What Nathan Wants

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “The pleasure is all mine.” Just as Nathan thought, he liked them already.

  “Where’s Amy?” Terry looked around the crowded area.

  “Well, you see—” Nathan began.

  “Mom! Dad!”

  Nathan stopped and turned his attention to Amy who appeared as if she’d just run a mile.

  She was out of breath with her hair in disarray around her shoulders. She hugged her parents. “I didn’t know you were due in at four.”

  “What?” Nathan remembered telling her what time her parents would be in.

  Amy turned to him and shook her head. “Why didn’t you return any of my phone calls? I asked you when I needed to come. I know your meeting ran long, but these are my parents.”

  In that instant, he understood her ploy. Yes, she was still mad that he forced her to marry him. Well, he didn’t get in the position he was in by letting these curveballs throw him off guard. Putting on a contrite expression, he said, “I thought I did, honey.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and slapped his forehead. “I forgot to turn this back on. I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Looking at her parents with a ‘please forgive me’ expression, he added, “They don’t like cell phones going off when you’re in a meeting.”

  Amy’s jaw dropped.

  Her father patted him on the shoulder. “No harm in that, son. It was an honest mistake.” He smiled at Nathan and Amy. “The point is you’re both here.”

  Her mother clapped her hands and sighed. “Oh, Terry, don’t they make such a wonderful couple?”

  “They sure do. A fine looking one.”

  Crisis averted, Nathan smiled and put his arm around Amy’s shoulders. “Well, I’m thankful to have her. She’s an incredible woman. You two did a great job of raising her.”

  Her parents grinned at each other.

  Nathan turned his gaze to Amy and smiled.

  She, in turn, scowled at him before she flung his arm off her shoulders and took her parents by the arms. “We should get your luggage and take you to your hotel. I’m sure you’re exhausted after the long flight here.”

  “Actually, honey, your parents are staying with us,” Nathan cheerfully announced, waiting to see if she could wiggle her way out of coming to live with him—at least while her parents were around.

  “Oh, we don’t want to impose,” her mother argued.

  “Right,” Amy agreed.

  “Who’s imposing? I have five bedrooms, and four aren’t even being used. It’ll be good to air one of them out.” There, Nathan decided, that settled it. Not only would she have to stay in his house but she’d also be sleeping in his bed.

  “Oh, well, if you’re sure,” her mother hesitantly said.

  “Of course, we’re sure,” he replied. “We’re all family, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t act like one.”

  “I can’t argue with that logic,” her father replied.

  Amy’s face grew red as she shot a glaring look in Nathan’s direction, but he ignored it and motioned for the escalators. “The baggage claim is downstairs.”

  He led the way, content to listen to her parents telling Amy things like, “It’s good to see you again”, “We missed you”, “You’re looking good.”, and “We’ve never been to Omaha before. What is there to do here?”

  Since Amy seemed to be at a loss for words, Nathan decided to answer their last question. As they stepped off the escalator, he said, “Omaha has many fine attractions, depending on what you like to do. Do you prefer anything like museums, golf courses, nature trails, shows?”

  “Oooh, I’d love to do some golfing,” her father eagerly stated.

  “I do quite a bit of golfing. We should play. Are you any good?”

  Her mother laughed. “Good? He may wear clothes so bright you need sunglasses, but he can hold his own.”

  “What’s wrong with my clothes?” he asked.

  “Your special golfing clothes? Nothing if you don’t mind bright orange with yellow stripes and pea green soup pants.”

  “Those are lucky colors.”

  She rolled her eyes but chuckled. As they neared the luggage, she told Nathan, “I’d like to check out museums or the zoo. Amy mentioned the zoo. She went there when she first got here.”

  “They have an IMAX there, don’t they?” her father asked.

  “They do,” Nathan said. He doubted Amy was going to contribute anything. She looked much too upset to add anything to the conversation.

  “I want to see something at the IMAX. It doesn’t matter what it is. That Bernie Phillips got to see the aquarium show at an IMAX and said it was an amazing experience. I want to know what all the hoopla is about.”

  They reached the conveyer belt and waited for the buzzing sound to announce the luggage was ready to come their way.

  “Well, there’s plenty of time to decide on things to do,” Nathan said. “I collected some brochures.”

  “Oh hey, you’re in the travel business anyway.” Her father laughed and tapped his wife on the arm. “Who better to have as a guide through Omaha than our son-in-law?”

  Nathan couldn’t be sure but he thought he heard a low grumble come from Amy’s throat. He placed his hand on the small of her back and whispered, “Your parents are great. You have nothing to worry about. We’ll all get along just fine.”

  Amy refused to make eye contact with him so he gave her a quick pat on the behind before he directed his attention to the suitcases, pretending he didn’t notice the way she jerked in surprise.

  “Which ones are yours?” Nathan called out.

  “My suitcase is dark blue with black trim,” her mother replied. “And his is a big red one.”

  “Red is easy to pick out,” her father added, looking proud of his choice in suitcases.

  Nathan found both pieces of luggage and grabbed them as they passed by on the conveyor belt. “Are you two hungry?”

  “Famished.” Terry patted his stomach.

  “Great,” Amy suddenly spoke up. “I’ll take them out to eat while you get back to work.” Looking at her parents, she explained, “He’s tied to his work. In fact, he’s rarely ever at home. Sometimes he doesn’t even come home at all. He just stays in his office doing office things.”

  Office things? Nathan shook his head. Boy, she was really reaching for things to make him offensive to her parents. Fortunately, he had the perfect rebuttal. “That was before you came into my life, honey. Now I have a reason to come home.” Then he took her hand in his and said, “I made reservations at my favorite restaurant. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “You made reservations?” her father asked. “For us?”

  “Of course, I did.” Nathan held onto her hand and stepped forward. He took her mom’s suitcase and picked it up with his free hand. “My car is in the parking garage.”

  Amy practically dug her heels into the floor, but he managed to pull her along. “I brought my own car.”

  “You’re still driving that thing?” He stopped and gave her a good look.

  “It’s not that thing. It’s my car.”

  “But you have access to my bank account. Why didn’t you get another one?”

  “I’ve had Old Snoopy for twelve years.”

  He blinked. “Old Snoopy?”

  Her mother shot Amy a knowing grin. “Ever since she learned to drive, she’s made it a habit of naming her vehicles.”

  “She gets that from me,” her father admitted.

  Nathan couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to hold onto a car that long if they didn’t have to. Maybe she was worse off than he thought. He figured that he just did her a big favor by marrying her. Now she could get a decent car. It was definitely time she got a New Snoopy.

  “I’m going in my car,” Amy insisted, still trying to pry her hand from his.

  He finally relented and let her hand go, though it pained him to do so. He liked touching her. “Then you’ll meet up with us?”

  “My parents can ride with me.”

 
; Her mother wrinkled her nose. “No offense, Amy, but your car is small. I could barely fit my suitcase in there the last time I visited you.”

  Nathan took that as his cue. There was no way he was going to let Amy get a hold her of parents without him around...at least not yet. Who knew what she’d tell them? He turned to her parents. “I have plenty of room in my car. It can fit your luggage and three more the same size in the trunk.”

  “That sounds much more feasible,” her father agreed.

  With a huff and a roll of her eyes, she said, “Fine. So nobody likes my car.”

  “It’s not that we don’t like it,” her mother quickly began. “It’s just... Well...” She glanced at Terry and shrugged. “It’s easier to fit luggage into a trunk that can hold more than two sacks of groceries.” Then she hugged Amy. “We love you, honey. We just don’t love your car.”

  Nathan told her the restaurant he and her parents were going to. “The reservation is for six. I hope you’ll join us.”

  “Why?” her father asked, raising his eyebrows and looked at his daughter. “Is there somewhere else you planned to be?”

  Amy glanced from Nathan to her mother and then to her dad. She let out a defeated sigh. “No.”

  “Great! We’ll see you there,” Terry said. “That is, if Old Snoopy makes it.” He laughed to show her he was joking.

  “Ha ha,” she sarcastically replied.

  Nathan thought he noted a trace of a grin on her face. That was good. Her parents were just the thing to ease her into the transition of their marriage. Yep, inviting them up there was the best thing he ever did. “We’ll meet you there, honey.” He kissed her on the cheek, noting how nice she smelled. Whatever perfume she wore, it had a gentle, unassuming scent. That was so much like how he thought she’d be when he interviewed her. Now, the key was to convince her that being married to him was a good thing.

  Chapter Five

  Amy stormed back to her car which wasn’t on the same level of the garage that Nathan had parked his. As she neared her dear, sweet car, Danielle looked up from her book and quickly got out.

  “What happened?”

  “Forget it. My parents aren’t coming in my car. They’d rather go in his.” Amy crossed her arms and frowned.

  Danielle adjusted her shirt which left little to the imagination since she’d purposely chosen a size too small. Her tattered shorts and heels completed the horrendous look that she and Amy had carefully planned the night before. Danielle popped her gum and shrugged. “Maybe I can play the jealous lover next time there’s something going on.”

  “It’s all his fault,” Amy complained, not paying much attention as Danielle opened Amy’s purse and dug out hand wipes from it. “I didn’t ask to be interviewed, and I certainly didn’t ask to be married.”

  “Yeah, married to a guy who’s loaded and wants to meet your parents. What a curse. I should have such luck.” Looking into the rearview mirror, she began rubbing the bright blush off her cheeks. “This make-up is a pain to take off. I don’t know if these wipes are strong enough to remove this blue eye shadow...or this bright red lipstick. I don’t feel like a lover. I feel like a deranged clown.”

  “It doesn’t matter. The plan backfired.”

  “Maybe, but I still have to live with this face. I hope this cheap make-up won’t make me break out.”

  “You did it for the hot tub, remember?”

  “Oh right!” She stood up and turned to Amy. “Did you order the one I wanted? You know, the one in the shape of a heart?”

  Amy rolled her eyes. “Yes. It’ll be at your house by this time next week.”

  “Yay!”

  A car slowed as it neared them.

  Amy glanced over her shoulder and groaned.

  Nathan stopped his car and rolled down the windows where her parents stared at her and Danielle in obvious shock.

  Danielle cleared her throat and waved. “Hi. You must be Amy’s parents.”

  “Uh...yes,” her mother, being the first to recover, finally said.

  Amy knew she had to get this over with as soon as possible. The moment was bad enough as it was without dragging it out. “Mom, Dad, this is my best friend, Danielle.”

  “This is the person you work with?” her father asked.

  “Used to,” Nathan corrected. “Amy no longer works.”

  At that announcement, her parents looked relieved.

  Probably because they worried that Danielle might pose a bad influence on me, Amy thought.

  “Well, it was nice...seeing you, Danielle,” her mother said, sounding uncertain. “Amy, we’ll talk later.”

  As Nathan rolled up the automatic windows, Amy heard her father tell him, “Boy, it sure is good you came along.”

  Once the car was safely out of sight, Danielle pouted. “Oh great. You’re parents just met me, and they already hate me. This sucks.”

  “I didn’t know he parked in the surface parking area. I thought he had some guy right out front waiting for him.”

  Danielle returned her attention to wiping the gunk off her face. “This stuff doesn’t want to come off. I’m going to look like a freak.”

  “You just need to use make-up remover.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Well, I better go the restaurant. I’ll drive you home.”

  “Okay.”

  After they got into the car, Amy inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. The car sputtered and stalled out. She tried again with the same results.

  “Seriously, when are you going to get a new car?” Danielle asked.

  “I don’t need a new car!”

  Danielle’s eyes grew wide. “Hey, there’s no need to yell.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that Nathan is winning my parents over.”

  “And?”

  “That’s the problem. They barely know him, but I can tell that they’re already in love with him. It’s disgusting.”

  “No. That’s not disgusting. This is.” She pointed to her splotchy red cheeks and smeared blue eye shadow. “This will give my kids nightmares for the next two weeks.”

  “Well, thanks for helping.”

  “You think you can have any fun with your parents here? It has been since the funeral when you last saw them.”

  Amy nodded. “I hope so. With any luck, they’re not that devoted to Nathan yet.” She turned the ignition again and was relieved when the car finally cooperated with her.

  She drove Danielle home where her husband was playing with their two kids on the front lawn. She winced when Danielle’s two-year-old son screamed and ran up to his dad. Okay. So maybe the make-up had been a bad choice. Danielle’s husband burst out laughing, and Amy reluctantly drove off, wondering how she could make this up to her friend.

  As her car neared the restaurant, the sense of dread building in her gut got stronger. Nathan was going to keep winning her parents over. She just knew it! And there was no way she could stop him. She was trapped like an animal in a cage. Just how was she supposed to act? She couldn’t pretend that this arrangement—that being forced into this marriage—was something she condoned. And yet, she couldn’t go on a screaming rampage with her parents right there.

  Trapped. She was utterly and hopelessly trapped.

  She groaned and turned into the full parking lot of the restaurant. She made her rounds a couple of times before she found a free spot. Once she pulled the key out of the ignition, she debated whether or not she could stomach a meal with him, pretending that she was his wife. Never mind what the horrid marriage license said. She was not his wife!

  She banged her steering wheel in frustration. “Why me? Of all the women who work for him, why did it have to be me?”

  It wasn’t fair. She was happy with her life. Sure, some of her nights got lonely, but she’d dealt with that when Sean had gone overseas. So she knew how to be alone and like it. If she’d wanted to marry again, she’d have made an effort to do that. But no. She went to what she thought was a
simple job interview and got stuck with a husband. As if anyone could take Sean’s place.

  Someone tapped on her window.

  Jerking, she snapped her attention to her dad who waved at her. “You coming in?”

  She peered through her window and saw her mother and Nathan who waited at the front entrance. Nathan said something and her mom laughed. She grunted. It was sickening. Just plain sickening to watch her parents drool all over him as if he was the greatest thing that ever happened to their daughter.

  Forcing aside her sudden urge to puke, she stepped out of the car and shut the door. “Why didn’t you get started without me?” she asked, joining her father as he made his way to the entrance.

  “Nathan paid the host to hold our reservation so that we could wait.”

  Yipee, she sourly thought. Another bonus point for him.

  “It’s good to see you again.”

  For a moment, her mind switched back to her dad. She smiled. “It’s good to see you too.”

  “You know, your mom and I worried about you being here all by yourself. It’s good to see you met a nice man.”

  She bit her lip so she wouldn’t say anything. After all, telling her parents the whole sordid story in the middle of a crowded parking lot wasn’t a wise idea. No. It’d be best if she found a private moment with them.

  When they reached Nathan and her mom, Nathan opened the door and they looked expectantly at her, as if they assumed she’d go in first. Fighting the urge to resist, since this whole marriage was a farce, she stepped into the building.

  Soon enough she could tell them the truth. Then they’d insist that he get an annulment and this whole thing could be done away with. He wouldn’t listen to her, but he’d probably listen to them.

  Once they were seated at a table set up for four people, she reluctantly picked up the menu. How was she supposed to eat? She didn’t have an appetite, especially not with the way Nathan let his knee brush hers. Irritated, she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs, accidentally kicking her mom in the shin. She immediately straightened and apologized.