Page 34 of Matched By Mistake
“That’s fine. I guess it would probably be good for the app if I go and meet them,” she said. “Right?”
She was probably right. But his dad had given him advice to stick to the contracted dates, warning him that Del Rios would take advantage of anything outside of what had been legally agreed to. When he’d talked to Trey earlier, his brother had mentioned he felt bad that Jericho was having to go on all these public dates but had admitted that the publicity was doing great for the app and the IPO.
“Yeah. Let’s go and say hi to them so it doesn’t get awkward,” he said.
“Sure,” she said. He started to reach for her hand, but she lifted both eyebrows at him and he knew they were back to the terms that he’d set for them that night in her house.
Which turned him on way more than he wanted to admit.
He walked over to his parents and her mom threw her head back to laugh at something his father had said just as they walked up. She glanced up at him and smiled before she noticed Maggie standing next to him. She cocked her head to the side and sort of gave him that What-are-you-doing-boy? look.
“Mom and Dad, this is Maggie. As you know, we’ve been seeing each other,” he said. “Maggie, this is Camille and Joseph.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Maggie said, holding out her hand to shake his mom and then his dad’s hands.
His parents nodded at Maggie and then they noticed that most of the people close to them were staring and his dad sort of smiled. “Why don’t you two join us?’
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. We want to get to know Maggie better since you two are dating,” his dad said.
That didn’t sound like something that was going to make for a comfortable evening. He turned to look at Maggie but she just nodded and smiled at him. “Sounds good to me.”
They spread their blanket close to his parents and sat down. His father was watching Maggie. Jericho wasn’t sure what was going to break the tension between the four of them. He couldn’t help but feel this was something that they both needed. He’d been ready to give in to the attraction he felt for her, but this was reality.
Their families had never been friendly and the truth was their life together would be full of meetings like this. Was there anything that could make this work?
Maggie wasn’t sure how to act at first. The conversation was kind of slow and stilted and she could tell that Jericho wasn’t comfortable, either.
“I was really impressed with the expo hall that Jericho designed. It’s so nice to have something new like that here in Royal. I’m friends with Lila who works for the chamber of commerce and she mentioned that it’s generating a lot of interest.”
There was a moment of silence and then Jericho’s mom smiled at her. “He’s very talented so I’m not surprised to hear that. Seems like Royal is on a tech roll lately with the app and the expo center.”
“The app seems to thrive on being unpredictable,” Joseph said.
“I have to say, both of us were shocked when our names were matched,” Maggie said.
“Definitely,” Jericho added. “But Maggie’s been a good sport about it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? Anything that draws business to Royal is good for all of us,” Maggie said.
“What is it you do? Graphic design, right?” Camille asked.
“Yes. And some art direction for projects. I redid the art in the Del Rio Group’s corporate offices. It was a bit outdated.”
“Sounds like the Winterses’ offices. They haven’t had anything new since the late nineties.”
Maggie smiled over at Jericho’s mom. She had the prettiest brown eyes, which were very similar to her stepson’s. She also was making the effort to keep the conversation going, which Maggie appreciated. “That’s how Dad kept his offices. My mom was after him to update things. He’s so cutting-edge with business models but when it came to the space, he just liked things as they were.”
“Some things don’t need to be changed,” Joseph said. “But we updated some of our building design in the last few years at Jericho’s suggestion. I guess sometimes it takes a new generation to make those kinds of changes.”
“I think so,” Maggie agreed. “Have you two ever heard this band before?”
“We went to a few of their concerts when the kids were young,” Joseph said.
Jericho’s parents told a little more about the Texas blues alternative band who played covers of Stevie Ray Vaughn, a local legend in Texas, as well as their own hits. He and his band had played gritty, raw, sensual music that even Maggie’s parents loved. “Texas Flood” was one of their favorites, and when she mentioned it, Joseph smiled and talked about some other Stevie Ray Vaughn songs.
The conversation had shifted into Southern blues, which was nice as they ate dinner. Maggie learned that Jericho had played the bass guitar in high school before some friends of Jericho’s parents waved them over and they excused themselves and Maggie sighed.
