Page 61 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
He also stopped to be photographed, and it was funny how uncomfortable he always seemed to be aboutit. Out of the three of us, my middle brother was the one who dealt the worst with the celebrity status we had practically had since we were born.
“"Oh, my dear... it's so good to see you!" my mother said, getting up to hug my brother.
I noticed more camera flashes going off above us and felt uneasy about the fact that even a simple family reunion had become fodder for the media.
"Hi, Mom. And hey, Mike. Who would’ve thought I’d ever be attending a birthday party for one of your kids?"
We exchanged a light pat on the back, and he sat down next to me. Only then did I reply, “Which part is more amazing? Me having a daughter or you coming to some family event?”
“You having children, of course. I'm looking forward to meeting little Alice.”
“If those old jerks decide to come and bring her with them...” my mother replied, making the anger she felt towards my daughter's maternal grandparents even more evident. Then, she returned to focusing on Logan. “But Michael is right, dear. We hardly ever see you. Are you okay? You seem thinner, have you been eating properly?”
Logan didn't look any thinner. He looked exactly the same as he always did.
Of the three children, he was the one who physically resembled our mother the most. He had the same facial features and the same blue eyes (Sebastian also had the latter). The only difference was the color of his hair, dark brown like mine and our late father's.
While he answered our mother — as always, talking about the hectic pace of his work at a big hospital in Los Angeles — I turned my focus back to the entrance of the hall, because it wasn’t just Alice I was waiting for.
After a few minutes, as if reading my thoughts, my mother commented, “Why didn’t you pick Camila up at home?"
"She asked me to come ahead and meet her here directly. She’s coming straight from work."
My mother gave me a horrified look.
"You made your own fiancée work on a Saturday, Michael?"
"No, Mom. It’s not at the office. On Saturdays she helps her grandmother at the family bookstore."
"Your girl owns a bookstore?" Logan asked.
My mother was quick to respond. She really seemed delighted with everything that had to do with Camila.
“It’s her grandmother’s, actually, but she told me that Camila helps her a lot. She’s such a hard-working girl. You need to meet her, son.”
“Seriously?” Logan looked incredulous. “Hard-working? What an opposition to Mike.”
“Hey!” I grumbled.
“Wow, you wouldn’t believe it!” my mother agreed. “I swear I don't know how that intelligent and hard-working girl saw anything in Michael.”
“I'm right here!” I said.
My mother, however, continued, “He’s gorgeous, of course. All three of you are. But we know he doesn’t want anything to do with life. Camila, on the other hand, is so focused. She looks a lot more like you, Logan.”
“Besides insulting me, now you're also going to offer my bride to my brother? Because Camila has absolutely nothing to do with him.”
They both laughed and I wondered what was funny about that, until Logan put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Who would have thought, he's really in love. He's even jealous of a simple comment.”
Jealous? Me? Especially of something silly like a comment like that?
He was clearly wrong.
“Camila is a great girl,” my mother said again. “Being jealous is good, it spices up the relationship. But don't go overboard like your father did, okay?”
My first impulse was to immediately respond that I would not be like my father in any way. However, I quickly corrected myself mentally, reminding myself that it was irrelevant. Because Camila and I were not really together. Our marriage would never even come to fruition.
For some reason, thinking about it gave me a strange feeling, like a lump had formed in my stomach.
