Page 61 of Secret Submission

Ah, so that was why she’d gotten them inside the house right away. That made sense and made him feel a little better about being introduced to her parents, then immediately dragged away. It was just to let her family take a minute. If he was really lucky, Sandra had taken that time to talk him up.

“I can’t believe I didn’t realize you worked with Sandra,” she said, as though his own thoughts of Sandra had summoned hers. “But I have so many cousins, I never remember the names of the places where they work.”

“And there are a lot of physical therapy places around here,” he said reassuringly. “I doubt you would have expected us to be at the same one.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure I even remembered that she’s a physical therapist,” Julie confessed as they walked through the kitchen. “I…”

Her voice trailed off as they faced the large back window and sliding glass door. The entire yard was visible through it, and it only took Connor a moment to realize there was a newcomer to the party. Mostly because he stood out, as he was tall, white, and standing in the middle of a small circle of people, throwing his head back in jovial laughter.

“Fuck.” Julie cursed.

“What?” Connor felt a sneaking suspicion in his stomach, as if something really bad was about to happen. Surely her parents wouldn’t have…

“That’s my ex.”

Apparently, her parents had.

24

Julie

Her parents had invited John.

Again.

She wanted to scream into the void.

Actually, she wanted to scream at her parents, but truthfully, that was about as useful as screaming into the void, and at least the void didn’t scream back.

“We should go.” Dammit.

“What? No. Don’t let him chase you off.” Connor gave her hand a squeeze. “This is your parents’ house. This is your family. And we came here today so I could meet them and help get them off your back. If we leave now, he not only wins, but we don’t get to show your family how much better off you are without him.”

Emotions were tumbling through her, making her stomach churn like a washing machine. The problem was none of them were coming out clean. None of them were coming out clear. The waters were full of mud, and as much as she wanted to leave and hold the boundary that she’d set down with her parents, Connor had a point.

This was her family. This was her parents’ house. Why should she have to be the one to leave?

Because the second my parents get an inch, they’ll take a mile.

Dammit. She didn’t know what to do. She needed a minute to think.

She needed John to disappear.

It wasn’t like she wanted him to get hit by a bus or anything (probably), but a transfer to a hospital on the other side of the country would be nice.

“Come on, we’ve got this.” Connor smiled at her and stepped forward, and since her hand was still in his, she found herself being pulled along with him. And because she wasn’t sure she should leave, she found herself going… even though she wasn’t sure that was what she wanted to do.

The blow of having her parents invite John, knowing she was bringing Connor to meet the family today, had rocked her off her axis. And Connor wasn’t giving her time to regain her equilibrium. They were outside and back in the middle of her family before she realized she really did not want to be there.

“Hello. I’m so sorry about the mix-up with your name,” Aunt Ji-woo said, coming up to Connor with an apologetic look on her face. Julie was pretty sure she even meant it. Sandra’s mom was a lot more relaxed than her own mother. Who was currently over-talking and laughing with her ex-husband, showing him a lot more welcome than she had Connor.

Dammit.

They should have left.

But she couldn’t pull away from the conversation without being rude, and if she could get Aunt Ji-woo on her side, she didn’t want to ruin that by being rude to her.

“No problem.” Connor smiled his most charming smile at her aunt, who automatically smiled back at him. He was on in a way she hadn’t really seen before. “I’m grateful, actually, since it let us tell everyone on our own terms. And I missed out at least on several days of being hassled by Sandra at work about the fact that I’m dating her cousin.”

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