Chapter 41

“Oh my god.” My jaw dropped. Given how he never spoke about his parents, a part of me had forgotten about them completely.

“Oh my god for real.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “So they invited us to dinner. Tonight,” Calvin mentioned a little awkwardly. My eyes widened when he mentioned the date. “If you want, I can tell them you can’t make it, and we can totally reschedule. You being pregnant would make them understanding of it,” he then explained, assuring me.

“No, no, I think we should just get it done with,” I answered without thinking much of it. I wanted everything to be over with, so we wouldn’t be caught in our lie.

“So, tonight?” I asked, looking over at the digital clock that hung on the wall.

“Uh, in less than an hour, we’ll have to leave.” Calvin narrowed his eyes a little as he looked at the clock then looked back at me.

“Oh shit.” I sighed and turned off the TV then began to clean up the table. There goes my plan to stay in, eat junk food, and watch TV. “How should I dress?” I asked.

“Casual, but not too casual, and also not too fancy.” He shrugged, as if his words made sense.

“You’re not helping at all,” I said, annoyed.

“Let me see the options.” Calvin got up. I turned around to face him and raised a brow at him. “Do you want my help or not?” He crossed his arms and stared back at me.

“Just follow me.” I rolled my eyes and began to walk to my room. “I really hope this child doesn’t take after your manners,” I muttered, unsure if he’d hear me or not.

“I have good manners. What do you mean?” he said innocently, which only made me shake my head. I stopped at my closet and opened the doors for him. I was thankful it wasn’t a mess—not yet, at least.

“You’ve stressed me the hell out in less than five minutes.” I took a step back.

“I was quite a rebellious teen, so look out during those years,” he teased, looking through the clothes I had.

“Great, just great.” I sat down on the edge of the bed.

“At least you know they’ll have great genes.” Calvin looked over at me, a smirk on his lips. Wow, it had been awhile since I saw a smirk on his face. I just rolled my eyes playfully at him and chose not to comment on what he said. He seemed to be in a playful mood tonight.

Calvin took another minute or two and had picked out a total of three outfits then looked between those three to make his decision.

“Though rompers would suit you well, I don’t know if it would look better on you than this dress.” He held up two outfits now and pushed away the blush-colored romper. “Try this on.” He handed me the dress. It was a simple sage green dress that came down to my knees. The top had floral detailing made of the same color. I took the dress and walked to the bathroom and started to get dressed. Once I had the dress on, I noticed how it made my growing bump stand out. I actually loved how the dress looked on me. It was different than most dresses in my closet and seemed quite stretchy. I should buy more of these. I looked in the mirror and decided to comb my hair again and added hair clips in the side to make it look less bland. Once I was done, I stepped out and saw Calvin sitting at the end of my bed with his legs crossed.

“Well, what do you think?” I asked, watching as he stood up, slowly nearing me which made me feel like I was the predator’s prey.

“You look… beautiful,” he muttered, standing right in front of me and looked down into my eyes. He reached over at me. I stopped inhaling for a moment. “Apply some of this and we can go.” He handed me the lip-gloss he took from behind me.

“Okay.” I turned around after taking the lip-gloss and began to apply a sheer coat. This one had glitter in it, so I didn’t want my lips to look like a disco ball. I took my phone and bag and led the way outside.

“We’ll go with my car, so you don’t have to bother driving,” he said while walking to his car. I changed route and went to his car as well and entered the passenger seat.

In the car, we only spoke about our cover, and once the conversation was over, we sat there and listened to what the radio played. I stared out the window but could feel his gaze on me occasionally. I made sure to text Madi about my whereabouts, though something told me she wouldn’t be coming home tonight.

“We’re here,” Calvin said as he pulled into a driveway and rolled down his window so the guards could see who it was. They recognized him immediately and granted him access. I was impressed by how big the driveway alone was. You could fit a decent sized house there! Right now, it was just beautiful trees and plants that were tended to regularly and led to the front. Of course, there was a fountain in the middle. Calvin parked the car, then got out and took my hand. The sweet act was to fool others, of course.

“You finally decided to come.” His mother glared at him. She was quite a pretty woman, though it didn’t seem Calvin took much after her.

“Sorry, Ma.” Calvin scratched the back of his head.

“Good evening, Mrs. Cartwright. I’m—” I started to introduce myself politely.

“Lily Marino. I’m well aware of who you are, dear.” She looked over at me with a slightly less intimidating look on her face.

“Hello, Lily.” A man appeared behind her. It was clear that he was Calvin’s father. He shared quite a lot of features with the man. I could tell the strong nose was a Cartwright thing.

“Hello, sir,” I greeted politely.

“Come on in, you two.” They both took a step back and opened the door wider.

We took off our shoes then went into the house. Calvin led the way for me and brought me to the dining room. He pulled the chair out for me and pushed me forward once I was seated, then went to sit next to me. His parents decided to sit across from us instead of at the heads of the table.

They wasted no time jumping straight into the questions. We began to tell them how we met and how everything had happened up until now. Of course, they knew the romanticized version of the whole story, the same story we told the media. Calvin said it would be better than way. His parents had warmed up to me a little. We were having peach iced tea and an appetizer platter to start with. They went out of their way to hire a cook for the night.

“So, her working for you is totally random?” His mother seemed suspicious.

“Yes,” Calvin confirmed, but I could see she needed more convincing.

“I was meant to work for my uncle, but he decided to let me go to someone I didn’t have any connections with. He knows Calvin’s aunt and settled things with her. It wasn’t until the interview we found out I’d be working for him,” I explained.

“And you had no idea he worked there?” his father then asked.

“To be fair, he never discussed work with me, and I didn’t either.” I shrugged.

“So what’s the living situation like?” Amira, his mother, asked.

“We don’t want to rush things, so for now, we live separately,” Calvin answered.

“And when the baby is born?” his father then asked.

“I think by then we would live together to care for the baby, of course.” Calvin looked over at me with a smile. We both knew according to the plan that by then we’d be broken up with.

“How do your parents feel about all this?” Amira asked them.

“I’m their only child, you know, so they’re a little excited to become grandparents. As for Calvin and me, they just wish us the best and hope things work out for us,” I replied and looked over at Calvin who pulled me closer to him.

“You two seem quite happy. I’m happy for both of you, especially Calvin. I just wished we were told earlier and didn’t find out through the media.” His mother had a genuine smile on her lips.

“And I’m glad you’re finally making me a grandfather.” Chris sighed happily.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry for not telling you anything.” Calvin smiled and looked at his parents.

“I’m glad it’s you who’s joining our little family as well as expanding it.” Amira smiled right at me. I began to feel bad for lying to them.