Unbearably Broken

Chapter Eight

 I flipped down the little mirror thing in the car once again. After stopping at Noah's house for him to get a nice shirt on, we stopped at my place so I could change. I was wearing a dress. Yes, people, a real dress. And...wait for it... makeup. I was really trying to impress this woman.

Noah must have realized how nervous I was because on the way to the restaurant he'd taken my hand and held it the whole way there. I'd given him a thankful smile and squeezed his hand in response.

Somehow this simple jester made my jumpy heart calm down a bit. But it didn't help much. I was still extremely nervous about meeting this woman.

What if she was the one for my dad? What if she hated me? What if she wanted to get up and move to Alaska?

Okay, now I was just being ridiculous.

"What if she's the one?" I asked, thinking I spoke so quietly that he couldn't hear.

Of course, he could hear me anyway. He squeezed my hand again. "Then she is. We all know that you're a hopeless romantic. Don't you want that for him?"

I ripped my hand from his and used them to hide my face. "You're mean," I accused with a pouty look on my face. I sighed and leaned back onto the worn cloth seat. "I just wish that it wouldn't affect my life."

I looked up at him when he didn't say anything. His brown eyes were just looking at me. His lips pursed like he was trying to explain something that I just couldn't understand. After a quick second, he shifted and said, "We should probably go inside, we don't want your dad to call again."

"Yeah, I guess."

It took me a quick second before I was able to get my mind focused enough to find the smooth medal that enabled me to get out of the car. The two of us then walked into the restaurant and gave the hostess my last name. She directed us to a table near the back. I looked at the three people sitting around the rectangle table.

First I saw my brother. He was bouncing up and down while complaining that he couldn't find a word in the kiddie word search. Next to him was my father at the head of the table. He was wearing a casual shirt and jeans. I hadn't noticed that he'd been dressing down more often since the news about this women. Was it possible that he was becoming more carefree?

Then, on his left, I saw that there was a woman holding his hand. She was a short blond who had a look of innocence to her. This caused her to look closer to her early thirties even though I knew that she was close to forty. Her eyes were a bluish-green that lit up when she spotted me. A smile filled her face as she stood up, offering me her hand. "You must be Elana. I'm Ashley," she said.

I stood there frozen for a few seconds before Noah nudged me, awaking me from my trance. "Oh, um, yes. That's me. Elana." I needed a distraction, something to keep me from going on about nothing. So I gestured to Noah. "And this is Noah. My friend...boy...person?" I said, my voice going higher with each description. He laughed, of course.

Then he shook hands with both Ashley and my dad. I smiled to myself, glad that he was being so polite. My dad's approval meant a lot to me and Noah seemed to be getting his approval with ease.

Then we sat down and forced down some awkward small talk. Soon Ashley excused herself to use the bathroom. Noah took this chance to grabbed my hand and whisper to me, "You should talk to her." I looked back at him. My eyes showing the anger I was feeling. "It'll be okay."

I chose to trust him so I nodded. Then I went in search for the restroom. And after almost knocking into three waiters, I made it. But Ashley was already washing her hands by then.