Josiah is trying to convince Kira to trade the cheese back. She’s having none of it.
I nudge her under the table and shoot her a warning look, edged with a smile.
She rolls her eyes at me.
“Hey, since when do you roll your eyes at me,” I laugh. “Who taught you that?”
Josiah scoffs. “I know exactly where she learned that from,” he says, his eyes tight on me.
“Me?” I ask, shocked.
He scoffs again.
I bite my lip, scrunching my nose. Actually, I have been rolling my eyes a lot this week. All at him.
He’s been driving me absolutely crazy. And it’s not just the constant challenge of dealing with him. It’s also the constant memories I have to fight to keep away. The way his scent makes me feel. The way my body reacts every time he’s close to me, even though I really don’t want it to.
Finally, Kira is settled after an intense negotiation with Josiah that earned her a bowl of fifty percent spaghetti and fifty percent cheese. I left her to her own devices as I was rather impressed with her negotiation skills. I think Josiah was, too.
The girls are eating and talking to each other when Josiah says to me, “We have dinner at my sister’s place tomorrow night at seven.”
My heart skips a beat. “We?”
“Yes, all of us are going,” he says sternly, not leaving room for refusal. “It’s a family dinner.”
“What about…” I stop myself, glancing at the girls. “Did you tell….”
“My brother knows and will tell my sister, but neither of them will say a word.”
“Josiah, I didn’t want anyone to know,” I huff, keeping my voice low but still earning a curious glance from Kelsey. I smile at her. “Eat your food,” I tell her.
Josiah cocks his head to the side and glares at me. “I’ve been patient. And I’ve respected your request. But I won’t lie to my family,” he mutters.
Swallowing hard, I press my lips together. I don’t want to argue with him in front of the twins.
But the idea of more people knowing about him being their father makes me incredibly nervous. What if one of them slips up and says something? What if the girls find out, and they get closer to him, and he leaves as abruptly as he did last time? What risk am I taking by letting them be close to him at all?
As though he can read my thoughts, he gently says my name, and I look up at him.
“I assure you, they won’t cross any boundaries,” he says.
I nod, thankful he understands, but still very anxious about seeing his family again. I only met them twice in the past. They were nice enough to my face, but people can look you in the eyes and be as friendly as ever and still say harsh things behind your back.
Over the years, one of my theories about why Josiah dumped me was because his family possibly didn’t approve of me. He was rich, popular, charismatic…I was the girl from a much lower social status, one who didn’t even have parents. I figure they must have wanted so much more for their brother. Someone worthy of him.
It doesn’t matter now, though. That is all in the past. I’ll be polite, and whatever they think of me simply doesn’t matter.
***
Saturday evening.
The twins burst out of the car and are already running up the steps towards the front door before I can undo my seatbelt. “Wait, girls, you can’t just barge into other people’s homes,” I call after them.
“Let them run ahead, my sister is very excited to meet them,” he tells me, leaning over me to unfasten the seatbelt that I am still fighting with.
His cologne washes over me, and my entire body goes rigid. The heat of his skin, the scent of him. It affects me. I take a sharp breath and lick my lips.
“Thank you,” I mutter when he moves away from me.
