One
"Thinking about how great that rock looks on your hand?"
I shook my head out of my thoughts and looked up to see my coworker, and good friend, Brianne standing in the doorway of my small, stuffy office.
I couldn't help but grin at her words. The rock, which was a very expensive looking diamond ring, did look quite nice on my finger. Although my fiancé only gave it to me a few days ago, I had a feeling I would never get over how it seemed to astonish me each time I looked down at my left hand.
"It does look great, but no. I was thinking about how my family would take the news. I'm leaving tonight, remember?"
"That's right, they don't like Adrien!" she nodded, taking a seat in front of my desk. It was obvious she was taking another break, despite the fact she took one an hour ago.
"It's not that they don't like him. They just think I could do better," I said, sighing. Unfortunately, this was true of my family. Ever since I introduced Adrien to my family three years ago, they didn't seem to like him much. As I told Brianne, they said that I could do much better, but I didn't believe that reason at all. After all, Adrien was a very successful lawyer in the city, on his way to becoming a partner at the firm he works for. He was handsome, almost too much for his own good. Sure, he was often on the phone or the computer for work, but that's expected for this point in his career. The most important thing is that he loves me as much as I love him, if not more.
"Well I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear you're getting married. Once you two visit to deliver the news, I think they'll be happy as long as you're happy. That's what families do," Brianne said encouragingly.
I nodded, hoping she was right.
"Anyway, I know you'll be leaving early and I have to go finish the proposal I'm working on. Send me a text when you get there so I know you made it there safely," she said, giving me a hug.
"I will," I replied, hugging her back.
Once she left my office, I sighed again and sat back in my chair. Even though I wanted to believe everything was going to go smoothly this weekend, I knew it wouldn't. First, my family wasn't even expecting my visit. I briefly mentioned to my younger sister that I was coming home, but I told her not to tell our parents. I knew my sister wouldn't ask questions about my visit, while my parents would.
They wouldn't be expecting my visit at all anyway. You see, since I graduated high school ten years ago, I could count the number of times I've visited my hometown on one hand. I grew up being told to do and be better constantly, which is ultimately what drove me to move to the city after college. After earning a degree in marketing, I've spent the past six years working my way up the career ladder at an advertising company.
In those years, not once did I want to move back to my small hometown on the beach, known as Bluewater. I know, what a cliché name for a town right on the beach of the east coast. However, the water is never as blue as one might like it to be. The waves always seem to have a greenish tint to them, even in the dead of summer.
Anyway, I told myself that there was nothing for me in Bluewater. Of course there was my family, whom I still talked to every month or so, but there were no businesses or companies that I could offer my services to. None that I would want to, at least. There was the bakery my grandmother passed down to my mother, but I could never see myself spending each day making pastries.
"Babe, are you ready to go? We're going to be late for our flight," I called out once I entered the apartment I shared with Adrien. Although Bluewater was a drive of about eight hours from the city, Adrien insisted on taking a flight to the nearest airport there. From there, we only had to drive an hour to get to my hometown.
"Yes, I'm ready. Is the taxi waiting?" he replied, coming into view. He looked just as handsome as ever, wearing a suit like usual. I rarely saw him in any other kind of wear when we went out, mainly because he was accustomed to wearing suits for work. Then again, there was no room for complaining since his muscular body looked great in anything he wore.
I nodded, prompting Adrien to gather the majority of our luggage. I carried a couple small bags and locked the door behind me before we were off to load the taxi and on our way to Bluewater.
We got to Bluewater a little after ten at night. It wasn't too late, yet we headed straight to the inn I booked a room at. The inn, which was the only one in town, was close to my home. It was also owned by a woman named Trudy, who happened to be close friends with my mother. Another thing about Bluewater is that everyone knew each other. Trudy, especially, knew everyone since she was a huge gossiper. My mother was a gossiper to a certain extent too, making it easy to see how she was friends with Trudy.
"Roxanna Davenport, is that you?" Trudy greeted, opening her arms for a hug.
I smiled and obliged to her gesture. "Hey, Trudy."
"Oh, you look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you! Your mother didn't tell me you were visiting. You want me to give her a ring? She's probably still closing up at the shop," she offered.
I shook my head. "No, that won't be necessary. She doesn't know I'm here, actually. I'm going to see her tomorrow," I answered.
"Well it's nice to see you as alw—oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, looking down at my hand with wide eyes. "You're…engaged!"
I grinned at her surprised reaction. Trudy was rarely caught off guard since she always knew about everything before it happened. "Yes, I am. To this man, Adrien Marino," I told her, wrapped my hands around Adrien's arm to bring him closer to Trudy.
"Pleasure to meet you," he said, sticking his hand out. Trudy slowly took it, clearly still shocked from our news. "I believe we have a room booked under my name."
She nodded dazedly, going over to her book at the front desk. She turned and got the key from behind her, handing it to Adrien wordlessly.
"Thank you, Trudy. Also, I would really appreciate it if you could hold back on sharing our happy news? I have yet to tell my parents," I asked politely.
She nodded again. "I won't. Now I'm sure you're both tired from your trip. If you need anyway, don't hesitate to call for me, alright?"
"Thanks. Goodnight."
Adrien and I carried out luggage up the stairs and into our room. The room was decorated in abundance with flowers: flower wallpaper, flowers on the covers, even flowers on the lampshades. It wasn't so bad though. The bed looked somewhat comfortable, at least.
"Tell me again why we didn't stay at the nearest four star hotel?" Adrien asked, looking around the room.
"Oh it's not that bad, Adrien. It's…cute," I said, for lack of a better word.
He looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. "We're engaged and you don't know I hate cute?"
I rolled my eyes, grinning. "This is the only place to stay in town. Relax, we won't even be here for that long."
He grunted an incoherent response before focusing on his smartphone. He typed a million words a minute it seemed, probably replying to an e-mail for work.
"Can you please give work a break for five minutes? We just got back from a tiring trip and all I want to do is cuddle with you before I fall asleep," I said, calmly rubbing his upper arms.
His eyes didn't lift from phone. "Alright, I'll be done in two minutes. I just have a couple more e-mails to reply to and then I'm all yours."
I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly disappointed. Nonetheless, I changed into more comfortable clothes to get ready for bed. I waited for Adrien to finish replying to his e-mails, but that ended up taking an hour longer than I thought. So rather than wait for him to finish, I simply turned on my side and went straight to bed. Cuddling with Adrien would relax me for what I was going to go through tomorrow, though sleeping was probably the thing I needed the most.
I woke up early the next day, knowing my mother's bakery wasn't going to open for another couple of hours. Ever since my grandmother opened it years ago, she made it mandatory not to open the shop until noon on Saturdays. I have no idea why, I just knew that meant I could visit my family early this morning and tell them my news.
"Adrien, we should get ready. We need to head over to my parents' house early," I said, shaking him gently to wake him.
He eventually woke up and got dressed, taking much longer than I did to get ready. Weren't women supposed to take longer than men to get ready? Perhaps I moved quicker because I went to bed earlier. I guessed he was up late tending to his work, judging from how slowly he moved this morning.
"C'mon, we should leave now," I said, practically dragging Adrien out of the room. Along the way to my childhood home, Adrien stopped for a cup of coffee from a well-known company. I told him over and over that my mother would hate that, yet he insisted my mother would like him all the same. I don't think he quite understood how much my mother hated the new additions of big time coffee shops that attracted teenagers, hipsters, and anyone else who could smell the delicious coffee blends from the street.
I lightly knocked on the screen door before calling into it since the other door was open. My parents' house was close enough to the beach that there was always a constant breeze. "Hello? Anyone home?" I called, slowly opening the door.
Immediately, my family's dog came running through the house in search of me. "Hey Buster," I greeted, crouching down to say hello to the furry friend. I remembered when my sister got this dog about eleven years ago. I was a junior in high school, while my sister was just six years old.
"Roxanna! I wasn't expecting you! Come here!" my mother shouted with joy before crushing me in a hug. She was shorter than me with the same dark hair I had, though hers was curly and wild looking. If you didn't know my mom, you'd probably think she was a crazy, eccentric old woman, often dressed in colorful bohemian skirts and dresses. Actually, the people who did know my mother thought she was crazy too.
"Hi Mom," I smiled, hugging her back.
"My oldest daughter! What a surprise to see you," my father bellowed as he came down the stairs. He hugged me as well, until my sister came in the room.
"This is quite a surprise," my sister, Scarlett, said sarcastically. I gave her a warning look before hugging her too.
"You all remember Adrien," I stated, wrapping my arm around his.
"Of course we remember him," my father replied, smiling. He was always the nicest toward Adrien, unlike my mother. "Now what brings you here?"
"Well it's been a while since I visited—"
"I'll say, almost two years!" my mother interjected bitterly.
"So we thought we should come for the weekend. I also have something to tell you," I continued.
"Before you say anything, come sit in the living room. I want to get comfortable," my mom suggested, walking straight to the living room. As we all sat around in the living room, I looked around, noting it was exactly the same as when I last visited—and the same as when I was a child.
"Now, what's this news?" my mother asked.
"Well, we came here to tell you—"
"Hello? Mrs. Davenport? I have the flour you needed," someone interrupted. The voice got closer until the person was in view. Walking further into the house until he reached the living room was Ethan Callahan.
"Oh, Ethan, I almost forgot! Just set it down there and come sit down. Would you like anything to eat? Drink?" my mother offered, frustrating me. She never showed the kindness and warmth to Adrien as she showed to Ethan. She always did like Ethan though. In all honesty, what was there not to like about him?
Ethan Callahan was a very giving, helpful person who was well-known in Bluewater. His father owned the local bar that's been open for as long as the town has been. As far as I know, Ethan has been helping out his father with the bar, as well as doing odd jobs for anyone who asks for his help.
If anyone knows Ethan, though, it would be me. I dated him all through high school, even after he graduated two years before me. The entire town thought we were going to get married young and have a bunch of kids, raising them in Bluewater, of course. But after I graduated high school, we broke up and went our separate ways, me going off to college and him staying back in Bluewater. People still think we're meant for each other, including (but not limited to) my mother. They say that we still love each other, which is why neither of us is married yet. I'll admit, we did love each other back then and I'll never forget him, but that was ages ago. Hopefully those rumors will go away after they find out I'm engaged.
"Ah, no thanks. I just came by to drop your delivery off," Ethan answered as he leaned against the open doorway, his eyes constantly glancing over at me. He looked like he saw a ghost. Gosh, it hasn't been thatlong since I last saw him!
"Alright. Roxanna, didn't you have something to tell us?" my mom wondered, her attention focused back on me.
I looked between her and Ethan. "It's kind of a family thing," I stated.
"Oh, just say it! Ethan practically is family for all he's done for us," my mother replied, waving my comment off like it wasn't a big deal Ethan was here. Ethan grinned at that.
I sighed but smiled when my eyes landed on Adrien's eyes. "Well, we wanted to tell you that we're getting married," I announced happily.
I swear, the room was quiet for a good three minutes. So quiet that you would be able to hear crickets, if there were any around. And the first person who spoke up was the last one I expected to say anything.
"Congratulations, Roxanna. I don't think we've met, but I'm Ethan Callahan," he said, holding out his hand to Adrien. There was something about Ethan's smile that told me he was mocking me.
Yes, Ethan was very helpful and caring toward everyone in the town. Yet ever since we broke up, he's constantly sent me these looks to mock me and jokes around all the time. He always did joke around, but that was a quality I couldn't tolerate after we broke up. Then again, I couldn't tolerate his entire being for the time I tried falling out of love with him. Maybe my dislike for him just remained within me.
"Adrien Marino," my fiancé replied, sending me a quick glance to ask who this person was. I smiled at him, trying to convey that I would tell him later.
"So, mom? What do you think?" I asked hesitantly.
"What do I think? I think you're…too young to get married!"
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Mom, I'm twenty-eight years old. I hardly think that's too young to get married."
She stared at me with a disconcerted expression before huffing and getting out of her seat. She walked out of the room without saying another word, which was quite an odd reaction. If anything, I was expecting her to say so many things, she would go blue in the face from a lack of oxygen.
"She's just surprised, like the rest of us, Roxanna. We're really happy for you both," my father said, attempting to smile. Adrien seemed to think his comment was genuine, but I knew otherwise.
"Ethan, would you please help me transport this flour? I need to go to the bakery now," my mother asked him, not even looking over at me or Adrien.
"Sure thing, Mrs. Davenport," he replied, picking up the flour and walking out, saying a quick goodbye to us before leaving.
"I'll be over at the shop later, Mother!" I called after her, earning no response.
"I should go calm her before she leaves," my dad muttered, leaving the room.
"Wow, you sure know how to surprise Mom," Scarlett said before texting away on her phone like every other teenager.
I sighed and sank back into the couch. Even though I surprised her, I thought she was rather calm in reaction to my news. That only meant one thing: she was certainly planning something in that eccentric brain of hers.
Author's Note: So, what do you think of the first chapter? It's hard to tell what the characters will be like from just this chapter, but I can definitely say that this story will be quite different from my other stories. Also, I used to have a website with character pictures, but it's no longer active. Therefore, here's the "cast" that would play the characters:
Odette Annable as Roxanna Davenport
Colin Egglesfield as Adrien Morino
Paul Walker as Ethan Callahan
Kirsten Dunst as Lucy Jamison
Jake Gyllenhaal as Connor Jamison
Chris Hemsworth as Simon Lambert
Jessica Chastain as Jenny Lambert
Nicole Gale Anderson as Scarlett Davenport
Thanks for reading, and please ignore any mention of a website from here on!
~Savanna