Make It or Break It

Chapter Twenty-Two: Parents Dislike

Riley wished she could have the simpler things in life, standing outside Fernando’s parents’ house; she wished that she could have meet Fernando before he had married Olalla.

Fernando offered her a reassuring smile, as they moved towards the front door; Aiden and Nora happily chatting as they went completely unaware about how nervous Riley was right now.

Riley had agonised for hours over what she should wear to meet Fernando’s parents, she wanted to give them a good impression and had chosen to wear a coral bandeau midi dress in lace paired with nude multi strap barely there heeled sandals.

The brunette had originally bought to visit her grandparents in but she had decided to wear it to meet Fernando’s parents instead.

As the door opened Fernando smiled at the elderly woman, who grinned at the sight of him; he had missed his mother in the months since he had last seen her.

“Madre,” Fernando greeted as he allowed her to pull him into a hug, it had been so long and so much had changed since he had last been home.

Aiden looked at his mother, who smiled down at him while Flori greeted her son and her granddaughter; they weren’t important right now and Riley knew that there was no rushing these things.

Fernando cleared his throat making his mother look at him, she knew he was going to introduce her to his new girlfriend and her son; the two that she had been purposely ignoring.

“Madre… this is Riley and her son Aiden,” Fernando said with a warning look; he didn’t want her making Riley or Aiden feeling uncomfortable, they were guests and he wanted everyone to get alone.

Flori pursed her lips as she finally looked at the young woman who looked nervous; she watched as her son took her hand in comfort.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Riley said trying to break the ice; she knew it was pointless and that Flori had already decided to hate her no matter what she did.

The brunette had known that there was little chance that Flori and José were ever going to like her; they would see her as the woman that had broken up their youngest son’s first marriage.

“I can’t say the same,” Flori replied making Fernando frown at his mother, he had hoped that she’d at least give Riley a small chance so that she could get to know her.

 Flori ignored the look that Fernando gave her as they stepped into Fernando’s childhood home, she fussed over Nora who seemed a little upset about being parted from Aiden.

“Are you still sure this is a good idea?” Riley asked softly, she was aware his parents were taking this worse than her parents had.

Fernando nodded his head, he wanted his parents to get to know her; he wanted them to see how much he cared for Riley and that while Olalla was a mistake, she wasn’t.

“I’m sure,” Fernando said as Riley picked Aiden up, she knew he didn’t like meeting new people especially when they didn’t seem to like his mother.

Fernando ran his hand through the young boy’s hair, trying to comfort him slightly knowing that this wasn’t going to be easy for him; he hated that his parents weren’t being welcoming to them.

“Madre… what’s for dinner?” the footballer asked making Flori look at him; her eyes lingered on the young boy that was in Riley’s arms.

“My paella,” Flori said making Aiden look at her, it was one of his favourite dishes and he loved when his mother made him chicken paella.

Aiden spoke quite a bit of Spanish, since his mother was half-Spanish on her father’s side though Emily refused to allow it to be spoken in her presence.