Page 98 of Branded
He’d asked the previous night.
His family was coming to town.
Supposedly, they were more than good. Supposedly, they were great.
And all I’d been able to do since agreeing to have dinner with them was panicking—because I had to meet his family—but my dad was…my dad, and my mom hadn’t shown any interest in my life in years, and Smitty’s family was involved in his life, and what if I couldn’t talk and was frozen in my own damned mind and?—
What if they didn’t like me?
Hazel leaned forward. “Want to tell me why that’s scary?”
“Oh no,” Pru said. “I’ve got that one. It’s terrifying because they’re part of him, and maybe they’ll have their faults, but you want them to like you despite your faults, and then it’s just this scary cycle of faults and panic and wanting to make a good impression and—” A wave of her hand. “It’s just shit. All around, but you’ll get through it, especially if they love Smitty. He loves you, so they’ll love you.”
“That seems like an oversimplification,” Beth said. “Just saying,” she added when Hazel and Pru glared at her. “I mean I know you’re great, but families are complicated, and it’s…just not always that simple.”
Yeah.
It seemed like that, too.
Hazel leaned across the table and squeezed my hand. “You know Smitty,” she said. “You see how protective he is of the guys, of you. Do you have any doubt that he would tolerate anything less than full acceptance of our girl?”
Pru shook her head. “No. Absolutely not.”
Beth paused, considered that. “I don’t know him all that well, but you make a good argument, Haze.”
Hazel whispered out of the side of her mouth. “That’s as close to an agreement as we’ll get from our corporate exec, Beth.”
I giggled.
Because agreement from Beth or not, Hazel did make a good point, and Pru did, too, even if it was a bit too rose-colored glasses for me, considering my brain tended toward worst case scenario.
But the truth was, this came down to me and Smitty.
To what we had together and what we were building for the future.
And I knew that Smitty would protect me.
The only thing that scared me was not being able to protect him back.
My stomach churned.
My throat was tight.
I felt like I was walking toward the guillotine—if that came in the form of three people who loved and cared for the man that U loved and cared for.
This should be easy.
But like things often were in my life, it wasn’t all that easy. It was complicated and difficult and something I had to force myself to do, just hoping that I’d get through and it would get easier and?—
Fingers on my cheek. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “I promise.”
“What if I can’t talk?” I whispered.
“Then you’ll be quiet and mysterious, and they’ll be desperate to get together with you again so that they can get to know the beautiful woman with all the mysterious secrets.”
A roll of my eyes. “Or they’ll want to run from the woman who’s a bitch and standoffish.”
“No, little bird. That’s not you. Even when you’re quiet, you’re still warm.”
