I See You (complete)

Chapter Twelve

"He's coming here?" Craig all but shouted across the kitchen at me and my mom.

It was Friday night, and me and my parents had made plans to have Cade over for dinner. I'd just shared the news with my brother. I wasn't surprised to see his reaction. Not at all.

"Craig, give him a chance," I pleaded. "I think you'll actually like him if you do."

He scoffed at that and rolled his eyes. "Not happening." He turned and leaned towards the counter, both hands holding on to prop himself up, his head hung down in his sensationalized feeling of woe. My brother was ever the dramatic.

My mom moved closer to him and rubbed his back gently. "Your dad and I want to spend time with him. We want to get to know him. If he's important to Rachel, then he's important to us," she explained gently.

He growled in frustration. Seriously, he could be such a caveman sometimes! It's not like we were asking him to become best friends with my boyfriend. We just wanted him to sit at the table with us and be civilized. I had my doubts that he could do even that!

"Whatever!" He shouted as he pushed away from the counter and sauntered down the hallway.

"Will you be joining us for dinner?" My mom called out.

"Maybe!" He shouted back.

"If you're not at the table, I'll put a plate in the fridge for you and you can heat it up later," my mom added. I grinned. She was good at this.

I went to my room and called Cade, inviting him to dinner. He was surprised at the invitation but happy to come. Of course, his first question was; "what about Craig?" I had to laugh at that. What about Craig? Honestly, I didn't know what was going to happen, but hopefully he'd behave himself.

We agreed on a time for Saturday and I hung up the phone, sitting back on my bed and pondering tomorrow night's dinner. Man, I hoped Craig brought his manners to the table, if he even showed up. I pushed myself off the bed and headed downstairs to talk meal ideas with my mom.

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Saturday at five o'clock on the dot, the doorbell rang, and I took a deep breath, steadying myself before opening the door to Cade. It never ceased to amaze me how delightful he was to look at. He'd dressed up a bit, wearing a dark green button up striped shirt and nice jeans. He looked good. He always looked good. I had a feeling that he could wear a potato sack and make it look good.

"Hi," he said with a smile, handing me a fistful of flowers that he'd had hidden behind his back.

"Hi." I laughed and took them, instantly lifting them to my nose to take in their sweet scent. "Thank you. They're beautiful." I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside before he could change his mind and make a run for it. I knew he was nervous. The muscle in his jaw was twitching, a sure sign of his anxiousness. I didn't blame him, I felt pretty nervous too. As I turned to lead him inside, I made a wish that all would go well tonight.

Introductions to my parents were simple enough and went over well. I could see my parents were a little nervous too. Everyone in town had heard of Cade Miller and all the rumours that went with him. I hoped that tonight would give my parents more truth than rumour to go by.

Craig was the last to come to the table, taking a seat across from me without a word. I sighed. This was going to be harder than I'd expected.

"Craig, you remember Cade?" I prompted politely.

Craig looked up at me and gave me a sardonic grin but said "hello" to Cade without looking at him. It would have to do. I saw my parents look at each other but I hoped they wouldn't push it. This was momentous that we were all seated at a table together and no one was throwing a punch. I prayed it would stay this way for the reminder of the night.