Page 119 of The Blind Date

"Oh, honey, can't you just share?" Mum sighed from where she and Yasmin watched us from across the table with hawk eyes. "You've got plenty of potatoes here. I'm sure you won't miss a few."

“The whole point of ordering extra is because I want more of them. Why should I have to share just because he keeps forgetting to order extra for himself?” I cocked an eyebrow at them both before turning to Cedric and sending him a pointed look, making sure he understood that boyfriend or not, I wasn’t going to share with him.

"I have no idea how you two managed to stay in a car together for four hours and not kill each other,” Dad commented, laughing along with Alfie. But it appeared their wives, our mothers, didn't find the joke quite as humorous.

"Cillian?" Alfie called out to his youngest son. "Care to comment?"

Cedric and I held our breath as we waited for Cillian to say something. Many things could go wrong here. If Cillian decided to go back on his word and give us up, there wasn't much we could do to stop him, and we wouldn’t have much room for damage control either. The first thing they would do was head up to check out our rooms, and as we had just gotten in, they would immediately walk in to find Cedric's belongings in my room and not the one he was supposed to be sharing with his brother.

"Let's just say that I'm relieved to be out of there,” Cillian laughed, and when no one was looking, he turned to us.

When he held out an outstretched hand under the table, it all made sense. I struggled to hold back my laughter when Cedric stuck his hand in his pocket, pulled out a twenty-pound note and slapped it into his brother's expectant palm.

"These two kept bickering back and forth like an old married couple the entire way." Cillian's grin twitched slightly at the corners, making sure to pocket his money before his brother snatched it back.

"And yet, they refuse to acknowledge that they're a good match for each other,” Mum sighed and gave us a pointed look. However, before she could continue, Dad steered the conversation away.

"Where are your rooms?" Dad asked.

"I'm on the third floor," Cillian said as he reached for the saltshaker.

"And I'm rooming with Cillian,” Cedric said quickly before his brother tried to extortion some more money out of him.

"You two haven't roomed together in years,” Alfie frowned, a suspicious look slowly taking over his face. "I'm sure if you go to the desk, they can set you up with another room."

"Well, it's more like Cillian is rooming with me since he doesn't want to pay for a room of his own," Cedric amended.

Alfie nodded, looking somewhat convinced. “That makes more sense."

"And what about you, Saffron?" Yasmin asked me. “Where’s your room?”

"I hope you're not too far from the boys,” Mum commented. "I'd feel so much better knowing you're not alone in a secluded part of the hotel."

"I'm a grown adult, Mum." I sent her a pointed look, a small smile on my face. "But there's nothing to worry about. I'm in the room next to theirs."

I felt somewhat guilty for lying to our parents. It was one thing to lie on the phone, but it was more difficult to lie to their faces. A part of me was tempted to tell them the truth, hopeful that they wouldn't overreact, but the practical part of me knew that we needed to keep up this charade for a little longer.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about it as the conversation drifted while we enjoyed our meal. Our parents discussed the competition tomorrow, and I enjoyed watching Cedric and Cillian’s sibling antics.

Well, I did until things started to go wrong on the other side of the table.

"Do you have to be so condescending all the time?" Mum suddenly huffed, forcefully throwing her napkin to the table.

"It's not being condescending if it's the truth," Yasmin countered, determined to continue with her meal like nothing was wrong. But judging by the tense expression on her face, she was definitely affected by my mum's sudden outburst. "I was simply stating a fact, Clarke. There's nothing to get upset about. I don’t know why you’re getting upset by the truth."

"There you go being condescending again." Mum dropped her fork, ignoring the loud clang as it hit her plate before falling to the floor. "Why do you always feel the need to talk down to me?"

"I wouldn't feel the need to talk down to you if you weren't so short." Yasmin snorted and rolled her eyes, not the least bit concerned about the horrified expression on Mum's face.

"I thought you two agreed to refrain from arguing in front of the kids?” Alfie groaned, rubbing a tired hand down his face. "You're always harping on about them arguing all the time, and here you two go. Just like them."

"Don't pin this on Clarke." Dad sent a sharp glare to Alfie. "It's your wife that started this. Don't you see how argumentative she is?"

"Don't speak about Yasmin like that!" Alfie fired back which was nothing like him as he was usually always calm and collected. I don't think I had ever seen him slightly annoyed, let alone angry.

"What's going on here?" I asked warily, glancing between Mum and Yasmin as they continued snapping at each other. I didn’t even know how the argument had started. One second they were whispering and giggling among themselves and the next, they were at each other’s throats.

"Let's not blow this out of proportion here now," Cedric said, trying to calm the situation, but honestly, he ended up making it so much worse.

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