Make It or Break It

Chapter Eighteen: Telling the Parents

Riley looked at Fernando nervously as they drove down the winding roads that lead to her parent’s house; it was Friday night, which meant Riley had dinner with her parents as usual.

Fernando offered her a reassuring smile as they pulled up outside of her childhood home, she bite her lip as Aiden suddenly fell quiet; he had happily being chatting to Nora until they had pulled up outside of the house.

Fernando glanced at the little boy in the mirror of the car, he could tell he didn’t want to be here; Riley had warn him that her mother was a bit of a snob.

“You look beautiful,” the footballer reassured her as she climbed out of the car; she was wearing a pencil dress in colour block with shell top paired with silver high heels.

Riley smiled at him as she helped Nora and Aiden out of the Audi Q7, she knew that this wasn’t going to be easy and her mother was going to be a big problem.

Fernando pressed a quick kiss to her lips, he knew that tonight would be tough for both of them; they were here to tell her parents that they were dating.

Knocking on the door, Riley offered Fernando one last smile before one of the family’s maids opened the door allowing them to step inside.

Nora looked at her father confused; he offered her a smile as they were lead into the living room where Riley’s parents where bickering.

Emily Montez pursed her lips as her daughter walked into the room with Fernando; she wasn’t too pleased that her daughter had called to say she was bring Fernando and Nora to Friday night dinner.

Richard nodded at the footballer, as Emily stood and walked out of the room; he knew his wife worried that this could hurt her chances of getting Riley married to one of her fancy men.

“Ignore her,” Richard muttered making Riley sigh knowing that her mother would probably take her news worse than her father would.

Fernando sat down on the coach next to Riley who forced a smile at him as the two children talked between themselves, before Emily re-entered the room and smiled sweetly at them.

“How is work going Nicole?” Emily asked as she sat down, she was sure that she could put a stop to whatever was going on here before it was too late.

Fernando glanced at Riley slightly confused as she sighed and nodded, he knew his girlfriend and her name certainly wasn’t Nicole.

“Things are going well,” Riley said knowing that she should have explained that her mother refused to call her by her first name; it was a little confusing to some people why Emily called her Nicole.

“That’s nice… James has been asking about you,” Emily said sweetly, Riley held back a groan and nodded; she couldn’t believe her mother was still trying to push him on her still.

“Great,” Riley said rolling her eyes, Fernando couldn’t stop the frown that formed on his face; he didn’t like the idea of someone else being interested in Riley.

Richard raised an eyebrow as Riley looked at Fernando who nodded, he had a feeling that there was a big reason why his daughter had brought the footballer home with her.

“Mum… Dad… there is something I wanted to talk to you about,” Riley said carefully, she chewed on her lip knowing that she needed to do this now or she wouldn’t do it at all.

Emily looked at her daughter, before she glared at her husband who shrugged and waited for Riley to speak.

“You’re not pregnant again aren’t you?” Emily said with a hint of bitterness in her voice that made Fernando glare at her as Riley shook her head; she knew that her mother wasn’t the easiest to get along with.

Richard raised an eyebrow at his daughter, she had always been strong willed and he loved that about her; she was someone that could stand on her own two feet without a rich man at her side.

“Me and Fernando… we’re dating,” Riley said as she and Fernando held hands; Emily and Richard stared at them for a moment, they were a little surprised at what their only daughter’s news.

The silence in the room made Fernando nervous about what would happen, he was more worried about what Richard would say since he was dating the man’s daughter.

“I told you this would happen… she’d get involved with one of your precious footballers,” Emily hissed at her husband furious that Riley hadn’t picked one of her fancy boys that she had been pushing on her for years.

Richard sighed and rolled his eyes at his wife’s words, Riley and Fernando watched him hesitantly making him laugh slightly at the expressions on their faces.

“You two aren’t that secretive… the whole team knew you two were dating,” Richard said amused as he sipped on his drink, it wasn’t really a secret even if he was surprised that the couple were going public now.

Fernando was only just separating from his wife and he worried that there would be large backlash if it came out that the footballer already had someone new in his life even if Olalla’s affair had come out.

“You spend so much time together… I knew that you would tell me when you were ready,” Richard said shrugging as Emily looked out at outraged, she had never wanted her daughter to date a footballer and had known from the start that this was going to happen.

Riley deserved better and Emily had spent years trying to get her daughter to see that the lawyers, doctors and businessmen of her rich friends were the men that she should be dating.

Fernando looked relieved as he realised that Richard was okay with him dating his daughter, he really loved Riley and he knew how much this meant to her; he didn’t want to come between his girlfriend and her family.

Emily stared at her husband outraged that he was okay with their daughter dating a footballer; he wasn’t good enough for her and she wished Richard would see that.

“Between you and Jacob, Riley has a hard enough time getting a boyfriend without me getting involved,” Richard said as he looked over at his wife, this was Riley’s life and she had no interest in the fancy men that Emily tried to set her up with.

Emily huffed and crossed her arms, she didn’t like that he was agreeing with this and she knew that she was going to have to do something about it; she hated that her daughter wasn’t dating someone proper.

Emily had never thought that football was a real job and she wouldn’t change her mind, Richard might have been a footballer when they met but Emily now regretted getting with her husband.

She often felt embarrassed that her husband was a manager of a football team and she often pretended it was just a hobby of his to her friends.

“So what’s for dinner? It’s not that rabbit food you had served last week is it?” Richard asked starting to feel hungry, he smiled at his wife knowing that she was annoyed.

Emily pursed her lips as she pushed herself to her feet and stormed towards the kitchen, she was sure that James would make a much better choice for her than Fernando would ever be.

Riley watched her mother leave and sighed as she turned to look at her boyfriend, she pressed a kiss to his lips knowing that as long as her father was okay with this then she didn’t care what her mother thought.

Fernando smiled knowing that for the first time in a long time, he was happy with his life.