True Love Waits

Chapter Thirty Three

        "Are you okay? You haven't said a word since I picked you up." Cody noticed, looking sideways at Maleena, giving her hand a squeeze. 

       Maleena glanced down at their interlaced fingers, resting on the folded down center console in the cab of Cody's truck. Letting out a deep breath, she prayed the butterflies in her stomach would stop flitting their wings so much; her nerves were making her nauseous. Resting her head back against the headrest, Maleena made eye contact with Cody as he kept his truck moving down the road, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just nervous to meet your parents is all." She said, truthfully. 

         "Why are you nervous?" Cody chuckled slightly, lifting Maleena's hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. "They're goin' to adore you just like I do, nothin' to worry about." 

        "I know, but I don't want to say anything wrong, or ask random questions, or ask too many questions." Maleena let out a sigh, looking back out of the windshield, straight ahead. "I'm just bad with first impressions." 

        "Sweetheart, you have nothin' to worry about at all, trust me. I talk about you all the time to my family, so just be yourself." 

        "Oh, great, you have talked about me. That means that they will already have an opinion of me that I have to live up to. No pressure now." Maleena replied, sarcastically. 

         Letting out a breath, Cody pulled his truck to the side of the road, letting go of Maleena's hand to turn on his flashers. Unbuckling his seat belt, Cody hopped out of his truck, walking to the passenger door. Opening it up, Cody told Maleena to turn to him. "Come here, sweetheart." Grabbing both of her hands, Cody gave Maleena a reassuring look. "If you are that nervous, or don't think you're ready, we can reschedule this dinner. I know that I kind of just sprung it on you last night after the futurity race, but we have been together for a couple months already, and I thought about what you said the other day when you asked why I haven't introduced you to my family yet. The answer to that is that my family is..." Cody let out a sigh, looking down to his boots before looking back up at Maleena. "My family can be very unbearable, and stressful sometimes. I wasn't fixin' to tell you this, but I am nervous, too, because I want my family to behave, and try to act normal when you come over. They're great people, it's just hard sometimes, is all." Giving her hands a squeeze, he added, "Even though I know my family will love you, and their opinion matters to me, it won't change how I feel about you." 

         With a grin, Maleena let go of Cody's hand to reach out to his cheek. "Please don't be nervous. I just...I am excited to shake the hands of the folks who raised you to be the amazing man that you are, and you are such a great guy that I am concerned that your family will not think I am good enough for you or anything like that. I know that sounds bad, but you know what I mean." 

      "I do know what you mean, and if I have learned one thing about my parents, it's that you have to take what they say with a grain of salt...they can..." Letting out an emotionless chuckle, Cody shook his head. "You know what? I'm not goin' to say anymore. I want you to be able to form your own opinion of them, without goin' into it with things I have said about them." A grin replacing the forlorn look on his face, Cody leaned forward, dropping a kiss on Maleena's cheek. "It's goin' to go great. No worries, okay?" 

        "Okay." Maleena sputtered out. Turning back to face forward in her seat, Cody walked over to his side, hopping back behind the steering wheel. 

         Starting his truck down the road again, after turning off his flashers, Cody grabbed Maleena's hand as he drove. 

          To make small talk in the quiet cab, Maleena rubbed a finger over the back of Cody's hand, asking, "So, why were you so nervous to meet my parents for the first time? I mean they absolutely adore you. You're basically part of the family."