Page 2 of Not About That Life
Ian’s friends may not care too much but I know Ian’s rabid female fans will care a whole lot. And I’m not talking the ones that curiously stalk on his social pages.
No, I’m talking the real-life Mean Girls.
I can only imagine the hysteria amongst Regina George and the Plastics once they hear about the engagement. If they were bold enough to confront me in my own studio, who knows what other smear campaign thick full of shade they’ll come up with next. I should probably buy sunglasses. “I see.”
“You also might want to tell certain members of your family,” he pauses and let the words linger in the air.
I know he’s not referring to Sam and Candy, but Ian also knows once a few people in my family know, news will inevitably travel back to them. This is the longest I’ve gone without speaking with my father and I hate it. I hate how I used to be Daddy’s Girl until I became a child he was ashamed of.
I don’t want to enter a marriage with Ian, knowing I have unresolved issues with my father. It’s bad enough those same issues transferred into our relationship from the very start. It’s not fair to Ian, nor would it be fair to any of our future children.
Before I can respond, our server appears with water and is ready to take our orders. Once we give them to him, he quickly leaves and we’re alone and lost within each other again. “I’m afraid once they find out, they’ll start taking advantage again. They were nice because they knew how wealthy you are. Now you’ll be a member of the family, they won’t stop until they get exactly what they want from you.”
He softly blinks at me and his eyes are hard to read. “Which is?”
“Everything,” I reply, “I’m sure they know the reach of the Fergusons.”
“Is Candy still on your friends’ list?”
I pull out my phone and check Facebook. Sure enough, there she is, with an update. She finally popped. She does look good with a baby bump, I’ll give her that much. That’s all I’m giving her.
I’ll never forget the humiliation she made me feel when her and her family ambushed me at Ian’s restaurant out of all places. How I was led to believe we were finally going to have some sort of relationship, even if I couldn’t fully respect her role in my father’s life. How I thought everything was water under the bridge and we were finally cool.
Candy reminded me, once again, how incredibly naïve I am. “She’s still there. Not a message or text from her since the confrontation. She probably thinks it’s my fault.”
Ian softly blinked away and lightly sighed. He didn’t like the pain and anguish my family caused me and I wasn’t a stan of it, neither. A part of me hoped this is a chapter in history that everyone knows, but no one wants to discuss because so much good happened after. Unfortunately for me, it’s been a quite long chapter and I’m tired of reading it.
Ian was angry at the hurt my family caused and he cautiously bided his time before he did something about it. He knew I didn’t want him to get involved but I also knew he wasn’t going to just stand in the shadows while I was disgraced by the very one who gave me life. Ian’d already proven he would go to great lengths to destroy the one that caused him irreparable harm.
The bomb was slowly ticking.
Our food arrives a short time later and I grab Ian’s other hand. “Let’s bless the food.”
Before me, Ian was never a religious person. To be honest, he still isn’t but he respects my faith, even if I don’t necessarily honor it all of the time. After a short prayer, we dig into our food and eat in a comfortable silence. I share my plate as he offers his.
He knows how to keep me happy – give me food, liquor, and dick, and I will never complain about anything.
“I want to introduce you to more of my world,” he begins after a bite of the fried catfish, “I want you to know more about me.”
“I know a lot about you,” I reply.
“You know bits and pieces,” he reveals, “and that’s because I wanted to see where we were going before you knew everything. Now that I know, I want you to explore my likes and interests as well.”
A small worry shot up my spine. “Such as?”
“I want to take you skiing with me come January.”
The small worry became the size of a 7.5 earthquake. “You really want my black ass on the slopes?”
Ian chuckles and I shake my head. So, hedoeswant my black ass on the slopes. This should be entertaining for one of us. “You might like it.”
“I know absolutely nothing about skiing.” I argue.
“I’ll teach you.” He softly blinks.
This is going to happen regardless of how I feel about it. Oh boy. “Okay, and what else?”
“Cricket.” He nods. “I want to take you to a cricket game.”
