Page 70 of Beautiful Noise
“Agreed but it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve met her and the two of you are more or less friends.”
“You’re not going to befriendswith my parents, Ezren. They’re nothing like your mother.”
“So I’ve heard, but I still want to meet them.”
“Why?”
“For starters, I’m dating their daughter.”
She was seconds from debating the point, but I remained firm and she relented. “You can’t blame me if this goes terribly wrong.”
“I have no intention of blaming you for their actions, now call them and see if we can do an early lunch instead of dinner.”
Begrudgingly she complied and no matter how this ended, at the very least Kori’s parents would know she was in good hands. I couldn’t make them care if they truly had no intention of placing their daughter’s needs ahead of their own, but I would do my part and walk away from this with a good conscience.
I had no idea what the future held for me, but what I did know was Kori would be a permanent fixture. Her peace would also be a direct connection to mine. My responsibility as her man was to employ all my efforts in bringing the same peace into her life that she brought into mine. Fixing shit with her parents would be part of that.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kori.
“You still have time to change your mind.” We parked in the driveway of my parents’ nice but modest two-level, cookie-cutter home. Nothing about the visual had changed but I couldn’t say the same for myself.
This home used to bring me comfort. Living here provided a sense of belonging. My parents raised me in love, cherished my existence and taught me the value of working for the things I wanted in life.
Those were the memories I had of them, this house, my childhood. But now, looking back from the inside of the SUV where I sat next to a man who in a couple, short weeks had proven those memories were skewed by perceptions, made me realize my parents did love me but their acceptance was contingent on me playing a role in a script carefully crafted to suit their needs.
I was now on the outside looking in and my life presented differently. Ezren didn’t place expectations on me. He didn’t have conditions attached to how he would show up in my life. His acceptance was open ended.
“You nervous?” The warmth of his palm pulsed through the denim that covered my thigh seconds before he offered a gentle squeeze.
“Yes and you still have time to change your mind.”
He smiled and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Avoiding them doesn’t make what you’re feeling go away.”
“Notavoiding my parents won’t make them magically believe I have the right to live my life the way I see fit.”
“No, it won’t but at the very least, you’ll know you did your part. You can’t make people feel what they choose not to feel and you can’t make them accepting of things they don’t understand. You can only be you. Meet them where they are. Love them regardless of how they show up for you, even if doing so requires closing doors and never opening them again.”
“I did that already.”
“The way you left didn’t provide closure for either of you. I really hope y’all can work this shit out but if not, at least you get the peace of knowing it was their refusal to meet you where you are. Plus, this isn’t just about you. Even if they don’t accept me as your man, for my personal benefit, I need your father to know I’ve got his daughter. Especially if the end result of seeing them today is his ego getting in the way of being the father he should be.”
“You’re putting me in the line of fire to ease your own conscience?” I teased and he chuckled, kissed my temple, and reached for the handle to get out. “If that’s how you want to look at this, then yeah, that’s what I’m doing. But trust when I say, respect is earned, not given. And I’m not about to fucking play when it comes to you.”
After he was out and rounded the vehicle to help me out the other side, he let his guys know he would send a text when we were ready. We walked hand in hand to the front door and a fewmoments later I was face to face with my father who did not look pleased that I wasn’t alone.
“Dad…”
His scowl deepened and his eyes shifted to my left before slowly returning to me with a questioning gaze. I cleared my throat. “This is Ezren Shaw…”
“You meanEccentric.” The disdain in his tone couldn’t be overlooked. “I know exactly who he is, what I don’t know is why he’s at my house.”
I opened my mouth to explain, not surehowI would make sense of his presence, but Ezren spoke up first. “Your wife invited us to dinner and since we have a flight later and dinner wouldn’t work, I moved some things around to ensure we could do lunch. She stressed the importance of seeing your daughter while we were in town. If theimportancewas exaggerated and we’re inconveniencing you, we can leave.”
My father’s eyes narrowed and I almost choked on a laugh. Ezren was challenging him to send me away and my father’s ego kicked in because he snorted and stepped out of the way, allowing us space to enter. He turned, heading toward the back of the house, and I glanced at Ezren.
“I thought this was to win them over. He’s already not a fan,” I whispered.