My knuckles brushing against James' lips pulled me out of my own head. I smiled up at him. "I'm sorry about how much this has been weighing on you. I know that I was annoying you, pushing your parents to meet me."
He kissed the back of my hand again. "Nothing you do annoys me. I just want you to be happy."
"I am." I rested my head against his shoulder. And nervous, excited, angry, and anxious. I needed to calm down. James' cologne always seemed to soothe me. He continued to stroke his thumb against my palm. It didn't take long for me to calm down.
As soon as we pulled up to his parents' house on the outskirts of the city, though, I could feel myself getting tense again.
"I thought it started at seven." James looked at his watch.
We were half an hour early, but the gate was already open and there were tons of cars parked along the long driveway. It looked like there were going to be way more than 30 people inside. I had already seen the outside of the house. It was more of a mansion than a house really. And I had been nervous about what I was going to say when it came into view because James didn't know I had come here one day and seen it already. At least I could still be surprised when we got inside. Luckily he was too distracted to notice my silence. It was hard not to stare at the immense building though. It was made up completely of gray stone and reminded me of an estate that had been turned into a museum back home. No wonder James wanted a bigger place if this is what he was used to. Our new apartment would make him feel claustrophobic soon enough as well.
"They said they wanted to meet you one on one first, without everyone else around." Now James sounded tense too. "Maybe I got the time wrong."
That was doubtful. James was rarely ever wrong. And even if he was, he never admitted it. I pulled my eyes away from the house. "It's okay. I'm sure I'll still have plenty of time to talk to them." But my heart wasn't in my words. Maybe they had told us the wrong time so they wouldn't have to talk to me at all.
Ian pulled the car around to the front. James quickly got out of the car and put his hand out for me. He didn't look tense anymore. He just looked pissed. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet.
"James." I grabbed both sides of his face. "It's okay. But please, please don't leave me alone in there."
He smiled and gave me a quick kiss. "I don't know what my parents are up to. I'm not letting you out of my sight."
I laughed. "You make it seem like they're planning something evil."
"We should get inside." He interlaced his fingers with mine and walked me toward the door.
His words made my heart beat even faster. I knew his parents didn't really want to know me. But it didn't seem like they were trying to get rid of me. They were throwing a party for us. We had just gotten the time wrong. Everything was going to be fine.
We walked up the front steps, which were a matching gray stone. A man standing outside the front doors grabbed the door handle, but paused before opening the door when he saw us. A huge smile spread over his face. He let go of the door handle. "You must be Penny," he said.
James squeezed my hand. "Eric, this is Penny. Penny, this is Eric. He's worked for my parents for as long as I can remember. And he's a good friend."
Eric walked down the few steps that separated us and stuck out his hand.
I immediately shook it. "It's so nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine, Penny. James has told me so much about you. You are just as lovely as he said."
"Thank you, Eric." If everyone was this friendly inside, I had nothing to worry about.
James clapped Eric on the back. "The party was supposed to start at seven right?"
"No, it started at six. A last minute change. You didn't know?"
James laughed, but it wasn't his normal contagious one. It sounded forced. "I must not have gotten the memo."
"Well, you two better get inside. Everyone's waiting for you." Eric ran back up the steps and opened up the door for us.
I heard classical music playing as we stepped into the foyer. The floor was marble and it lead toward an ornate twisted staircase. It really did feel like I was in a museum. There were even old portraits hung up on the walls around us. I looked up the ceiling, where an enormous chandelier hung. "I can't believe this is where you grew up." I almost tripped when I felt the resistance of James' hand on mine. He had stopped directly in the middle of the foyer.
"What's wrong?"
James was just staring straight ahead. I turned to see what he was looking at.
"You can't be serious." Rob was standing by an older couple in the foyer. Someone else was directly in front of him, but he was blocking my view. "He'll never forgive you. You do realize that right? You can't do this. Please don't do this."
"She's still part of this family, whether you like it or not. I believe James knows that better than anyone," the woman I didn't recognize said.
"Won't you just listen to me for one second? You haven't even met Penny. Is this really how you want to meet your future daughter in law? This is supposed to be the start of your relationship, not the end."
"Enough," the older man said. He looked a little like James. He must be his father. "You will not treat a guest in our house like this."
The woman, who I assumed was his mother, cleared her throat and nodded toward James.
Rob's face was red when he turned around. He looked directly at me. He looked more sad than upset. His eyes landed on James and he shook his head.
James' grip tightened around my hand.
A hand wrapped around Rob's arm, pushing him to the side. Isabella was standing there with a smug look on her face. She looked me up and down and then whispered something to James' mother. Both women laughed.
"Hippopotamus," I whispered. When we had first moved to New York, James had always made me promise to tell him if I was ever uncomfortable. That was our word. Whenever I said that, he knew I wanted to leave. I had never used it before. When we had chosen it, we thought that whatever the situation, it would make us laugh. Neither one of us was laughing now.
Chapter 8
Friday
Rob quickly walked over to us. "Penny, I'm so sorry. If I had known I would have told you guys."
I didn't even know what to say.
James dropped my hand. "Can you take Penny into the main room? I need to talk to our parents."
"James, please..." I said.
But he didn't seem to hear me. He had already started walking toward his parents and Isabella.
My whole body felt cold. I couldn't do this. I didn't belong here. I turned around so I could walk out the door, but Rob caught my hand.
"It's okay," he said. "Hey, it's okay. There's a bunch of people in the other room that actually want to see you."
"I can't do this, Rob. They don't want me here."
"Well, I want you here." He linked his arm in mine. "Come on, don't let my parents ruin tonight. Everyone is here to celebrate you and James." He pulled me past them and through a long hallway.
I could hear James raising his voice. It echoed in the large foyer, making it impossible to hear what he was saying. Rob picked up his pace, trying to put distance between them and me.