Page 91 of Lovestruck at Sundown
William shot me a quizzical look, and I shrugged as we followed her.
My father came into view, sipping his amber liquid ofchoice from a small tumbler as he sat at a table fortwo,revealing the problem. He lifted his gaze and regarded William with indifference but smiled when he acknowledged me. He stood and greeted me with a kiss and William with a handshake.
He knew William was coming, and it was clear that he’d done this on purpose. But I didn’t want to kick off the night by arguing with him about it.
“My apologies for the confusion, Ambassador,” the maître d’ said to my father, who was a regular at this place, after the hostess explained the situation. He lifted his fingers and signaled someone behind us. A quick moment later, two servers rushed our way and lifted the empty table for two next to ours to make room for William and me to sit. The maître d’ removed thereservedsign from the table and motioned us to take a seat as William helped me to my chair.
“Sorry about that,” my dad said with a studied smile, picking up his glass and propping his elbow on the table. “It must’ve slipped my mind that you were joining us.” He sipped on his drink and settled it back next to his phone, which he couldn’t put away for a few hours. Not even on Christmas Eve.
We hadn’t been here for longer than five minutes, but I was beginning to feel my frustration peaking and spiraling in my gut.
A server approached us and took our drink order, mentioning that the first course of the Christmas prix-fixe menu would be served momentarily. But my appetite had taken a hit. William placed a hand on my knee and squeezed lightly. I was so embarrassed about my dad’s rude behavior and hoped we could be civil to one another for the rest of the evening.
“So, William,” my dad started to say, “how’s work been?”
I squeezed William’s hand over my knee and hoped for the best.
“Great, thank you for asking.” William smiled, and ourserver left two glasses of red wine in front of us. I immediately brought mine to my lips and took a longer sip than I usually would in public. “I just got back from filming in Vancouver.”
“Ah, yes.” My dad lifted his brows. “I saw the tabloid images of you stepping out of a restaurant with that woman behind you.”
My jaw dropped. I was too stunned to say something when William replied, “I didn’t take you for a tabloid enthusiast, James.” He chuckled and took a sip of his wine. William and I had cleared out that incident. That must’ve made it easier for him to come up with a comeback without worrying about my feelings getting hurt.
“You’d be surprised to learn the things I’m willing to do for my daughter,” my dad replied with a straight face.
I cleared my throat, intending to say something that would stop his rude behavior, when a woman and a teenage girl approached the table shyly.
“Sorry to disturb you,” the woman said to William in a Southern accent, resting her hands on the blonde girl’s shoulders. “My daughter is a huge fan, and I was wondering if she could take a quick photo with you since you haven’t started eating yet.”
By the look of the woman’s dreamy eyes, I could easily tell she was probably the bigger fan between the two of them and had likely used her daughter as an excuse to approach William.
My dad stared at William with adon’t you dare interrupt dinnerkind of look, which only encouraged William to do the opposite.
“Of course.” William stood and buttoned his suit, offering them his Hollywood persona smile. And I took a deep, calming breath, secretly enjoying seeing how William made my dad squirm.
“Oh, goodness,” the woman said with a giggle, arching back her neck to look up at William. “You’re even taller in person.”She placed her daughter beside William and snapped a quick photo of them. I could feel the entire restaurant’s eyes on us at this point. And even if grabbing everyone’s attention wasn’t ideal, a part of me was enjoying seeing my dad’s disgruntled face.
“Thank you so much!” The woman practically shouted with a toothy grin. She hunched over behind her daughter and said, “Say thank you, Myla.”
“Thank you, William.” The girl’s face went tomato red.
“Have a good evening, ladies.” William nodded and unbuttoned his jacket to sit back at the table. “I’m sorry about that,” he whispered, pressing a soft kiss on my cheek. “You were saying, James?”
My dad clicked his tongue, his features edged with passive contempt, and the first course arrived before he could threaten William for a second time.
We managed to eat in peace while my dad inquired about my school life, pointedly ignoring William’s presence. The small talk continued, and the servers had to politely redirect more than five individuals who attempted to approach our table separately to chat with William, requesting they refrain from disrupting us.
My dad stabbed a piece of turkey with his fork and said, “Must be uncomfortable to be recognized wherever you go.” He swiped the piece of meat on the gravy and took it to his mouth.
“One gets used to it,” William countered, reaching for a piece of bread from the basket.
“Mm.” My dad wiped his mouth with his napkin and settled it back on his lap. “Not to mention how unsafe all this attention is altogether. But it puts me somewhat at ease knowing you have private security and that they’ve also been watching after my daughter when you were away. That’s very decent of you. I appreciate it.” He tilted his head and considered William for a moment before shifting his attention toward me as if trying tomeasure our reactions, but I was quick to spin back the initial shock before he could read it on my face.
William had private security following me around behind my back?
This couldn’t be. William wouldn’t keep something like that from me. But I couldn’t seem oblivious about this in front of my father. It would only give him more reason to disrespect our relationship. So I had to fight past the need to ask William if that was true or not and let him cue me into the conversation.
“Ah, yes.” William squeezed my thigh under the table. “Agent Hawthorne is as loyal and trustworthy as they come.”
