Page 62 of Hardcore Vanilla
Sitting down, Sharon found herself feeling flustered.
If he stuck around, he'd get used to it. He did seem interested in sticking around. Right? She eyed him, but he was looking down at the program and there was no way she was going to question him while her mom was right next to her. Sighing inwardly, she settled into her chair.
She was so discombobulated that she immediately obeyed her mother's hissed direction to sit up straight. Which, of course, led to her mom trying to demand she also cross her ankles and rest her hands a certain way. So she could look more 'ladylike' - at least, how ladies should look according to her mom. Rolling her eyes, Sharon slumped back down again and ignored her mother's exasperated sigh as well as Jake's questioning look.
The ceremony went off without a hitch. Mark and Melinda were practically glowing as they stared lovingly at each other, making Sharon sniffle. Her purse was well stocked with tissues. Weddings where the couple truly loved each other always made her emotional, so she'd come prepared. Sadly, it was something that was only necessary with about half the family weddings she attended.
Then came the cocktail hour, which Sharon could never decide whether she enjoyed or hated when it came to her family’s weddings.
At anyone else’s weddings she usually loved them. Little delicious bits of food, some booze, and talking about the lovely ceremony and happy couple with her friends? Yup, she was totally down for that.
But with her family, the cocktail hour usually meant a lot of gossip, backbiting, and business with a few genuine interactions sprinkled in between.
On the plus side – plenty of high-quality booze to numb the pain of all the fake interactions.
******
"They don't have beer?" Jake asked, a little dumbfounded. Not that he objected to the well-made old-fashioned Sharon had just handed him, but he had planned to keep his drinking light so he could be on his toes.
Sharon smirked at him. "I thought you wanted me to try and get along with my parents."
"I mean, I guess, but... Are you saying beer would upset them?" He knew he sounded dubious.
"You could always try it and find out," she teased. Something in her eyes told him she was being completely sincere though, which was mind-boggling. He also had started to see what she meant about her parents being worse when she was cooperative. Not just at breakfast, either. He hadn't missed her little interaction with her mom before the ceremony.
It seemed like making one small correction just invited several more. Sharon's attitude was making more sense to him now. It was impossible to compromise with people who didn't want to meet halfway. Instead of just being happy she'd done one thing, they immediately asked for the next thing they wanted from her. Demanded it, really.
Not a fun way to live.
Last night he'd been exasperated by her unwillingness to give even a little.
Today, he kind of wanted to bundle her away and protect her from the demands of her family. Even though she obviously didn't need his protection.
Turning away from the bar, Sharon ground to a halt as a very pale old woman with red hair stopped in front of her. Dressed in a vibrant green dress that showed off quite a bit of cleavage, she looked Sharon up and down with a frown.
"Hi, Aunt Meg," Sharon said blithely, ignoring the look of disapproval on the woman's face. "This is my date, Jake. Jake, this is my Aunt Meg."
Jake was going under the assumption that Aunt Meg must have married into the family, because she didn't look like any of the other relatives he’d met.
Turning her expression of disapproval to Jake, Aunt Meg looked him up and down. "You're the construction worker?"
"Ah..." Jake had absolutely no idea how to respond to the disdainful statement. She didn't sound like she required an answer.
To his utter shock, it wasn't Sharon who stepped into the breach.
"Construction worker?" The lilting tones of Mrs. Bianchi were full of genteel amusement as she appeared at his elbow, but she was speaking just a little more softly than Aunt Meg had. Her arm tucked into her husband's, they presented an unexpectedly united front with Sharon and Jake. "Why Meg, who on Earth was filling your ear with that drivel?"
Meg sniffed as Sharon leaned into Jake's side. He looked down at her to see what her reaction was, and to his surprise, she grinned and winked up at him as if she was sharing a secret. Which just confused him even more.
"Everyone's talking about it," Meg said haughtily, turning her nose up in the air. "We all know Sharon can be a little unusual but... a construction worker? Really?"
"Sergeant Standish is not only a decorated veteran who served for our country, he is now a contractor for a highly successful remodeling company, as well," Mr. Bianchi said, his voice carrying even more than his wife's had. Jake winced a little at being referred to as ‘sergeant.’ He wasn’t high-ranking enough and hadn’t been in long the service enough for anyone who was actually military to refer to him by his rank now that he was out. Sharon’s dad was just using it as a way to make Jake sound more important. "They just did Everett's new office building recently. It's top quality work."
Mr. Bianchi nodded towards a dark-haired man across the room; Jake guessed he must be Everett. The name did sound familiar. Jake was pretty sure that was the guy who had the penthouse above his office that his crew had been working on when he’d first started up with Sharon.
"I think it's so admirable that after everything Jake has done for our country, he's come home and jumped right into learning new skills, which so many of us are lacking in nowadays," Mrs. Bianchi said and Jake had to work overtime to keep his expression neutral.She did?Beside him, Sharon was shaking slightly with silent laughter, but no one was paying attention to her. "It's really quite admirable. And, I'm sure, a relief to him that he'll never need to pay someone for something as simple as changing a light bulb or an air filter."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Bianchi laughed.
