Head over Stilettos for my boss...

Chapter Thirty-One :)

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Maxine’s POV

I glanced at the clock that was directly above my television and sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time. For the past two hours, I had been trying to build up just a little bit of courage to call my dad. My phone had sat next to me, staring at me pointedly the entire two hours and I felt the glare that it was giving me grow more heated in anger everytime. I could just imagine what my phone would say if it had a mouth. It would probably call me a coward, a wimp, a lazy bum, every detrimental word that you could call someone who was scared to call her father. I stared at it for two more minutes before jumping when it started ringing. It was John.

‘Please tell me you’ve called him.’ He said straightaway.

‘I can’t tell you.’

‘Max, call him. Now! This is making me have high blood pressure. I’m nervous too you know. Just call your dad, arrange the date and then we’ll go from there. This isn’t even the hardest part.’ He said frustratedly.

‘This whole process is hard.’

‘Do you not want me to meet your parents?’ John questioned.

‘You know I do, I said it myself when we came back from visiting your mum.’

‘So why are you stalling like this? Please just do it. Stop chickening out.’

‘Don’t insult me please.’

‘Then do it.’

And with that, John dropped the phone.

I let the phone drop on the couch and stared at it for another two minutes before deciding that this whole thing was ridiculous. The worst that could happen in the end was that my dad would say he didn’t like John. But then, no one wants their father to hate the guy that they’re with! I mentally screamed.

‘Ok, let’s do this,’ I said to myself, ‘there’s nothing to be scared about. You can do this. Come on Maxine Rivers.’

I typed in my dad’s numbers, took a deep breath, released it and then pressed the call button.

Three rings later, he picked up.

‘Maxine! You finally decide to call me I see.’ My dad said down the phone. I could hear his smile through the line; he was predictable like that.

‘Hi daddy. I’m sorry, I’ve just been so busy.’

‘Busy? Too busy to call the number one in your life. No no no darling. That’s not good enough. What’s been keeping you busy that you couldn’t call your old man hmmm?’ he asked.

‘Well I got a promotion daddy so my work load has kind of increased. I have a lot more to do now.’

‘A promotion? A promotion! My baby got a promotion! And you didn’t think to call me and share the news? I can’t even be told when my baby gets a promotion so that I can congratulate you.’

‘I’m sorry dad. It totally slipped my mind. But there’s a bright side to this call, I promise.’

‘Oh there better be. I’m about to smack you head through this phone. It sounds to me like you’re beginning to forget your family and your rules. I hope you’re not forgetting everything that I taught you. You shouldn’t you know. It’s like I instilled rubbish into all you children. Every value that I taught you is essential to your life. Trust me! I know.’

I closed my eyes in frustration. He was just reminding me of the fact that I was dating my boss; something he would seriously frown upon. Like, seriously, seriously. Now I was even more reluctant to let John meet him.

‘Now, tell me honey. What’s the bright side? This better be good.’ My dad said.

‘Well, I was wondering if I could come home next week, have dinner with you and mum. Spend some time with you guys?’ I asked with a little hope that he would for some reason say no; he was too busy, or that they were going out or something.

‘Oh honey that’s great!’ no such luck on that side then.

‘Of course you can come over. It would be great to see you again. Your visits are even more infrequent than your phone calls. What’s the special occasion?’ He questioned.

‘I want you to meet someone.’ I said slowly.

‘Oh.’ My dad said in understanding.

‘Is this a someone? Or a someone?’ He asked, dragging the second ‘someone’.

I laughed and could almost see the wink that he would be doing if I was right in front of him.

‘Oh dad, please stop. I just want you meet someone that’s very important to him. I’m hoping you like them as much as I do.’

‘Okay then. Bring them along. I’ll tell your mother to make something extra special. We’ll expect you around the evening then?’

‘Yes probably around six ish. We’ll see you next week Saturday then.’

‘Yes. I look forward to it. Bye sweetheart. Love you.’

‘Love you too dad.’

The line went dead.

It was officially done. My dad was meeting John next week. This meeting could either go really well or really badly.

I dialled John’s number.

He picked up after two rings.

‘Please tell me you’ve done it. I really can’t stand this tension any longer.’

‘Yeah, I’ve done it. My dad kind of caught on that I was bringing someone that I was romantically linked to.’

‘Oh, so there’s no chance of hiding my relationship with you?’ John asked a little nervously.

‘No baby.’

‘Okay. My heart rate just increased a little. He won’t punch me or anything will he?’ John questioned.

‘Ok, now you’re being ridiculous. Stop it. He’s not that bad, I think.’

John laughed dryly down the phone.

‘Maxine, please stop.’

‘Stop stressing. It won’t be that bad. The worst he can say is that he doesn’t like you. It won’t stop me from being with you.

‘But it doesn’t stop the fact that I want him to like me still. I just want him to accept our relationship. It’s not going to look good if your dad hates me and it will certainly have an effect on you in some way.’

‘I see where you’re coming from but there’s nothing we can do right now. We’re going over there next week by six pm so you’re going to have to stop being a chicken and man up.’

‘Yes yes yes. I know. I have to go now so I’ll talk to you later. I love you’

Then he dropped the phone before I had a chance to reply to what was said. Then I realised:

HE SAID IT AGAIN!