The Day I Chose My Parents Over My Fiance Chapter 02
I shifted, pulling away from his grasp.
“I figured you’d be staying with Lily tonight.”
“She can’t seem to function without you, after all.”
The overhead light snapped on. I flinched against the brightness.
Tristan threw the covers off and sat up.
“Do you always have to be like this?”
“I’ve told you a thousand times — she’s like a sister to me. There’s nothing going on.”
I didn’t say a word. I just pulled up Lily Dawson’s Instagram and held out my phone.
There they were — Tristan’s family and Lily’s family, all smiles in the exact private room I’d booked for our engagement dinner.
In one photo, Tristan was leaning in to serve her some food, and Lily had her hand on his cheek.
There wasn’t an inch of space between them.
The caption read: [Our families finally met!! The guy who’s had my back forever, Tristan, is officially my hubby-to-be.]
I turned the screen toward him.
“Impressive. The restaurant I spent a week choosing for our engagement dinner — you turned it into a party for her.”
Something flickered across his face.
“I didn’t know she posted that. I’ll call her right now and make her take it down.”
“She probably just heard about the engagement dinner and thought it’d be funny. You know how she is.”
“She’s just a kid. She doesn’t know any better. You’re supposed to be the bigger person here, Audrey. Stop turning everything into a fight.”
I smiled.
“A twenty-three-year-old kid? Sure, Tristan. Why not put her in a stroller while you’re at it?”
Tristan dragged both hands down his face.
“We’re getting married. I don’t want to fight with you.”
“I’m sleeping in the study. Come find me when you’re ready to be rational.”
The door slammed hard enough to rattle the wall. It woke my parents.
They came rushing out in their pajamas, wide-eyed, asking what happened.
I shook my head, told them everything was fine, and walked them back to their room.
I woke up early the next morning. My parents were already up — of course they were — with breakfast laid out on the table.
Right in the center was the jar of homemade pickled vegetables they’d carried all the way from home. My favorite since I was five.
Tristan came out of the study looking like he hadn’t slept.
My parents hesitated, but my mom still waved him over to the table with a smile.
He took one look at the table and his whole face soured.
“Why are you still here?”
His eyes landed on the pickled vegetables. He actually covered his nose.
“What is that smell? The whole apartment reeks.”
“This isn’t your little farm town, alright? You can’t just drag whatever you want into my home.”
My parents froze. My dad’s hands hung at his sides like he’d forgotten what to do with them.
My mom scrambled to grab the jar off the table, already apologizing before she’d even picked it up.
“I’m so sorry, Tristan. Audrey’s loved these since she was little, so I just — I didn’t think. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll put it away right now. Please, it won’t happen again…”
Her hands were shaking. She knocked a bowl off the table.
She flinched at the sound of it breaking, her eyes darting to Tristan’s face, then back to the shards on the floor — paralyzed between the two.
My dad didn’t say a word. He just bent down, ignoring his bad back, and started picking up the pieces.
My eyes burned.
Back home, my parents walked tall.
When the neighbors praised me, they’d wave it off with a modest smile, but you could see the pride straightening their spines.
But ever since Tristan, they’d been shrinking. Bit by bit.
They wouldn’t take the money I sent home. Told me to save it, spend it on gifts for Tristan’s family so they wouldn’t think less of me.
When I visited for the holidays, they wouldn’t let me buy them a thing. Instead, they spent the whole trip packing up homemade food for me to bring back to his parents.
Even after Tristan’s family stood them up, they didn’t get angry. They were only afraid it would come back to hurt me.
I crossed the room and put my hands on both their shoulders. My voice trembled.
“Sit down. Both of you. I’ll clean it up.”
“And leave the pickled vegetables out. I want them.”
They tried to get up again. I gently pushed them back down into their chairs.
Tristan met my eyes across the room. He looked away first.
“I didn’t mean it like that. You know my sinuses — strong smells set me off. That’s all.”
I didn’t answer. I knelt down and swept up the broken pieces without looking at him.
He hovered behind me the whole time, starting and stopping sentences like he couldn’t land on the right one. I didn’t give him the opening.
After breakfast, I’d planned to take my parents out to see the city. Then my phone rang.
A project I was leading had blown up. They needed me now.
Tristan stepped in before I could figure out what to do.
“Go handle it. I’ll take your folks out. I’ve got nothing going on at work today anyway.”
I stared at him. He shifted his weight and looked at the floor.
“I was out of line earlier. I was still pissed from last night.”
“Once we’re married, they’re my family too. I’ll take care of them. I mean it.”
My parents were leaving in two days. They deserved at least one good day here. So I nodded.
By the time I wrapped up at the office, the sky was pitch-dark.
I was about to call to check in on my parents when my phone buzzed first.
I picked up. My mom was sobbing on the other end.
“Audrey — you have to come to the hospital. Your dad’s hurt. He collapsed, and he won’t wake up—”
The floor dropped out from under me. I was on my feet before I knew I’d stood up, and my knees almost buckled.