Sunsets and storms ✓

Chapter 45

MEGAN

Emma has piled the entire kitchen counter full with all kinds of ingredients. We make a list of al the dished we need to make and how long they'll take. We start with preparing some of the side dishes and slowly make our way through the list.

I mix the spices and olive oil to marinade the meat in. I have yaya's recipe for her famous souvlakis and everyone loves them. Emma loved them so much when I made them a while ago that she asked me to make them for Christmas dinner.

Tonight Matthew's grandparents are coming to dinner and it will be the first time I'm meeting them. Making dinner for eight people is quite the challenge and I'm not that great a chef. I'm lucky that Emma does most of the cooking. David comes in to help us cut all the vegetables and Matthew got the job to keep Louis out of the kitchen. That also means that Matthew can't come into the kitchen to steal food to snack on.

Once we're done with prepping everything I go upstairs to shower and get dressed. I got a new dress when I was shopping in London with Ruby last week. Matthew has been bugging me to try it on since I got here but I made him wait until tonight.

The dress in a dark red velvet piece that falls to my mid-thigh. The cleavage is just modest enough to not scare Matt's grandparents but still shows some skin.

When I walk out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, Matthew is sitting on the bed with his head buried in his hands. I can immediately tell something is wrong by how tense he looks. His shoulders are pulled up high, his hands seem to press against his head hard enough to make it burst.

"Hey, baby? What's wrong?" I lift his head to look him in the eye and I can see that his eyes are teary right away. "Talk to me?"

He lets out a deep sigh and shakes his hands out as if to get rid of all the tension. "My father's shitty family is what's wrong. He got married a few weeks ago I guess and of course, I didn't go or send anything because I don't want to have anything to do with him." He lets out another sigh and continues talking already shaking his head. A Christmas card from my grandparents just came, and it comes with a letter." He hands me the card and letter and I read the quickly.

The card only has the generic text on it with their names written beneath it. The letter has a whole lot more written on it. It comes down to them being disappointed in Matthew, that he's selfish and should have gone to the wedding. Mind you that Matthew hasn't spoken to his grandparents in years, so I don't know where they got the audacity to judge Matthew after all the stuff his father has done.

"They're not worth your time, baby. If they can't see the truth in the situation, they are not worth to be sad over."

"It's just that every time I'm close to getting over my asshole of a father, something happens. When I was in Greece it was the wedding invite, now this crap. It just never seems to stop." The tears that were in his eyes before are slowly dripping out, rolling down his cheeks. I wrap my arms tightly around his shoulders, pulling him close to me. We sit like this for a while, until Matthew's breathing returns to a normal rhythm.

He lets his head drop in my lap, stretching his legs on the bed next to me. I let my fingers run through his hair, softly massaging his scalp. This seems to make him relax a little.

"I don't know what I can do to finally get over this."

"Do you think it would help to have a talk with your father? To get closure that way?"

"I don't know if it would help but I know I never want to see him again. I think that would bring back too much of the stuff I have dealt with so far."

"Okay, so we'll stay away from your father. How about we just burn the note? And whatever else you want. No better way to get rid of something than by burning it to ashes."

"It's worth a shot. I think the wedding invite is still laying around somewhere, I'd like to throw that in the fire as well."

"Absolutely! Now, should be start getting ready?"

"In a minute, can we just stay like this for a little longer?"

"Of course, no place I'd rather be. And then I really have to go put on that dress so I can do my hair."

"Oh the famous dress, I can't wait to see you look all dressed up. Maybe we can sneak out for a bit before everyone gets here?"

"And walk back in all flushed when your grandparents are here, exactly knowing what we've been up to? Naha."

"Ah come on, baby. You know I don't need long to make you feel real good. It's been a long time since we last saw each other..."

"Don't try to fool me, you poor boy. We may not have seen each other for a few weeks until two days ago, but in the past 48 hours we've made up on that lost time. Many times."

"Fine, but I can't promise seeing you in that dress isn't going to drive me insane."

"I guess we'll have to find out."