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“Whiskey?” he asks, as he pours some into one glass.
“No thank you,” I tell him. He turns with his drink in hand, gesturing for me to take a seat in the big brown leather armchair while he walks behind his big desk, taking his own seat.
Taking a sip, he lets the silence stretch between us before he says, “So,” and nothing else.
“Soooo,” I drag out, waiting for him to add more.
“I don't know how you managed to get Sophia to agree to marry you, but I must say I'm surprised. You're adamant she didn't know who you were before your proposal?”
“Not a clue. Must be my awesome power of persuasion,” I tell him.
“Hmm. Well, a contract’s a contract. I'll have the money transferred into a trust within forty-eight hours. You can access the trust once you’ve left the premises for good,” he tells me before taking another sip, his eyes watching me.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll give you ninety days to be out of the premises,” he adds, making me wince at the thought of losing my gramps’ business. He tips his head back, draining the rest of his glass, before standing and placing it back on the cart. Turning to me he adds, “I'll be getting a prenup drawn up before the wedding.”
“I wouldn't think anything less of you Holden,” I tell him, standing myself.
Knocking on the door has us both looking when Holden says, “Come in.”
Sophia's head pops in as her eyes search the room, then she pushes her way in, walking towards me.
“Mum said lunch is ready to be served,” she tells us.
“Well, we don't want to keep her waiting, do we?” Holden says, gesturing for us to walk out before him. Sophia takes my hand in hers, leading the way to their dining hall.
A huge table greets us with four place settings. One down each end and then in the middle there is one on either side, facing each other. Holden and his wife, who I still can't remember the name of, sit at one end of the fancy table each. I follow Sophia's lead and sit opposite her. At least I won't have to yell to talk to her like her parents will have to.
I can't imagine what it must have been like growing up having family dinners like this. They have a personal chefand waiter cooking and serving the meal. The first course is a pumpkin soup which I must say is quite delicious.
We eat in silence and I'm unsure whether to talk at all, so I remain quiet, letting them dictate how this lunch goes.
“So, Lorenzo, my husband told me you're a mechanic?” Sophia's mum starts the conversation with.
“Yes Mrs. Philips. I work over in Cedarville,” I keep my tone polite.
“Please call me Kennedy,” she says.
Ah that's her name. I file it away to memory.
“Cedarville, is a little far. Do you live there as well?”
“I do. My grandfather left me his house when he passed, and I can't bear to part with it. I also work at a local bar on the outskirts of town here. I have an apartment above the bar I rent so I stay there on those nights,” I explain, though Cedarville isn’t exactly far at all, only thirty minutes away.
“So, your living arrangements aren't exactly stable then?” she politely says, and I realise my fault. She's polite but cunning. Wording things in a certain way to get you to divulge truths before striking when something isn't to her liking.
“It works for me,” I tell her, my neck prickling.
“But will it work for Sophia? Do you expect your wife to spend nights without you or to go back and forth between two homes so you can earn minimum wage at two jobs trying to support her?”
“Mum!” Sophia snaps.
“It's okay Sophia,” I tell her, waiting until she looks me in the eye. I see the heat in her vision wanting to defend me. “I'm thinking of expanding the mechanics business because I forgot to mention my gramps left me that too,” I tell them, keeping my cool, learning to play their game.
Sophia tilts her head out of the corner of my eye while I keep my eyes locked on her mum in a silent war. They will notmake me feel unworthy of their daughter, though I already feel that way. I push the feeling down as I fight my thoughts. I am good enough for her, and she deserves more than what these so-called parents have to offer her.
“So, if you expand, will you move locations then?” she asks.
