Page 23 of Accidental Proposal

We ate in silence, and I glanced around at everyone. Liam was strangely quiet the entire meal, only saying a few words. He was eating in complete silence, not even paying attention to anything else. Julie was eating her pie slowly while occasionally looking at Liam and me, and Liam’s parents seemed to be in a silent argument, giving each other pointed looks. I ducked my head, not wanting to be caught staring.

“So, Liam and Jenna…” Lilly’s voice broke the silence, making all of us look at her. She seemed to be trying to decide if she should say what she wanted to or not. “When is the wedding?” she finally blurted out. She looked a little ashamed, but not really. She sat there, staring at us expectantly.

Not knowing what to say, I turned to Liam, who thankfully was looking at me too. I asked him what we should do with my eyes, and he seemed to get the hint.

“We haven’t decided just yet,” came his simple, yet perfect, response.

“You haven’t thought about the date, location, guests, anything?” Lilly looked like she was about to have a heart attack any moment.

“No, Mother, we haven’t. We’ve only been engaged a few weeks.”

“It’s okay, no need to stress. I’ll help you guys get everything ready, and so will Julie. We are going to make this the greatest wedding ever,” Lilly said, taking deep breaths. “We have so much to do!” She clapped her hands together. I stared at her wide-eyed, not really liking the excited look she had on her face. Why did I have a feeling this wedding was going to be over the top?

“We need to get a date set, then think about a theme, guests, and bridesmaids! And a dress!” Lilly rambled, not even stopping to take a breath of air.

“Honey, not right now. We can figure that out later,” Adam said, putting his hand on his wife’s arm.

“Sorry, you are right. I’m just so excited.” Her blue eyes sparkled.

“How about we take this to the living room?” Adam asked, sliding his chair back. Everyone got up and out of their seats. As Adam, Liam, and Julie started walking out, I looked at the table and saw it was still covered with dirty plates. The room was emptied a second later, and the waitress in me started piling up the plates, balancing them all in my arms. Using my butt, I opened the swinging door to the kitchen and set them by the sink. I knew I was the guest here and should be out there with them, but I needed a moment.

I started washing the dishes, thinking about everything. Liam’s parents seemed to buy our lie about how we met and when we got engaged. I always thought that when I got engaged it would be really sweet and real, not some made-up scheme with a guy I didn’t even know and who didn’t like me. I already felt bad about lying to Liam’s parents, especially after how nice they had been to me today. They seemed like really nice people, and I didn’t even want to begin thinking about how they’d act when they learned this was all fake. It was honestly very sad that I had stooped this low, lying to strangers for money. I had only a few dishes cleaned when Lilly suddenly appeared out of nowhere, scaring me.

“There you are! What are you doing?” she asked. I jumped and put a wet hand to my chest.

“Lilly, you scared me.” I put my hands back in the sink.

“Honey, you don’t have to clean those. I can do them later.” She tried to stop me, but I shook my head.

“No, it’s fine, honestly. I need to help with something. I’d feel better if I did.” I felt her staring at me before she moved to my right side, grabbing a towel.

“You wash and rinse, and I’ll dry,” she said, taking a plate from my hand and drying it. I nodded, a small smile upon my lips. We silently washed and dried for a few minutes. “You know, you are the first girl to ever offer to help,” Lilly said suddenly.

“Oh?” I already kind of knew I wasn’t the first girl Liam had brought over to meet his parents.

“I mean he has only brought home two girls, but they never even lifted a finger to do anything. Not that I really care since I don’t mind doing it, but even the thought would be nice. I think you’re perfect for my son,” she said and glanced over at me.

“B-but you hardly even know me,” I stuttered, surprised by her remark. She just shrugged.

“I don’t need to know a lot to know you’re the right one. Thank you for helping me clean.” She changed the subject before I could say anything.

“It’s no problem. I grew up in a home, and all of us always had a chore to do. I was one of the oldest, so I did more than the little kids, but one of mine was doing the dishes.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but how long were you there?” Lilly asked softly.

“My mom left me when I was five, and I emancipated myself at seventeen.” I found myself opening up to her, and I couldn’t figure out why. I was usually a closed book, but there was something about Lilly that made me want to tell her stuff; maybe it was her mother vibe. “The home wasn’t that bad, honestly. I mean, it had its down times, but my time spent there wasn’t horrible. There had been about six of us at the one home; it was me and another guy my age, a boy two years younger than us, and three little ones who were about three to six. Two girls and a little boy.” I thought back to the kids and smiled.

Matt, the guy my age, who had been sixteen at the time, was okay. He never really had anything to do with any of us. He mostly kept to himself and stayed in his room. Ryan, the boy two years younger than me, was kind of the same but slightly more outgoing. Sometimes he would play with me and the three little ones, but he would always be a little reserved and kept to himself most of the time. Then you had the three little ones; Carrie was the oldest of the three at the age of six, and she was an angel always helping me. Then there was Thomas, the middle one at four, who was rambunctious and liked to get into everything, and finally Lea, the youngest at three, who was the cutest thing ever.

Of course the girls were my favorite, but even Thomas had a piece of my heart. When the foster caretakers were busy with work, I watched all three, and we kind of became our own group. Right before I had turned seventeen, all three of them had gotten adopted, thankfully. I was grateful and sad that they were going away, but I didn’t want them to stay here like I was. They deserved nice, loving families. That was kind of why I emancipated myself a little after I turned seventeen, because I felt even more alone. The two other boys never talked to me after the kids left, so I decided I was ready to leave. After graduating, I packed my stuff and left.

I hadn’t realized I was rambling until my hand hit the empty sink and the clink of the glass plate being put away filled my ears.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been rambling,” I said, apologizing.

“You’re fine, Jenna, really. I was the one who asked,” Lilly said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I smiled back at her, feeling my stomach churn.

A part of me was happy that I’d told someone about a little bit of my childhood and also glad that Lilly didn’t interrupt me or even judge. But the other part of me was upset with myself for easily spilling stuff about my life, and the worst part was that feeling was starting to overcome the other. I could almost physically feel myself closing myself in, like a book shutting its front cover. Shutting out my emotions was something I’d always done. Not being able to feel anything was better than feeling it all and getting hurt.Don’t get close enough to anyone because they are just going to leave and hurt you. That used to be my mantra, but now that I’d felt a little of what a family was like, I didn’t feel like doing that anymore.

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