CHAPTER 13

Sam walked downstairs into the kitchen of her house at around midday. She had been in conferences to finalise her move to California all morning, a move she hadn't yet told Miguel about yet. Every second she spent negotiating and signing her contract, she could feel a metal grip squeezing tighter and tighter around her chest. She felt so guilty. She knew Miguel was going to flip when she told him about it, and if she wanted any chance of Miguel not breaking up with her on the spot, she needed to tell him really soon.

As Sam walked into the kitchen, her parents, who were sitting in the living room, stood up and walked over to her.

"Hey. Can I help you?" Sam asked them as Sam prepared herself a bite to eat. Her parents looked at each other and then looked at her.

"Yeah, um… we were wondering if you'd be willing to invite Miguel over tonight for dinner." Daniel suggested. Sam choked on the sip of water she had just drank, and she coughed several times before she was finally able to speak again. She quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped the water off her chin that had nearly shot out her mouth.

"D-d-dinner?" Sam stammered. Her parents nodded.

"Yeah, I mean you were planning to introduce us to him at some point this holiday anyways, right?" Amanda remarked. Sam nodded. She was, but she wanted to hold out until after she told Miguel about her move as there was always a chance he would dump her on the spot and meeting her parents would be unnecessary.

"I, um…" Sam struggled to formulate a response.

"You've told us a fair bit about him and we'd love to learn more about him." Daniel continued. Sam's mouth made an 'O' in realisation.

"So this is going to be an interrogation dinner, is that right?" Sam remarked, seeing her dad's true motivation. Daniel sighed

"Think of it as a…" Daniel began, trying to think of another way to phrase it. When he couldn't, he sighed and relented. "Okay, well an interrogation dinner." He finally admitted. "We just want to get to know him a little better, that's all."

"We promise that we won't make him feel uncomfortable." Amanda added, giving her husband a warning look.

Sam eyed her parents for a second. "I mean you're only giving him a couple of hours notice so that's not great. I'll ask him." She finally said. "But I'm not promising anything..."

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Miguel tried desperately to ignore Johnny's warnings, but the paranoia built up inside him. Clearly Johnny knew Sam's family very well, a lot better than Miguel did. Johnny could be right about everything. If Sam and him ever got into a rough patch, would Sam stick around or would she just leave as fast as Johnny said?

Miguel's thoughts were interrupted when he got a text from Sam. He read the message…

Hey babe. Could we please meet at our bench at Griffith Park now? We need to talk.

Miguel's eyes widened. That message looked ominous, to say the least. What was this about? Miguel pocketed his phone and quickly got in his car, driving to the spot where they had gone almost every evening so far during the holiday. Sam parked at the spot a couple of minutes later, and Miguel stood up and smiled at her as she walked over to him.

"Hey, babe." She said, kissing Miguel. Miguel reluctantly returned the kiss, but Sam could sense his tension and nervousness.

"Hey. What's going on? What did I do? What did you do?" Miguel stammered nervously. Sam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Huh?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"What's wrong? Nobody texts 'we need to talk' and then it is something good." Miguel stated. When Sam realised what Miguel was thinking, she laughed right in his face and kissed him again.

"Relax, babe. It's nothing bad." She giggled. She started to get a bit nervous herself now. "I need to ask you something, but you can say no at any time." Sam took a deep breath before she continued. "My parents wanted to invite you over for dinner tonight. You don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want to put you in a situation that would make you feel…"

Sam was cut off when Miguel leaned in and kissed her. She was a little surprised, but she quickly recovered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Miguel broke the kiss, much to Sam's dismay.

"I would love to have dinner with you and your parents sometime." He said with a smile. He was relieved more than anything else. He thought Sam was trying to break up with him, or tell him she was cheating or something.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"You seem more nervous about this than I do." Miguel pointed out, laughing.

"I just don't want you to feel pressured into doing this. Like I said, I would totally understand if…"

She was silenced again when Miguel kissed her. He immediately pulled her lower lip into his mouth and caressed it with his tongue. This caused her to moan into his mouth from the overwhelming sensation. Once they broke the kiss, Sam looked at him through half-massed eyes.

"You know…" she said. "Normally I would get upset about being interrupted. But if you interrupt me like that, you can do it anytime you want."

Miguel laughed.

"Okay. I guess I should go get ready." Miguel said. Sam nodded. As Miguel started to turn around, Sam realised something… this was her chance to tell Miguel about San Diego!

"Hey, Miguel!" She called. Miguel, who was walking away, turned back around and faced her.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Um…"

Sam took a deep breath. Now or never.

"Be there at 7, okay?" Sam suddenly stammered. She couldn't do it. She had chickened out in the last minute. It was fine. She could just do it some other time.

Miguel nodded.

"Sure. See you soon…"

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"Why are we doing this again?" Daniel complained to Amanda that evening, right before Miguel was due to arrive. Amanda sighed. Daniel had always been extremely protective of his daughter, and after he had heard what Miguel did for a living, he immediately had a bad first impression and painted a picture of what he thought Miguel was like in his mind.

"Because our daughter really cares about this guy. There's a very real chance he could become your son-in-law some day so you might want to be nice." Amanda replied. Daniel scoffed.

"Yeah, fat chance! I'm telling you Amanda, this guy's probably a huge jerk. You heard what he does for a living. He's probably some huge jackass who has deceived Sam with his muscle mass, and is just in it with my daughter for sex."

Amanda snorted.

"Wow, you really don't know your daughter, do you?" Amanda remarked. "Sam's smart enough to see if someone is playing her. Chances are he's a soft-spoken, respectful, kind young man who really cares about Sam."

"Ha, no way!" Daniel rolled his eyes. Amanda raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" Amanda asked. Before Daniel could answer, the doorbell rang…

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Sam was running around and organising everything before Miguel came over for dinner. Once everything was to her satisfaction, she plopped down on the couch. A smile came to her lips as she thought about the blissful year and two months that she had spent with Miguel. She was pulled out of her daydream when the doorbell rang. She sprang to her feet and raced for the door, trying desperately to beat her parents to it. But she was too late. Her mom got there before she could though and opened the door…

Standing at the door was a Hispanic man, dressed in a smart navy button-up shirt and black trousers, holding an expensive bottle of wine in his hands.

"Hi. You must be Miguel. We've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally put a face to a name." Amanda said cheerfully. Miguel nodded and shook her and Daniel's hands.

"Yeah, it's really great to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Larusso." Miguel said, politely. He could feel Amanda and Daniel examining him with their eyes. They were trying to gauge any first impressions they could of him. As they led him into the house, Amanda smirked at her husband. She was right. Miguel was exactly how she described. He was soft spoken, polite and extremely understated. Amanda, Daniel, Sam, Miguel and Anthony sat at the table and the group began to chat and eat, getting to know Miguel…