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“Good evening, Sir,” the old butler said to me when I reached the dining room. Looking up from the book, I nodded back, thanking him before heading inside.
There, seated at the head of the table, was just one of my many obstacles. Dressed in a dark three-piece suit with a black tie, a glass of ice-less scotch in his hand, was none other than Ethan Callahan himself. His green eyes, like hers, looked me up and down.
“You’re a little underdressed, don’t you think?” Her soft, yet steady voice questioned from behind me.
I glanced around the table. To the left of her eldest brother was his blonde haired, blue-eyed wife dressed in white, who stood staring as she sipped on a juice box. Next to her was an African-American woman with curly brown hair and standing beside her, an Asian-American woman with shoulder-length black hair. Wyatt, obstacle number two, was dressed in the same suit from this morning, though his jacket was gone. He took a bite of his bread, not taking his eyes off me.
“Please sit,” Ethan said, nodding over to the spot beside Donatella.
“O’Phelan,” he called when I took my seat. The butler came over to me carrying a bowl of thick, rich soup with bread on the side. “I hope you aren’t allergic to anything?”
I smirked, shaking my head and placing my book on the table to look to him. “I’m not, thank you for your concern.”
“This is my wife, Ivy, and my cousins, Helen and Nari.” He looked to them all. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”
“Did I?” I pretended to be oblivious before looking over to his wife. “How did a beautiful girl like you end up with a man like him?”
“Evelyn didn’t happen to break you out a prison, did she?” she asked instead.
All of them, with the exception of Ethan, shook their head. “Why? Does she bring inmates home often?”
“Inmate 974024-041, nice to meet you,” Ivy laughed to herself.
“And here I thought being drop-dead gorgeous wasn’t a federal offence,” I replied, winking at her.
“It’s not; but running over a dancer while drunk is,” Donatella cut in before Ivy could speak again, casually tearing the bread and dipping it into her soup.
“Ivy,” I frowned, still giving her all of my attention, “say it ain’t so.”
“It’s so,” she replied, less ecstatic than before, her eyes on Donatella who refused to pay attention to her. “It wasn’t me though. I was innocent.”
“Was being the key word.” Donatella mumbled softly under her breath.
Glancing to the other two women across from me, I asked, “Are you all also married to wrongly convicted felons?”
“Single,” Helen said.
“He’s a—”
“None of your business,” Wyatt cut them off, glaring over at me, “Why the hell should we explain ourselves or our family to a stranger?”
“Simply making conversation,” I said, tearing my bread and dipping it into the dish. “Or do you all prefer your dinners to be hostile?”
“You are free to leave,” Ethan stated, leaning back into his chair. “If we happen to be too hostile for your liking.”
This family had walls almost as high as mine around them. To my great joy, a silence fell over the dining room. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice their eyes on me, but it was like walking into a den of lions in the middle of night. Reaching for my book, I lifted it back up to read as I ate quietly among them, more aware of Donatella than I’d like. It was very easy to spot women who were trouble; women who would only complicate your life. It was clear Donatella was that type of woman. It wasn’t her family, it was her personality; from what I could tell and what I’d heard… She was like a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment.
Evelyn had only given me two pieces of advice: defuse her as quickly as possible and never let her think she controls you. The old woman looked genuinely concerned her granddaughter might kill me.
“Hmh,” I snickered to myself at that, causing her to stiffen beside me.
“Ethan,” she spoke softly, with that horrid fake smile back on her pretty pink lips, not at all like the laugh she’d allowed herself this morning.
“Yes?” he asked.
She looked over to him, “I’ve been thinking of stabbing him with my salad fork for the last ten minutes. Please tell me who he is and when he can leave?”
I grinned. “How could he tell you something he doesn’t know.”
