappropriate for the occasion. Too short, too showy, too casual. There was simply nothing fit to wear.
The next problem was my date for dinner. My dear husband, Nathaniel Sinclair, who for some reason I only had the privilege of meeting at the wedding and exchanging a few words with on our ride home, was not around. He disappeared and I had no idea where he went.
Some husband he was.
I considered calling my mum and telling her we'd have to skip dinner. Maybe I could say Nathaniel had a meeting or I had a really bad headache. But the more I pondered over it, the more I realized my excuses wouldn't stop the scolding I was bound to receive from her.
I let out a deep sigh and rolled over in my bed. Maybe I could take a nap and sleep through the night until this whole dinner situation was over. It was a few minutes past six. I wasn't much of an early sleeper, but I could try tonight. It might be best to put my phone on DND too, because I knew my mum would call a million times and leave a ton of voicemails...
My train of thought was cut short by a sharp knock at the door.
"Come in." I said in a muffled tone, expecting Velma's squeaky voice to ask if I wanted dinner or more pillows or whatever question she seemed to bombard me with every hour of the day.
"You're not ready yet?"
I let out a small gasp and turned to face the person in my room, eyes wide. "You're back?"
"Yes, I am." Nathaniel raised a questioning brow. "Aren't we having dinner at your parents' tonight?"
I opened my mouth, then shut it again. I was a bit taken aback at his presence. For one, I was genuinely surprised he was actually here. After disappearing over the weekend, I had started adjusting to the idea that Nathaniel Sinclair wasn't one to stay in his own house. Maybe he had an apartment somewhere else and preferred staying there now that I had sort of moved in and invaded his space.
I didn't blame him either.
"So are we going or...?"
"Uh, yes. Yes." I stuttered, practically leaping off my bed toward the wardrobe. "I wasn't sure if you were going to come. Just give me a few minutes."
His only response was silence as he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving me to deal with the trouble of finding an outfit for this stupid dinner. I finally settled on a knee-length dark blue dress with a puffy skirt underneath. It seemed a bit showy, after all, this was just dinner at my parents' house. But honestly, I was tired of looking for something better. If I kept searching, Nathaniel and I would leave here at midnight.
I quickly did my makeup and shoved the dress on, thankful it didn't have as many wrinkles as I expected. My hair was in a neat ponytail, nothing too fancy and I was grateful it decided to cooperate today.
I yanked on my heels, grabbed my phone, my purse, a tube of lip gloss and I was out the door and down the wide staircase, trying to take in calming breaths as I made my way to the foyer where Nathaniel was waiting. He didn't say much when I got there, just gave me a once-over, nodded to Velma who was watching from the side and walked out the door while I hurriedly followed behind.
~~~
The ride to my parents' place was, for lack of a better word, awkward. Nathaniel was driving and I was in the passenger seat, trying to look busy by scrolling through my phone and occasionally staring out the window to check how far we'd gotten.
I had texted Kaylor earlier to fill her in on my fashion emergency, to which she replied, 'Just wear something sexy.' And after I told her Nathaniel had shown up out of the blue and we were on our way to dinner, her response was, 'Sneak a pic of him. Lemme see if he's really a hottie.'
I shook my head slightly as I shot her a text back. There was no way I was taking a candid picture of Nathaniel. God forbid he caught me in the act, I'd be absolutely mortified.
I did, however, sneak a glance at him as he drove in silence, eyes fixed on the road, brows furrowed in concentration. The car was dimly lit, but I could still clearly make out the features of his face. Sharp jawline, plump lips, a faint stubble that gave him that rugged 'I just had a long day' look. Yep, he was definitely a hottie. No lie about that.
I froze in my seat as he turned to glance at me, his face slightly scrunched as if silently saying, 'Hi lady, could you please explain why you're shamelessly checking me out?'
"Um..." I cleared my throat, my face heating up in embarrassment as my brain scrambled for something to say. "Uh, how did you know about the dinner? I tried reaching you with the number Velma gave me, but I couldn't get through."
"Yeah," he breathed out, passing a hand over his face. "Sorry about that. I've been really busy today, had a bunch of meetings to attend." I nodded slowly, even though I was pretty sure he couldn't see me with his eyes glued to the road. "Also, I heard about tonight's plans from my mum." He paused to give me a small glance. "She called me at work today. She does that from time to time, it's her way of checking up on me because she knows I always answer my work line. Mentioned something about seeing you yesterday and how she's happy we're having dinner at your parents'. Said it's a great way for them to get to know me."
I thought back to Mrs. Sinclair's enthusiasm when my mum told me about the dinner plans. Out of the three of us at the table, she had seemed the most excited, considering the dread I felt at that moment and the lack of interest my mum seemed to have about the whole thing.
"I lied to her and said I already knew about it. Didn't want her asking me a million questions. But I'm sorry I didn't see your calls. You were probably stressed out all day." he sighed. " Thank God for my mum's babbling mouth, at least we're on our way now."
I chuckled a bit at that last part. "My plan was to fall asleep and hope the night would drag on so I could come up with an excuse for my parents later." I paused before saying my next words, my palms wringing nervously in my lap. "Uh, so I'm guessing after dropping me off the last time, you went to your other place?"
I could see the question caught him off guard and I half expected him not to answer. After a few beats of silence, he nodded slowly, biting the inside of his cheek as if mulling over his response. "You could say that."
"Right."
"But could you do me a favor and not say anything about it to either of our parents, especially my mum?" he grimaced. "The whole me leaving after dropping you off... she wouldn't understand and I'm not ready to answer her questions. Let's just not bring it up, okay?"
I don't know why, but his words rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, I understood where he was coming from. We were practically strangers and maybe having a stranger living in your house and carrying your last name all of a sudden was a lot to process. I could relate, my mind still couldn't wrap itself around the fact that we got married over the weekend. But then just dropping me off and disappearing without a word to God knows where? That was foul. And to think he wouldn't have returned if it weren't for tonight's dinner...
Was this going to be a thing now? He'd only be around when we needed to make an appearance for our parents?
I didn't even want to think about the answer to that. I just turned in my seat and went back to staring out the window, getting lost in the light traffic on the highway and wishing this day would be over already.
