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“I decided to work from home. Want some?”
“Yeah,” I nod.
As we both sit by the kitchen island eating, I realize I’m beginning to fall in love with my fake husband.
Chapter 9
Kyle
If there’s an award for the most annoying dinner ever, then it goes to Ramirez and his wife.
When Jewel informed me that her parents had invited her to have dinner with them, I felt it was a good way for her to mend fences with them as I’ve come to notice that her relationship with her parents has become more strained ever since they forced her into getting married.
I wanted for her to get to rebuild her relationship with her parents because unlike me, Jewel loves her parents to think about her. But sitting across their dining table and watching both parents make her feel bad because she’s not like her late brother, I’m now regretting my decision to come here.
I knew Mark, we all did and he was a great champ, it’s so unfortunate that he passed at a young age and the way he did. But he’s gone and there’s nothing any of us can do about it.
“I’m sure if Mark is here, he would have done a good job of running the company…” Mr. Ramirez goes on to say giving Jewel side glances as he speaks. His ever-supportive wife sighs concurring with her husband.
I notice Jewel stiffen beside me and I reach under the table giving her hand a gentle squeeze. She’s staring blankly at her plate, her food untouched.
I wish she would turn and look at me. I want to tell her that she’s enough and doesn’t have to compete with the memory of a ghost.
Don’t these two see what they are doing to their daughter? Don’t they see they are gradually killing her? How long has this been going on? I had no idea Jewel’s parents compared her to her late brother. She never told me about it.
“But he’s dead now,” I cut in, interrupting Mr. Ramirez when I could no longer take his annoying comparisons.
“Excuse me?” Mr. Ramirez looks shocked as he stares at me.
“Mark, he was a cool kid, and we all miss him but he’s no longer here with us, at least in person.” Certain people believe once someone dies their spirits hover around their loved ones protecting them. Don’t ask me if I believe in that.
“What are you trying to say?” Ramirez and his wife both ask at the same time. They still don’t get what I’m saying, I wince trying my best not to groan.
Pushing my barely eaten steak aside, I lean back in my chair now focusing my attention on Ramirez who’s at the head of the table, and his wife who’s sitting beside him.
“Don’t you see what you’re doing to your daughter? Don’t you see how much you’re hurting her with these comparisons?”
Jewel squeezes my hand begging me to stop but I ignore her, my eyes fixed on her parents who look like they are seeing me for the first time with the shocked expression on their faces. Someone needs to stand up for her.
“Why would you go out of your way to hurt the only child you have by comparing her to a dead one? Yeah, I get it that losing a child is hard, no one can ever understand how hard it is except for the one who’s hurting, but that isn’t enough for you to take out your hurt on Jewel. You need to stop.”
“You need to watch your tone!” Her father says in anger.
“No, you need to watch the words you say to my wife. If I had known coming here was going to cause her so much pain, I wouldn’t have brought her here in the first place.”
I turn to look at Jewel who now has a dazed look as she stares at me. “Are you ready to leave?”
She’s silent, she doesn’t seem to believe that I stood up to her parents. “Let’s go,” I say to her.
“Jewel?” Her father’s voice carries a warning, it’s as if he’s asking her to choose them. And that’s where he’s missing the point, thisisn’t about making Jewel pick sides, this is about her choosing herself and stop placing herself in a situation where she’s being made to feel less, feel like she isn’t enough.
Jewel nods. “Yes.”
A grin makes its way to my lips as I stand up and hold out my hand helping her to her feet. Her mother’s mouth is slack as Jewel tells them goodnight. Her father on the other hand looks like he wants to murder me, if only he could.
Jewel doesn’t spare her parents any glance as we walk out of the dining room, get our coats, and leave.
“Are you okay?” I ask when we get into the car. She nods in response and then places her head on my arm.
