Almost Home

Chapter Ten

'So Nathan...I bet you're excited about your trip coming up. It's worked out well that Emma has managed to swap her tickets. We were worried she might end up missing out.'

I take a sip of wine and glare at Tom.

'Yeah, well I've just started a job and couldn't exactly take a whole month off.'

I wince at the tone of Nathan's voice and sneak a glance at mum, her lips are pressed into a thin line but when she spots me looking at her, she smiles quickly and resumes eating her food.

'You're working for your dad, right?' Tom interjects. 'Sure he could have been a bit lenient. There's got to be some perks for working with your family.'

'Drop it, Tom.'

I knew he'd be like this and that's the exact reason why I didn't want to bring Nathan over to meet him. But mum insisted he came around before Tom left for his second year of university.

Nathan looks incensed and I squirm in my seat, looking to Jamie to help keep Tom at bay.

'What is it that you do then, Nathan?' He says, coming to my rescue.

'I'm a financial analyst.' I feel Nathan pump out his chest in satisfaction and I cringe. 'I analyze financial data and identify trends to create financial models for decision support in businesses.'

He resumes eating his dinner and I note that he doesn't ask anyone else about themselves.

'That sounds interesting,' Jamie responds slowly and I see him and Tom exchange a humorous look.

'Would you like some more wine, Emma?' Mum inquires after I drain the rest of my glass in a large gulp.

I nod thankfully and reach out to take the bottle from her but as I do it collides with the side of Nathan's glass and it tips over onto the table, splashing red wine onto his shirt.

'Watch it Emma, this is new!' He shouts out as he pushes his chair back in irritation.

'I'm so sorry!' I grab at a napkin and begin rubbing at his shirt frantically as mum starts cleaning the table around us.

'Just leave it. I'll take it to the dry cleaners in the morning.' He bats my hand away and I bite back tears of embarrassment. I can feel three pairs of eyes on me as I stand helplessly beside Nathan but I refuse to look at them. Shame is burning in the pit of my stomach and all I want is for this night to end.

'I'll be right back,' I give Nathan a weak smile and I hastily make my way to the bathroom as tears of frustration roll down my cheeks.

Splashing some cold water on my face I look at my reflection in the mirror and see a look of dejection in my eyes. This night isn't going how I wanted it to and I blame Tom. It's because of him that I spilt Nathans drink. He was going out of his way to make the evening difficult for us and he knew how important tonight was for me. And now Nathan was mad at me. Tomorrow I'll give Tom what for but for now I just want to finish the night and escape as quickly as we can.

As I'm making my way back down to the lounge I bump into Jamie hovering awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs.

'You okay there, Jay?'

With a sense of apprehension, I realise that this is the first time we've been alone together since the party, a fact that doesn't seem lost on him either as he shuffles from foot to foot, not quite meeting my eye.

'So this is the guy then?' He speaks up as I come to join him on the lower landing.

'Yes... What do you think of him?'