Page 90 of Let It Be Me
We get to the restaurant right before the dinner rush is set to begin and decide to just share our food. She finally gets me to try boiled peanuts and they’re not that bad. Same with oysters and I see why they’re considered an aphrodisiac food. The mood in the restaurant is light and fun. Bricks cover one side of the wall and wooden planks cover the other. It’s a very mom and pop space and I can see why it’s so popular.
Towards the end of dinner, I can sense Sarah gettingantsy, so I pay for our meal and take her back to the room where I make her forget her name until she passes out.
I wakeup to the sound of feet shuffling across the floor. Feeling across the bed and there being a cold space means that it’s Sarah.
She’s murmuring to herself and hasn’t noticed me awake.
“Hey,” I say, groggily.
Sarah jumps at my voice interrupting her thoughts. “Hi.”
Today is the day that we go to her parents house. We figured that the earlier in our trip that we go to see them, the better.
“How long have you been awake?” I ask and pull my discarded pajama pants on, moving to sit at the foot of the bed.
“Not long,” she tells me quickly, but backtracks when I raise an eyebrow at her. “About thirty minutes.”
I hold my hand out and wait for her to grab onto it. “You can do this. You are stronger today than you were last week, last month, hell even last year. Sarah Jane, I am in awe of you. Let’s get this day started and then we can come back here and I’ll wipe away anything bad that happens.”
She leans forward, dropping her forehead against mine. “Okay.”
I sneak a kiss on the tip of her nose and head to the bathroom to get ready for what lies ahead.
I do my best to distract her through the lead up to seeing her parents. But when we pull up to their house a little while later, I even find myself nervous. Sarah’s hands are white-knuckled on the steering when I look over.
I drop my hand on her headrest and carefully run my fingers through her hair. “You can do this.”
She takes a deep breath and releases the hold on the wheel. The car turning off is next and I match her motion when she opens the car door and steps out. I look straight ahead to the house that raised her. It sits on a main street with white siding and light brown brick making the home look inviting. Sarah and I walk hand-in-hand up the steps in tandem and she rings the doorbell when we’ve reached the top.
Her hand squeezes mine and I give her a reassuring rub of my thumb against the top of her hand. The door opens to her Dad who’s scowling. But his face smoothes when he sees it’s his daughter.
“Sarah,” he breathes out and takes off his glasses.
“Hi, Dad.”
He looks like he’s seen a ghost. Probably thinking he’d never see his daughter again. “Please, come in.” He says, and opens the door wider, stepping aside to let us in.
Stepping in the foyer, I see where Sarah gets her taste for the fancy things. What might look like an affordable entryway table is actually more than some make in a month. I should know as my interior designer tried to get me to purchase one.
We follow him into the living room in the back of the house and he excuses himself to get his wife. Huge windows take up the two walls letting in all of the natural light. Sarah and I drop onto one of the loveseats and I bring my arm around her waist, pulling her to me. Whispering words of praise and love as I do my best to naturally bring her heart rate and breathing down to normal. Her hand falls to my thigh and wraps around when her parents walk into the room.
Sarah’s body stiffens when her Mom surveys her. Probably judging her for her clothing choice or her hair in its natural wavy style. I love Sarah in every state of done and undone, so i have trouble accepting that her Mom expects her to be polished all of the time.
“Sarah.” Her Mom coldly says as she takes a seat in a chair across from us.
“Mom.”
“To what do we owe this visit?” Her Dad asks with more excitement as he sits in a chair next to his wife.
Sarah looks to me and I give her a small nod. “A few things happened this week and it brought on my first nightmare in over a year.”
“Oh, not this again,” her Mom scoffs.
“Mrs. Callahan, I urge you to listen to your daughter before you lose her for good.” My voice holds no room for argument.
“Erica,” Sarah’s dad scolds his wife who looks put off by being put in her place again. “I’m listening,” he tells his daughter.
“Kamryn’s sister is being verbally abused by her boyfriend. She’s changed herself to fit what he looks at. She’s no longer the girl I met when Kam introduced us. And it reminded me of my relationship with Paul.”
