San Diego was Julie's third favorite place to be. She had always kept a list of her favorite places to live or visit and while Vegas and Seattle had been her first true love, San Diego was now taking the cake. She felt at ease here ever since her first visit with Nick to see his new home after her coma. She could relax and forget about work when she was here. They spent an inordinate about of time at the beach. She loved being outside, digging in the sand for seashells, dragging Nick to the waters edge so they could play their favorite game of tossing each other into oncoming waves repeatedly, eating all the junk food from the little food trucks and cafes along the boardwalk. She could easily best him at consuming endless helpings of pizza, ice cream and anything deep fried.
They never had to plan activities here; they just did whatever they want, whenever they wanted. So naturally, when it came time for both of them to use some vacation days and they sat down in the living room in Vegas to discuss where they should go, she expected a long weekend at the condo and on the beach. Instead, what she heard from Nick made her heart drop into her stomach.
"Let's go see my parents in Texas," he declared.
"W-what?" she stammered even though she clearly heard him.
"Texas, you, me, my family," he repeated, sliding on to the couch where she had been sitting, relaxed until the announcement made her sit up in panic, "what do you think?"
"But- San Diego," she stammered.
"We always go there," he reminded her "Texas is fun too, and besides, we're getting married, I think my parents should probably, you know, meet you before the wedding and you can meet my sisters too"
"Sisters?" Julie repeated stunned "you have sisters?"
"Yep, four," he said "Jessica is the only one who still lives at home but she works with therapy horses on my parents property."
"Horses?" she interrupted him again shocked by all these little details about his family.
"Yeah she's got stables on my parent's property," Nick explained, "there's so much land, my dad had this huge house built when we were kids and just kept expanding on the property so it's like a mansion now, anyways, I think we would have a really good time there, so what do you say?"
But Julie was lost in thought now, wondering what a trip to Texas would be like. Nick's family seemed really unique and interesting. She couldn't help but wonder if they would like her at all. People had a tendency to misjudge her on first meeting her. Just the thought of being surrounded by strangers judging her all at once made her heart race and ache at the same time. She shifted awkwardly on the couch now as Nick sat with her, waiting for her to answer.
"But- she stammered again, squirming in her seat, anxious, trying to find some excuse not to go. She loved Nick but her own insecurities were holding her back. She hated that push and pull of her emotions. She bit her lip, fighting back tears of frustration.
"What sweetheart?" he tried coaxing her into telling him what was bothering her.
"What if they don't like me?" she whispered, finally looking up at him, feeling ashamed for letting negative thoughts consume her.
Nick reached for her hands to calm her fidgeting and insisted firmly "They are going to love you, I promise."
"But what if they don't?" she pushed again, her stubbornness outweighing her logic in the moment.
"It's never easy meeting people," he explained calmly to her "but I'll be with you the entire time okay? And they just want to meet you that's all."
It wasn't exactly as comforting as she hoped, but she knew he meant well and he loved her, that's what mattered. Finally she gave in, wanting to do this for him so she nodded, feeling a knot tighten in her stomach as he hugged her.
A/N- I was unclear about some of the details of Nick's family. Several sites mention parents which we saw in Grave Danger but I thought he mentioned having a sister or two at one point. To make the contrast for Julie having no family, I gave Nick four siblings to create the necessary tension for the story and hence her nervousness about meeting them.