Translation of Love - By Alice Montalvo-Tribue Page 0,31
are coming for dinner tonight. I was calling to extend an invitation to you.”
I want to have dinner with my family but Victor went through all this trouble to spend the weekend with me. I wouldn’t feel right about leaving him now. “Dad, Victor and I have plans tonight.”
Victor chimes in. “It’s okay. You should go have dinner with your family, we can do something after.”
“That won’t be necessary.” We both look at Dad. “You should come meet the rest of the family. Elle hasn’t bought someone home in a long time. I’m sure her brother will want to meet you too.”
Victor grabs my hand. “In that case, I’d love to go. Thank you.”
Dad’s gaze drops to our linked hands. “Right. Dinner’s at six,” he says, turning on his heel and walking out the door.
This just keeps getting better. I don’t know if I can go through with introducing Victor to my family. That would make it into something that I know I’m not ready for. I agreed to get to know him better. I didn’t agree to kissing, touching, meeting friends and family, and I most certainly did not agree to be his girlfriend. It’s just all happening too fast, but every time I want to pump the brakes, he does something that makes me forget. He brings out sides of me that I thought were gone. I didn’t think I wanted them back but it feels good to let loose a little.
“Are you freaking out?” Victor’s voice brings me out of my mental rant.
“Umm. Yeah, just a bit.”
“Babe. It’ll be fine.”
“Did you see him? If looks could kill, you’d be dead.”
He lets out a chuckle. “You’re his only daughter. He’ll come around.” I just look at him, shaking my head in disbelief. He pulls my hand. “Come on, let’s get our coffee and get you home.”
As promised, Victor takes me home after our coffee run and unexpected meeting of the father. I was quiet the whole drive over. I tried my best to relax but I was still on edge. The thought of introducing a man who I barely know to my family is sending me into full panic mode. I know that if they give him a chance, my family will eventually like Victor, but meeting them is a big step and I’m just now starting to come to terms with the fact that this might go somewhere beyond a few dates. That’s if I can get out of my head long enough to allow it. I begin sorting through the stack of mail that’s been sitting on my dining room table for days. Victor picks up on my mood and calls me out on it.
“You’re panicking, aren’t you?” he asks, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
“What? No!” I lie. I don’t want to alarm him. I am panicking but I’m not ready to throw in the towel and revert to my normal behavior. I promised myself I would try and come hell or high water that’s what I’m going to do.
“Having a relationship doesn’t come easy to everyone. I get that. You can be honest with me, Ellie. I’m not gonna think any less of you.”
I can’t be honest with myself half of the time, how can I be honest with him? I know that I’m not ready to bare my soul to him. Definitely not today, maybe never, but I have to give him something. I don’t want to chase him away, not after what we shared this morning. I take a seat at the table next to him. “Okay, I’m kind of panicking, but it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. You know that I haven’t dated in a long time, and for a while, I didn’t think I’d ever be ready to date again.” I take a breath and continue. “I didn’t have the best experiences in the past and…”
“It put you off to dating,” he says, finishing my thought.
“Yes. Then I met you and you have been nothing short of amazing, and I want to try. I do. But sometimes I panic a little.”
“So why didn’t you say something to me sooner?”
“Well, at first, I just didn’t think this would go any further than a date or two, but I ended up liking you and I guess I just didn’t wanna scare you off.” I can’t believe I’m opening up like this. He’s like a truth serum to me.