The Proposal - Kitty Thomas Page 0,34

embarrassing.

Where is Soren? I wander down the hallway. This house is far bigger than it looked even from the outside, and there's a never ending labrynth of hallways on this floor. I finally find the staircase and go down to the main level. I can hear voices and laughter coming from close by. I follow the sounds into a large, bright airy kitchen that's done in cream and a sunny pale yellow, with just a touch of spring green.

It's big but feels the most like a real home of any room I've been in so far. Everyone looks up from the table.

“Sleeping Beauty finally joins us,” Soren's father says.

I blush at this and sit in the chair between Dayne and Soren.

“Did you take the aspirin I left for you?” Soren asks.

“Yes, thank you.”

He nods.

“Don't worry, I was about to come up and get you,” Lillian says. “The food is all on the island behind you, and it's still hot. Help yourself.”

I have the feeling Soren's mom had planned from the beginning for us to stay overnight. I find it hard to believe there would be this much food prepared and this much variety otherwise. I doubt this is normal breakfast fare for a woman so fit.

There are cinnamon rolls and pancakes and fruit and biscuits and sausage gravy and eggs and bacon with coffee, orange juice, cranberry juice, and milk as beverage choices.

I get a bit of everything and some black coffee and sit back down at the table. Everyone else has almost finished breakfast. Soren's father is reading the morning paper—like an actual paper—and Lillian is talking wedding stuff with Soren and Griffin.

I jump when I feel a hand stroke over my knee. It's Dayne.

“Morning, Sunshine,” he says, his voice so low they can't hear.

I give him a murderous look. He can't just touch my knee under the table while we're having breakfast with Soren and his parents. They'll think we're having an affair. What is wrong with him?

“Did you sleep well?” he asks, ignoring my near panic.

“Fine,” I say.

Dayne leans down to whisper in my ear. “I liked that pink underwear I found under your dress last night.”

I'm sure I'm blushing as I pull away and turn back to my breakfast.

“Don't worry,” he whispers. “I didn't do anything inappropriate. Griffin and Soren wouldn't have allowed it.”

Lillian catches the last moment of my discomfort and thankfully misreads it. “Is the food okay?”

I smile at her through a bite of pancakes. “Yes, Lillian, it's delicious.” I almost called her Mrs. Kingston, but remembered from the party last night—before the alcohol started flowing—that she wants me to call her Lillian.

I didn't even realize Griffin and Dayne stayed overnight, but Soren's parents don't seem to be weirded out by this breakfast set-up.

As if in answer to my silent question, Lillian says, “Griffin and Dayne have had New Year's Day breakfast with us for . . . gosh, close to twenty years now. It's hard to believe it's been that long.”

“Since college,” Soren says.

His mother sits on his other side. “I'm so glad you're settling down and with such a nice girl,” she says. patting him on the arm.

I don't know how Lillian knows I'm a nice girl, but Soren doesn't contradict her. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't think I was such a nice girl if she knew the real relationship with Soren and his best friends.

It occurs to me suddenly that if this has turned into such a big tradition, that probably means we're all going to continue to have New Year's Day breakfast together even after the wedding. I'm not sure if I'm that good of an actress. Once we've all been intimate together will I be able to act as though Dayne and Griffin are just Soren's friends and nothing more?

I realize suddenly that Dayne's hand is still on my knee. I reach under the table and pinch him. Hard. He pulls back, giving me a wounded puppy look. Given my experience with actual wounded puppies, this doesn't faze me.

After breakfast I learn that actually the New Year's tradition is for Soren, Griffin, Dayne, and now me, to stay the entire day. There's traditional New Year's Day fare including black-eyed peas and ham planned for later this evening. It seems that Soren tried to get out of it this year—maybe for fear his parents might detect a vibe with me and the other guys.

But Lillian basically just kept giving us all alcohol last night until we were too tired and