Breaking Free

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Riannon’s POV  

When we pulled up to the restaurant, my heart was pounding a little bit. I was nervous for all of us. My parents were sitting at their usual table with their backs to the entrance. My father had already ordered their food. I could see that my mother had dark circles around her eyes.  

Weren’t they supposed to be on vacation and that should mean that they should have been relaxed.   I was glad that they had their backs to the door because all I would have to do is convince them to turn around and they would be even more surprised when JT and Cassi came through the doors.

  I hoped that tonight was going to end up well because I didn’t think that I could handle family drama when I was trying to tell them about my new boyfriend later.  

Since my dad had already ordered I told the waiter my order and I could tell that he was flirting with me.   I openly flirted back. My mother looked at me with a strange look.  

“What was that about Riannon,” she asked. “Did you just openly flirt with that cute waiter?” she was right, what was going on with me?  

“Yea, I guess I did.” She hugged me tight.

“Oh, my baby girl is finally realizing that she is a pretty, flirty girly girl.” She had a smile the length of the Mississippi River. I couldn’t argue with her about hat because I was changing whether I liked it or not.    We chatted for a while about random parent/ child things and after twenty minutes I texted JT that they could come now because I couldn’t hold it in.  

I had almost spilled the beans like three times when dad asked me what I had been up to while they were gone.  

As I saw them walk in, they looked beautiful like they had been together for a long time. I adored the way my brother looked at her with his whole soul. They were getting looks from everyone as they strolled casually with their arms locked.  

He walked over to my dad and put his hands on his shoulders.  

“What the,” my dad turned around and his face lit up. “Son what are you doing here?” were the only words that escaped his mouth as he saw Cassi standing behind him.  

My mother’s eyes opened as wide as I have ever seen them and her mouth was hanging open like a buffoon.  

JT did not wait for the invitation to sit. I moved out of the way and Cassi slid next to him. I pulled up a chair and sat down.  

No one said a single word and you could cut the nerves radiating off my parents with a butter knife. I was the first one to break the silence.  

“Earth to mom and dad, hello, is there someone in there.” I waved my hand over my mother’s face. She didn’t do anything. I decided that I I needed to do something drastic.  

I leaned over and spilled my water on her lap. Automatically she snapped out of it and joy came back. She was my very bubbly mother again. If you didn’t know her, you would have said that she was enjoying being here with a complete pregnant stranger for a future daughter-in-law.  

“Mom, dad, this is Cassandra, she is my fiancée,” JT proudly announced. I don’t know what was worse the fact that my father had not said a word or the fact that he was not red with anger.  

I had never seen my dad look like steam was going to come out of his ears.  

“Hello Cassandra, my, you are a very beautiful girl,” my mother managed to choke out.

  “Thank you Mrs. Thomas. I am glad to finally be meeting with you and your wonderful husband. JT has told me all about you and your family.” You could sense the fact that she was waiting for my dad to burst or something because he still hadn’t said anything.