The journalist's footballer (Rúben Dias)

Chapter Twenty Nine

Rúben

"It'll be ok", I reassure Christina.

"No, it won't. It's all going to be a disaster. What if they argue?"

"They won't, stop panicking, please".

Our families are arriving today to spend Christmas together. While I can't contain my excitement, Christina won't stop panicking. I mean, I'm worried too about things not going well but her anxiety is starting to worry me more.

"Baby, hey!", I say, holding her face. "It'll be fine. Just breathe".

She wraps her arms around my waist and holds onto me tightly. I love feeling like she can find peace in doing that.

**

"We are here!", I hear Christina say from the door and I run from the kitchen to say hi to everyone.

"There he is", says the man I'm guessing it's Christina's dad.

"Ok, Rúben, these are my mum and dad", she introduces them to me and I shake their hands. "And these are my sister Lily, her husband Phil and my little nephew Joel".

Joel is holding onto Christina and hiding from me.

"Hey there, Joel. I'm Rúben, how are you?"

He looks at me briefly before hiding again.

"Don't worry about that, Rúben", says Lily, "he's a very shy boy".

"I'm not shy", he mumbles.

"Then why are you hiding from uncle Rúben?"

Uncle Rúben. I don't mind the sound of that.

Christina goes to the kitchen, with Joel of course, to get everyone a drink and we slowly fall into a nice conversation.

When she sits next to me, I put my hand on her leg and can feel her tense. So I remove it. She clearly isn't feeling ok and I don't want to push her.

"Well, I need to go to the airport now. My family will be here soon", I tell everyone.

"Looking forward to meeting them", says Christina's mum.

I smile at her. And when I kiss Christina's cheek, I can see her tensing again.

**

"So, everyone is already there?", asks my mum when we are in the car.

"Yes, Christina's parents, her sister, her brother-in-law and her nephew. They all seem very nice. I got to talk to them for a bit before picking you up".

"I bet she's really happy to have her family there", says my dad. "You told me she doesn't get to visit often, right?"

"Yeah".

"Everything ok?", asks my mum.

"I don't know. Christina is acting very weird. She was really nervous this morning and has been even weirder since her family arrived".

"Oh honey", says my mum laughing. "She's just nervous. It's normal".

"I guess".

**

When we get home, I make all the introductions and things couldn't go better. Everyone is chatting and my mum even manages to get Joel on her side. He's fascinated by her teaching him random Portuguese words.

Everyone is ok, except for Christina. And that also means I'm not ok because I'm worried about her.

The moment I see her heading to the kitchen, I follow her.