Chapter 14
Fourteen
Jasmin
We’re barely two steps into the house when my mom swoops in and pulls Parker from my grasp.
She’s not eager to meet him, at all. I roll my eyes as she envelopes him in a hug.
Maybe I should have warned him about how affectionate my family can be.
Well, when they aren’t giving me hell about not settling down.
“It’s so nice to meet you.” Mom muffles into his shoulder.
“You, too.” Parker laughs. “Thank you for having me over for dinner Mrs. Campos.”
He should not have called her by her last name.
She’s weird about it. Anytime my friends called her that, she’d ask if she looked that old.
I have to say it’s one of my favorite things about my mom.
She isn’t stuffy, and even though she knows it’s a form of respect, she has no problem with people calling her by her first name.
Unless, of course, she doesn’t like you. She’s petty like that.
“Please, call me Ofilia.” She pulls back and I swear I’ve never seen a smile that big on her face. Well, except maybe when Jacob proposed to Daniela. But an engagement is a valid reason for the expression.
I already know she’s marching me and Parker down the aisle in her head. This is why I never bring people home to meet her. She goes right off the deep end to happily ever after.
“Oh, okay.” I wish I could be in his head right now. His first impression of my mother is important. Mostly, I want to know if he thinks she’s as over the top as I think she is.
“Hey Parker,” Daniela waves at him on her way to the kitchen.
“Hi Daniela.” He steps away from my mom and waves back. He’s so out of his element. I can tell by the way he’s carrying himself. He’s not comfortable and I feel horrible for making him endure this.
“This is my son, Adam. He just started college this year. I don’t know what I’ll do when everyone is off doing their own thing and it’s just me and Abraham.”
“Um, hello.” I wave my hand in the air. “I still live here.”
“Yes, I know, but you usually stay in your room when you get home from work.”
“Because it’s the only peace I get.” I mutter the words and hope like hell nobody heard it.
“What was that?” My mom stares at me as if I’ve affronted her. Which, okay, I did. But she doesn’t know that.
“Nothing, Mom.” I glance around the entry way. “Where is dad?”
“In the backyard finishing up the corn. He’ll be in soon.” She motions for Parker to follow her into the dining room. “Do you want anything to drink? We have water, beer, and maybe a few sodas. I don’t buy those very often.”
“Water is fine.” As she walks ahead of him, he reaches over and grabs my hand. “Is it just me, or is this awkward?”
“It’s definitely awkward.” I laugh. “You thought your family was a lot, but they’ve got nothing on mine.”
“You haven’t seen all of us in one room.” He squeezes my hand and shoots me a playful grin.
“I’m sure I will soon enough.” His family doesn’t scare me. Well, maybe Piper does. She seems…intense. But I know it’s because she’s passionate about the winery. You can tell in the way she carries herself.
“Yes, you will.”
Dad comes in as we all take a seat around the table. “The corn is ready.”
Mom sets the dishes on the counter with plates at one end and silverware at the other. Parker takes it in stride. I’m not sure how they do family dinner at their house, but here it’s kind of a free for all.
My brother doesn’t hesitate to get up from his seat and grab a plate. I swear all he does is eat, and I have no idea where it goes.
Parker stands and pulls out my chair, waiting for me to join him. He really is taking this chivalry thing to heart. I would say it’s an act, but he’s gone out of his way since the day I’ve met him to make sure I’m put first. It’s such an odd feeling, and I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to it.
Not that I’ll need to. This thing between us has an expiration date. After the wedding, we’ll never see each other again.
“Hello, Mr. Campos, I’m Parker.” He’s already by the counter making his introduction with his hand out. Dad does the same thing as Mom and pulls him into a hug. There’s one thing Parker will learn about us, we don’t do formal anything.
“It’s good to meet you, Parker. Jasmin never brings anyone home for dinner.”
I don’t miss the way he doesn’t correct him about his name. It seems someone in my family is going to make him work for their respect. Dad only wants to make sure he’s good enough for me. I try to remember that even if I hate the machismo of it all, which is so unlike him.
“I’m glad I can be the first.”
“I’m sure you are.” Dad gives him a once over and moves to serve himself a plate. But I can see the smile he’s trying to hold off. As much as he’s trying to be stoic and a hard-ass, his playfulness is peeking through. I’m glad I didn’t misjudge my father all these years.
I pull Parker to my side and lead him toward the plates. “I guess you’ll have to win him over.” Parker is staring at me, but I’m looking over his shoulder at my dad who is trying his best to wink when he knows he can’t.
“Oh, it’s on.” His voice is a soft whisper against my ear as he moves me in front of him to get my plate first.
Little does he know the simple fact he’s here means he has my father’s approval. The chair and putting me above himself only solidifies it.
Luckily, he doesn’t try to carry my plate to the table.
I’m all about letting him do the small things for me, but I will not let him do everything for me.
I’ve always been one who does things for myself, and I think he knows that.
Or maybe he’s having trouble carrying his own loaded down plates to the table.
If he doesn’t watch out, he’s going to end up with a nickname from my parents, and it’s all he’ll ever be known as.
He sets his plates down and waits for me to put mine on the table so he can push my chair in. This is all so weird and new to me. I’m lucky if any of the guys I’ve dated have done anything kind for me. Ugh, he’s making it really hard to remember this is temporary.
“Parker, what do you do for a living?” Dad asks while my mom is staring daggers at him.
“I co-own a winery with my brothers and sister. It’s been in the family for years.” He takes a bite of his food and moans. “Oh my gosh, this is so good.”
“Thank you.” Mom turns her attention to him beaming.
“Sounds like a busy job.” Dad moves the conversation back to him. Even though he’s trying to be stern, he doesn’t pull it off well.
Parker seems to be getting more comfortable and doesn’t even seem to think anything is amiss. “It can be. But we have set hours, and even though we all live on the property, we can’t walk to the buildings we do business in. It was my parents’ way of making sure we took time off for family.”
His response is what makes my dad drop his tough guy act. Not that it was great to begin with. “I’m glad your parents made that a priority. Most business owners don’t do the same. You can call me Abraham by the way.”
“Whew.” Parker wipes away imaginary sweat. “You had me worried for a bit. Seriously, thank you for having me over. I was nervous at first, but y’all remind me of my own family.”
We finish our dinner with my parent’s sharing stories of their youth and Adam trying to steal food off Daniela’s plate. She tried stabbing him with her fork. She’s usually the mellow one, but don’t mess with her food. I learned that when we were little.
“Jasmin, are you going to go back to your natural hair color for the wedding?” Mom’s question is completely off topic. They were talking about what food to serve at the wedding.
I lift a strand of my platinum blonde hair and study it. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“It’d be nice if you did. You wouldn’t stand out so much in the photos.” Nice dig, Mom. It would be different if she brought it up when we were alone, but to do it in front of Parker is wild.
“I think it looks great.” Parker runs his fingers through my hair. Little does he know he just committed the greatest sin. He disagreed with my mother.
My dad, however, does his best to hide his grin. He doesn’t want to get on her bad side tonight.
“Well, it’s just a thought.” My mom throws out. She glances at the clock on the wall. “It’s getting late. Jasmin, can you get the kitchen cleaned up.”
“Um, sure.” I don’t know why I’m surprised she requested me to do it. It’s not like I have a brother and sister sitting right there. She could have asked them. Or, at least, told them to help. “I’ll get started as soon as Parker leaves.”
All of this makes me wonder what they are going to do when I eventually move out. I love my family, I do. But for once I’d like to see them place some responsibility on literally anyone else.
Parker reaches for my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll help you.” His voice is loud enough for only me to hear. I also know there’s no point in arguing with him about it. Especially when he’s doing everything he can to be the perfect boyfriend.
When Mom gets up from her chair, Parker lets go of my hand and stands. And I miss the steadiness it brought me. “Thank you for dinner, Ofilia. It was delicious. Same to you, Abraham.”
“It’s not a problem.” Dad moves to follow my mom. “Come by any time. You’re always welcome.”
As soon as they leave the room Daniela claps. “I think that went really well. And Dad is horrible with his acting skills.”
“What do you mean?” Parker looks at me then Daniela.
“He’s a big teddy bear. He was trying to act tough to intimidate you.” Daniela laughs.
“I wouldn’t mock his acting ability because he fooled me. I genuinely thought he didn’t like me, and it’s such a weird feeling.” He stacks his plate and silverware. “You ready to get started with all this?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Adam stands before motioning between him and Daniela. “We’ve got this.”
Clearly, he didn’t discuss this with our sister because she screws up her face in disappointment.
I mouth “thank you” to my baby brother and they start clearing the table.
Parker looks at the clock and down at me. “It’s getting late. I should probably head back soon.”
A quick glance over my shoulder and my jaw drops. I didn’t realize it’s almost ten. No wonder mom said she was going to bed. She’s not usually up this late.
“I’ll walk you out.” Before he has a chance to pull my chair out, I’m up and pulling him toward the door. It’s not because I want him to leave, it’s actually the opposite.
Getting an apartment is inching higher on my to-do list. This wouldn’t be an issue if I didn’t live with my parents. But I need to save up some money first.
“Whoa, why the rush?” He chuckles as he lets me lead him out of the house and toward his truck.
“So, I can have some time alone with you.” I turn and smirk at him. “You handled yourself pretty well in there.”
“From how you spoke about them I expected them to be way more terrifying.” He runs his free hand through his hair.
“They were on their best behavior tonight.”
“Really, because your mom seemed intense about your hair. I take it she doesn’t have many people disagree with her.”
“That’s the way she is. But yeah, I’m the one who gets the brunt of her opinions being the oldest and all that. She’s always been way easier on Daniela and Adam.”
“I get that. Though, I don’t think my parents put any sort of pressure on Pierce. He was born an asshole.”
“You shouldn’t be so hard on him. He might carry a weight you don’t realize he has.” Maybe I’m pushing him to understand because I feel the pressure. Sometimes I’ve been told what’s expected of me, but other times it’s like they know I’ll handle it so they don’t.
“I’ll think about it.” His response is better than I thought it would be. At least he’s open to the idea of being nicer to his big brother.
“Thank you for tonight. I know you didn’t have to do it.”
He lifts his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear before resting it on my cheek.
“Know that anything I do with you is because I want to. You’re not forcing anything on me.”
Before I realize what’s happening, his lips meet mine and I’m wrapping my arms around his neck. He moves us until my back is against his truck and I don’t want to be any other place than right here. Right now.
Even his kiss is sweet and demanding. But he doesn’t do anything to make me feel like he’ll push past what I’m comfortable with.
His arms are around my waist and I lean into him, deepening the kiss. Letting him know this is okay. Hell, I’d be okay with things going further. But I have to rein that part in. The last thing I want to do is scare him off.
Too soon he pulls back and leans his forehead against mine. “Goodnight, Jasmin.”
“I’ll see you next weekend. I’m pretty sure I’m bringing my own car.” Though I’m hoping I can see him before then. I know how busy it gets at the winery and I’m not sure if that will be possible.
He smirks and I have a feeling his mind is going to the same place mine is. “That’s good to know.”
“Let me know when you get home.”
“I will.” He gives me one last peck before getting in his truck.
There are two shadows in the window when I turn around. I swear, I can’t get a moment’s peace without my brother and sister peeking in. When they see I’ve noticed them, they leave the window.
I can’t wait for some actual alone time with Parker. Because right now, this is starting to feel not so fake.