Liam shrugs, while giving me an I-tried look. Max stabs a mini-tomato so hard, it bursts. And my heart is about to overload with anxiety.
“None of this is relevant. The only thing that matters is that I chose her,” I manage, despite the apprehension clenched around my throat. “I’m not changing my mind no matter what you say.”
“Aren’t you too old to rebel?” Grandmother says stiffly.
I raise an eyebrow. “I’ll tell you what I’m too old for: having someone else run my life.”
“What’s the entrée?” Finn asks in a desperate attempt to change the topic.
“Lamb chops.” Dad rubs his hands with anticipation. “My favorite. Jane Pryce prepped it, so you know it’s going to be amazing,” he says, referring to one of the most sought-after caterers in the area.
“I think I want to head home. I’m allergic to lamb served with bad company.” Max’s eyes zero in on my grandmother.
She scoffs quietly.Do you think I care about what you think?She doesn’t say it, but might as well. “Call her an Uber, Rhys.”
I stand. “Actually, I’ll drive her home.”
“You aren’t her chauffer.”
“No, I’m her boyfriend. We live together.”
“Already? You aren’t even married. She’s…so…beneath you!”
“Grandmother!”
Max puts a warm hand on my taut forearm, and turns to Grandmother. “Thank you for the invitation, but I’ve had enough of this. I don’t care for your constant harping about my lack of pedigree or whatever else you find inadequate. This is the twenty-first century. We are what we achieve through our own hard work, not some position our ancestors held. What’s important is that Rhys and I care for and respect each other. That’s more important than any objection you can throw at us.” Holding her head high, she loops her arm through mine. “Let’s go.”
I nod curtly to my forebears and head out with her. My brothers shoot me looks full of sympathy and encouragement. Grandmother’s face turns white, red, then purple, the vein in her forehead throbbing. Grandfather pats her back, giving me a disapproving glare for upsetting her. Dad waves carelessly, while Mom blows kisses like a beauty pageant queen on a parade.
I open the car door for Max, then close it once she’s settled in. I climb behind the wheel, and the Cullinan’s engine purrs to life. I take us back on the road.
Embarrassment and dread twine inside my gut. The single shot of vodka I finished seems to burn.
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Max decided to end our arrangement early. Despite the stunning speech she gave, she has to be furious. After all, Grandmother attacked her pride and self-esteem relentlessly, as though she were inadequate for not meeting some lofty standard nobody understands but Grandmother. Dad and Mom didn’t help by focusing on Max’s physical attributes, like she’s some kind of merchandise.
“I’m sorry you had to suffer through that,” I say stiffly.
“So am I,” she says quietly.
Inevitability clenches around my throat. I flex my hands around the steering wheel, my shoulders tight. “Are you… Um…” I struggle for the right word, but can’t think of anything.Are you upset?seems stupid. Obviously she is, to cut the dinner short.Are you ending this?sounds self-fulfilling.
“Finish your thought.”
“My thought is that I want you to go ahead…if you have anything you want to say.” The memory of how things fell apart with Selena plays in my head like a horror movie, and I clamp my mouth down to contain the bile. Her utter shock and disgust. She couldn’t possibly be with a guy who has a family like that. It was just too weird and wrong. If she’d known, she would’ve never wasted her time—
“I’m sorry you had to live with a family like that. Not your brothers. They’ve always been great. But your grandmother is a snob, and your parents… Well, I think they mean well, but they’re not…properly socialized. And it’s too late now.”
Three or four seconds pass before I realize Max is finished. “That’s it?” I ask, just to be sure.
She glances across at me. Shrugs. “Well…yeah.”
“You aren’t upset, or disappointed…?”
She scrutinizes me for a long moment. “Why do I feel like you think I’m somehow talking about you?”
“Because they’re my family…?”
She shakes her head. “I meant what I said to your grandmother. I know you—your character and achievements. Some aspects of your family situation aren’t ideal, but whose is? I’d never judge you for what your relatives do. You’re you, and they’re them.”
