My Mother in Law

Marriage and Whatnot Pt. II

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This chapter is dedicated to Elie_McGinnis for being the supportive friend she is. Go check out her book, it's a piece of art.
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Zachary's POV

I pulled up in front of her building. It was tall but not as tall as mine and looked modern but not too fancy. After giving her a call, I tried to calm myself down by drumming on the steering wheel with my thumbs which, needless to say, didn't work.

Out of the peripheral of my vision I saw her approaching. Before she could get to the car door, I had already went around an opened it for her. She looked surprised but still said "Thanks".

Most of the ride was silent, but as we were heading to the restaurant I'd reserved us a booth at, she blurted out as if in panic.

"Where are we going?"

I smiled "Not telling you,"

She puffed her cheeks, unaware of how cute that made her look.

Then giving me a wary look "Promise to bring me back alive?"

I smiled "Yup," then added "Oh and I never break my promises, that's why I don't do too many of them."

She nodded nonchalantly and looked out of the window for the rest of the way.

Once we arrived at the front of Alfonso's, I gave the valet my key and Talia led the way inside. As she got in, people gave her many stares but she averted her eyes and walked confidently. Many of the males were staring at her with either wonder or lust, and I'd say the latter judging by the way one of them was ogling at her, despite the attempts of his girlfriend and her breasts which were on full display. I quickened my pace and walked to keep up with her and show her to our table, subconsciously placing my hand on her lower back which she jerked away from. Great, already made things more awkward between us.

A short while after we were seated, we received our menus. She ordered the linguine and I did the lasagne. Garlic bread, mozerella sticks and wedges were ordered as appetizers.

After the waitress left, I was unsure if how to start a conversation with her. Do I just cut to the chase? Should I talk about something around the topic? I realized that even if I wanted to talk about General topics, I knew nothing about her. So I began "So Talia, tell me about yourself outside work. Your family, friends and all that."

She leaned in "I don't have a lot of family here. Actually, only my cousins. That's Rana whose 20, and Faris whose almost five."

"And outside the country?" I asked noticing she disregarded the 'tell me about yourslef' part.

She looked uncomfortable "Well I have 3 sisters that I haven't seen in quite some time and then there are also my parents..." her expression changed as she continued "My dad was a mechanical engineer, environmentalist, business man and he was knowledgeable and so much fun."

"Was?" I raised my eyebrow questioningly.

"Well... he was easily influenced by other people and couldn't see for himself what was going on around him. My mom... let's just say we were always at odds." She finished looking away.

Somehow the unease and hurt in her voice made me feel angry. Not raging or seething but still angry. But mostly, I wanted to comfort her.

I changed the topic and we chatted for sometime until our food came. We continued to talk about our travels and incidents while we were abroad.