Book 2: Endless Summer

Chapter Sixteen: The Family Gathering

“Alyssa it’s great to see you again,” Carmen Casillas said as she hurried over to Alyssa and pulled her into a hug, she was thrilled with the news that Iker had given her that morning especially since she adored the brunette.

Alyssa blinked a little surprised as she patted Carmen on the back, she knew that the woman was one of the few at the dinner that liked her.

Alyssa didn’t have to look behind her to know that Paqui Ramos was glaring at her, the woman hated that her son had entered such a relationship and she heled Alyssa to blame for it.

“You look well,” Carmen said smiling as she pulled back and admired the brunette, her husband José Luis Casillas approached the two of them with a smile on his face.

Alyssa smiled as she nodded her head, she was wearing a blue crinkle tunic top and black pull-on jeggings paired with black faux suede buckle ankle boots for the family gathering to celebrate her engagement.

“Gracias,” Alyssa said with a nod of her head, it was sort of an engagement party and she knew that this was as close as she would get for one.

Carmen smiled softly knowing that this wasn’t easy for the brunette, Paqui would certainly be trouble and it was only a matter of time before the Sevillian woman kicked off over her son’s odd engagement.

Alyssa watched as Iker’s parents walk away as she sighed, she knew that tonight was about celebration but she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be that simple.

“She’s glaring at you again,” Monica said as she peeked over at Paqui as she stood beside Alyssa, she knew that her friend wasn’t looking forward to speaking with Sergio’s parents.

***

“Have you put any thought into were the ceremony will be held?” Flori Torres asked as she sipped on her wine, she might not have like what her son was doing but after what had happened with Olalla she knew Fernando deserved to be happy.

Iker was quick to explain how the ceremony would work since Alyssa had no idea, she was only being allowed to organise the reception and everything else while Iker arranged things with the official that would marry them in private.

Amelia listened in awe as Iker explained how it would work, it wasn’t going to be easy but somehow they had managed to find a way for the four of them to marry.

“Sounds like a lot of trouble for so little,” Paqui Ramos mused as she chewed on her dinner, she ignored the warning look that her youngest son shot her knowing that he had warned her to be nice.

Sergio rested a hand on Alyssa’s leg knowing that his parents were far from pleased with the arrangement; they had hoped he would see sense and break things off before now.

“So when is the baby due?” José Torres asked as he tried to ease the tension in the room, he knew that things would get messy quickly if someone didn’t say something.

Paqui and her husband, José María Ramos, had made it perfectly clear that they weren’t happy with the relationship nor the announcement of their youngest son’s engagement to Alyssa and the other two men.

“February,” Alyssa said as she glanced at Sergio, she knew that he wanted his parents to be happy for him but that seemed too much to ask for both Paqui and José María.

The table was silent as everyone enjoyed their food, Sergio’s hand remaining on Alyssa’s thigh as he tried to offer her some comfort; he’d been the one to tell his parents that he was engaged.

“Are we really going to ignore the elephant in the room?” Paqui asked as she looked around the table, she wasn’t pleased that no one else but her didn’t think that this was a good idea.

Alyssa might have been a lovely girl but Paqui didn’t know because she refused to bond with her son’s girlfriend now fiancée; she didn’t think that the brunette was good enough for her son.

“There is no elephant in the room,” Amelia said simply as she glared across at Sergio’s mother, this was meant to be a nice family gathering to celebrate the engagement and Paqui wasn’t going to ruin it.

The two women glared at one another as Alyssa shifted uncomfortably, she knew that they were never going to get along.

“Of course there is… this isn’t natural,” Paqui said as she looked around the table, she knew that she wasn’t the only one that thought so but she was the only one that was going to speak up about it.

The situation was wrong and Paqui wished that Sergio would see that he could do better than Alyssa, he had been so happy with Lara and she was sure that he could be again if he gave his ex-girlfriend a chance.

“What is un-natural about four people loving one another?” Amelia demanded as she glared at the other woman, she was growing tired that Paqui was judging her daughter when she didn’t know anything about her.

Paqui had made it perfectly clear what she thought about all of this and everyone knew that it wasn’t the best situation in the world but all that really mattered was that the four loved one another.

“No… they could all do a lot better,” Paqui said as she wrinkled her nose, she opened her mouth to say more before Amelia soaked her with her drink.

Everyone was silent knowing that this wasn’t going to end well, the two women had been butting heads since they had first met two years ago and no one could see it ever ending.

Sergio and Fernando were quickly on their feet as Paqui launched herself across the table at Amelia with David only just stopping his wife from punching the other woman with Iker’s help.

Alyssa swallowed as she quickly grabbed her black cross body bag and used the distraction to hurry out of the room, she shouldered her bag knowing that she couldn’t deal with all this fighting right now.

The door closed behind her making Alyssa glad that they had been in a private room since she doubted the fight wouldn’t have been all over the papers if they had been sat in view of anyone.

Alyssa ignored the curious looks as she hurried out of the restaurant and into the street before she took a deep breath; the brunette didn’t waste a moment as she choose a direction and started walking.

Alyssa knew she’d have moments before people came after her and she didn’t know if she could deal with her family or her fiancés right now; she needed to cool off before she did something stupid.

“Aly,” Monica called as she hurried after her best friend, she was the only one that had noticed Alyssa’s hasty leave while everyone had started arguing and fighting.

Alyssa barely glanced at her friend as she continued walking, she was just glad that she wasn’t wearing proper heels right now; it would have only slowly her escape.

“I found this really nice restaurant,” Monica said knowing just what her friend needed right now, Alyssa needed to calm down and get away and she was more than willing to help.

Alyssa took a shaky breath and nodded her head, she was glad that Monica was the person who had come after her; she wouldn’t ask questions or make things awkward.

Monica sighed as she wrapped an arm around Alyssa, she would talk when she was ready and Monica understood that.

Quickly flagging down a taxi, the two women climbed inside willing to put the disaster that had just happened behind them for a while.