Little does he know the simple fact he’s here means he has my father’s approval. The chair and putting me above himself only solidifies it.
Luckily, he doesn’t try to carry my plate to the table. I’m all about letting him do the small things for me, but I will not let him do everything for me. I’ve always been one who does things for myself, and I think he knows that. Or maybe he’s having trouble carrying his own loaded down plates to the table. If he doesn’t watch out, he’s going to end up with a nickname from my parents, and it’s all he’ll ever be known as.
He sets his plates down and waits for me to put mine on the table so he can push my chair in. This is all so weird and new to me. I’m lucky if any of the guys I’ve dated have done anything kind for me. Ugh, he’s making it really hard to remember this is temporary.
“Parker, what do you do for a living?” Dad asks while my mom is staring daggers at him.
“I co-own a winery with my brothers and sister. It’s been in the family for years.” He takes a bite of his food and moans. “Oh my gosh, this is so good.”
“Thank you.” Mom turns her attention to him beaming.
“Sounds like a busy job.” Dad moves the conversation back to him. Even though he’s trying to be stern, he doesn’t pull it off well.
Parker seems to be getting more comfortable and doesn’t even seem to think anything is amiss. “It can be. But we have set hours, and even though we all live on the property, we can’t walk to the buildings we do business in. It was my parents’ way of making sure we took time off for family.”
His response is what makes my dad drop his tough guy act. Not that it was great to begin with. “I’m glad your parents made that a priority. Most business owners don’t do the same. You can call me Abraham by the way.”
“Whew.” Parker wipes away imaginary sweat. “You had me worried for a bit. Seriously, thank you for having me over. I was nervous at first, but y’all remind me of my own family.”
We finish our dinner with my parent’s sharing stories of their youth and Adam trying to steal food off Daniela’s plate. She tried stabbing him with her fork. She’s usually the mellow one, but don’t mess with her food. I learned that when we were little.
“Jasmin, are you going to go back to your natural hair color for the wedding?” Mom’s question is completely off topic. They were talking about what food to serve at the wedding.
I lift a strand of my platinum blonde hair and study it. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“It’d be nice if you did. You wouldn’t stand out so much in the photos.” Nice dig, Mom. It would be different if she brought it up when we were alone, but to do it in front of Parker is wild.
“I think it looks great.” Parker runs his fingers through my hair. Little does he know he just committed the greatest sin. He disagreed with my mother.
My dad, however, does his best to hide his grin. He doesn’t want to get on her bad side tonight.
“Well, it’s just a thought.” My mom throws out. She glances at the clock on the wall. “It’s getting late. Jasmin, can you get the kitchen cleaned up.”
“Um, sure.” I don’t know why I’m surprised she requested me to do it. It’s not like I have a brother and sister sitting right there. She could have asked them. Or, at least, told them to help. “I’ll get started as soon as Parker leaves.”
All of this makes me wonder what they are going to do when I eventually move out. I love my family, I do. But for once I’d like to see them place some responsibility on literally anyone else.
Parker reaches for my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll help you.” His voice is loud enough for only me to hear. I also know there’s no point in arguing with him about it. Especially when he’s doing everything he can to be the perfect boyfriend.
When Mom gets up from her chair, Parker lets go of my hand and stands. And I miss the steadiness it brought me. “Thank you for dinner, Ofilia. It was delicious. Same to you, Abraham.”
“It’s not a problem.” Dad moves to follow my mom. “Come by any time. You’re always welcome.”
As soon as they leave the room Daniela claps. “I think that went really well. And Dad is horrible with his acting skills.”
“What do you mean?” Parker looks at me then Daniela.
“He’s a big teddy bear. He was trying to act tough to intimidate you.” Daniela laughs.
“I wouldn’t mock his acting ability because he fooled me. I genuinely thought he didn’t like me, and it’s such a weird feeling.” He stacks his plate and silverware. “You ready to get started with all this?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Adam stands before motioning between him and Daniela. “We’ve got this.”
Clearly, he didn’t discuss this with our sister because she screws up her face in disappointment.
I mouth “thank you” to my baby brother and they start clearing the table.
Parker looks at the clock and down at me. “It’s getting late. I should probably head back soon.”
