“How’s the wedding planning going? Ready to call it quits and hire someone yet?” He asked once their food arrived.
She pointed her fork at him. “No! I told you, I can do this myself. It’s been my dream to plan my wedding since I was a girl.”
“Yes and now you’re a busy woman trying to make partner. I don’t want our wedding stomping all over your dreams,” he said.
Chelsea smiled. His consideration of her both in their relationship and at her job was what made her love him so much. “It’s not. It’s just, I really want to do this myself. Besides, Sangi’s helping.”
“Oh Sangi’s helping, well now I’m relieved.”
“Stop it,” Chelsea gave him a look. “What’s wrong with Sangi?”
“Well, let’s see. She told you to put laxatives in my coffee when we first met. On several occasions she’s asked me if I was gay, oh and tried to set me up with her cousin. Then there’s the time we asked her to watch the apartment. She let all the plants die, ate all of the food and didn’t even realize we got robbed.”
“Okay, lower your voice. I know. She can be a bit…odd, but she’s also my best friend. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for her,” Chelsea said.
Matthew sighed, but seemed to let the conversation dissipate for the moment. Chelsea knew Sangi could be a flake sometimes, but she had been there for her through every stage of her life. Both of their moms even worked at the same hospital, although Sangi’s mom was an ER doctor. She could trust Sangi, sometimes. It was just keeping her on task that was the hard part.
Matthew wiped his mouth with his napkin. “So, my parents house this weekend…” he began.
“Yay,” Chelsea chimed in.
“Look, I know you’re nervous. Hell, my mother still has the ability to make me feel like a little kid-”
“Yeah, not comforting.”
“However, I also know she’ll like you. I mean, you two are pretty alike,” he said before returning to his plate.
“Does she know you’re dating…you know, a black woman?”
Matthew almost choked on his chicken parmesan. He held up a finger to her as he drank down his glass of water. She stared back at him knowing the answer even before he came up for air. No, he hadn’t told her, not a thing.
“Matthew-”
“It’s no big deal. My parents aren’t racists, babe. Besides, race isn’t important anymore,” he said straightening his tie.
“Then why are you nervous? You only do that when you’re nervous. And it may not be important to us, but it is to some people. I mean, how do I know I’m not just setting myself up for an evening of failure?” Chelsea asked.
“First of all, they’re going to love you. Trust me. Second, I didn’t say evening. I said weekend. They invited us for the whole weekend so you could meet the family and a few close family friends.”
Chelsea dropped her fork onto her plate with a clink. She rested both of her elbows on the table and pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. As much as she loved Matthew, he sure had a habit of leaving out important details. It irritated her. When she opened her eyes, his hand was across the table, palm up, waiting for her hand. She looked at it before she turned away.
“Okay, I should have told you earlier, babe. I’m so sorry. I promise you, we will have a great weekend, my parents will love you and if things don’t go well, we’ll leave. Agreed?” He said.
She looked into his eyes. Those baby blues always seemed to win her over in the end. She sighed heavily. The nervous twisting in her stomach hadn’t left, but she couldn’t resist that sad look on his face for long. Chelsea rolled her eyes.
“Fine, but you will tell them before we go! And the first minute I don’t feel comfortable you will wrangle up some bullshit excuse and get me the hell out of there.”
Chelsea slipped her hand into his as he nodded. His fingers curled around her hand. The smile was back on his face making the nervousness in the pit of her stomach lift slightly. She still couldn’t shake the slight feeling however that things weren’t going to go well.
They finished their lunch and headed back to the office together arm in arm. They’d do that until they were in sight of the building and disconnect as if they were merely friends. They didn’t want people in their business, but in the office it was almost impossible to have a secret. Chelsea knew Jeff was a hopeless womanizer, Amy was getting a divorce and Roger had recently attended a sex addicts anonymous group. She wasn’t sure how anonymous it was if the whole office now knew.
Matthew opted for the stairs. She followed him into the narrow, dusty white corridor. Looking around to make sure no one was around,, Matthew laid a hand on her cheek. She felt heat sweep her body at his touch. Leaning in, he kissed her softly. It was sweet and innocent but quickly became something more. His tongue slipped into her mouth, wet and warm against her own. She felt wetness collect between her thighs. Her hands gripped his jacket. She wanted to push him up against the wall, slip a hand into his pants, grip his cock and stroke him into a frenzy. Even though they tried to keep a low profile, there was something hot about rubbing up against each other where they worked. They heard footsteps approaching and quickly broke apart.
“I’ll see you upstairs,” he whispered, a noticeable bulge in the front of his slacks.
Chelsea giggled as if she were back in high school as the stairwell door opened. She slipped past the man going up and headed for the elevators. If they didn’t have such an important case coming up, she would have invited him back to her office for a little play time, but she knew better. Mr. Whitehill had already warned her about slacking on her work. Not that she had, he just wanted a reason to lecture. Or maybe a reason to stare at her stocking legs. It was hard to tell.
She disappeared into her office ignoring the stares, whispers and giggles. Let them talk. She was marrying the man of her dreams and so close to making partner she could taste it. After she closed the door behind her, she could feel her cellphone buzzing away. Reaching a manicured hand down into her bag, she pulled out her phone. Sangi’s picture popped up. Just in time.
“Tell me you got the flowers squared away.”