Love Expectations (Season 1 of Nata and Phillip's Romance) ✔️

37. 'Trust me'

Nata

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TRIGGER WARNING: THIS BOOK IS LABLED MATURE NOT ONLY FOR THE SEX CONTENT, BUT FOR SOME DIFFICULT TOPICS.

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THIS CHAPTER TOUCHES ON THE TOPIC OF PREGNANCY THAT CAN BE TRIGGERING TO SOME. 

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"What's for dinner today, Mrs. Buckingham?" Phillips addresses Lynn.

"Roasted lamb shanks with fingerling potatoes, asparagus, salad and sourdough bread I made this morning." She settles her gaze on me. "I never got the answer if you eat meat, so I've also roasted some mushrooms and stuffed them with my signature vegan quinoa and spices mix." She waits for my answer.

I lick my lips and pray my voice doesn't break. "I do eat meat, Mrs. Buckingham."

"Lynn, please, call me Lynn. Everyone does." She sets her hand on the back of Tom's chair.

"But Phillip?"

"He and I met twenty-one years ago," she pats Phillip's shoulder. "I was in my mid-thirties, and we thought to avoid confusion it was better if he called me by my husband's at a time name. When he was older, I asked him to call me Lynn, but he never did."

"She'll always be Mrs. Buckingham to me." Phillip takes the cloth napkin off the table and lays it over his lap. "I can take the mushrooms with me and have them tomorrow."

"Great idea, I'll pack them up before you leave." She looks at me. "And some for you too. I'm sure you'll need all the good nutrients." Lynn also knows what Phillip and I are doing.

My cheeks heat. "Thank you. Mrs. Buckingham."

"Nata, I beg you to call me Lynn." She stops herself. "Can I call you Nata? Phillips always calls you that, but I never asked you."

"Only my parents and Phillip still call me Nata. I stopped using the nickname after I started grad school." Mrs. Buckingham calling me Nata sounds wrong. I lay my wrists on the edge of the table. "I go by Natalia."

"Natalia is it. What a lovely name." Lynn rests both palms above her heart. "I should've asked you earlier, I apologize."

I should've let her call me Nata, but maybe standing my ground in this one little thing when everything else in this house is played by their rules is the tiny speck of control that would settle my nerves. I wave her apology away. "No, it's fine."

"We are in agreement. I call you Natalia, you call meLynn."

I can do that. "Yes, Lynn." I nod. 

"I'm going to go get the food and we'll chat after dinner when I pack up some food for you two, lovebirds."

Lovebirds? Maybe she does not know what Phillip and I are up to then. And where is she going?

"You're not joining us?" I ask.

Lynn pauses mid-stride and looks at Tom, then Phillip. "I..."

"Lynn is our housekeeper. She doesn't usually eat with us." Tom and Lynn exchange a look that I'd love to know more about. "But maybe you're right, Natalia." Tom puts his palm down on the table with a thwack. "Would you like to join us today, Lynn?"

"I..." She bunches her sleeve. I'm no longer the only one in the room struggling to use words.

"I'm sure you've made plenty for the four of us." Phillip stands. "I'll get the plates."