Chapter 24 Surprise Visits Are the Best
A few of days later, Emily got a phone call from an excited Pam who told her Mike had received a job offer from one of Byron’s subsidiary companies. Not only was the atmosphere more relaxed at his new job, but he was also paid double the salary of his previous position.
“This new boyfriend of yours is a real sweetie,” Pam said, “hang onto him.”
“Wait a minute,” Emily said, “Mike promised not to tell!”
“He didn’t,” Pam stated, “but I had my suspicions. I traced the ownership of the company, and then I made him confess everything.”
“I hope you didn’t use any naughty methods to extract the confession,” Emily hinted.
“Let’s just say there was a break in the routine,” Pam replied. “And I owe it all to you. Seriously, you’re the best friend ever!”
Emily was still glowing as she set off for lunch with Byron later that day. Not only was she happy for her friend, but she was proud of herself and of Byron for having arranged the intervention and pulled it off with such spectacular results.
Byron was already waiting at their table on the patio of seaside restaurant with a sweeping view of the bay and the mountains beyond it. He was wearing a light autumn coat in green and brown tones that complimented his hair and brought out the green in his eyes.
“We really did it,” Emily said, after greeting Byron with a hug. She was a little more used to hugging him, but it still gave her tingles every time. “Pam called me today. She sounded happy!”
“You did it,” Byron said, giving her an admiring look, “I only assisted. It was all your idea, and I must say you’ve got quite a creative mind.”
“It was so nice of you to give Mike a job, though,” Emily said.
“That Mike has an impressive portfolio,” Byron replied, “We were lucky to have him. The company he was working for was completely exploiting his talents.”
Emily’s phone rang, and when she saw it was her mother she said hurriedly, “It’s my mom. I’ll tell her to call back later.”
“No, talk to her,” Byron said, lounging in his chair, “I can always take in the view, or answer my millions of emails.”
“Hi Darling!” her mother’s voice came over the line, sounding more chipper than usual, “Is this a good time to talk?”
“Yeah, sort of,” Emily said, “What’s up?”
“Are you doing anything exciting?” her mother asked.
“Just having lunch.”
“Where are you?”
“At a marina here on English Bay,” Emily said. She was fairly used to her parents’ wanting to know every single detail of her life, and she usually answered their questions patiently, unless it concerned some private matter.
“Would it be all right if we joined you?” her mom asked.
“Wha... How do you mean?” Her parents were supposed to be on the other side of the country, but Emily suddenly had the sneaking suspicion they had gone and done something crazy.
“Surprise! We’re here in Vancouver!” her mother exclaimed.
“Hi Emily!” her father’s voice chimed in too.
Byron must have noticed her alarm because he was looking at her curiously. “They’re here,” she mouthed, “in town.”
“I hope you don’t mind,” her mother continued, “we thought we’d surprise you with a visit. What restaurant are you at? We’ll come over!”
“Um... I’m with someone at the moment,” Emily said.
“Does ‘someone’ mind if we join them?” her mother asked, not missing a beat.
Emily rolled her eyes, trying to signal to Byron that her family was impossible.
“They want to come here,” she whispered.
“That’s great,” he replied, “I’d like to meet them.”
Emily heaved a deep sigh. She was not exactly prepared for her family to meet the man who appeared to be her boyfriend.
“Okay, they’re on their way,” Emily announced after she ended the call.
“I can’t wait to meet them,” Byron said. He actually seemed to mean it. The poor guy didn’t know that her family could be a handful. Her father was loud and obnoxious, always bragging about something or getting into disputes with people who were unlucky enough to have a different opinion from him. Her mother was more sedate, but she too had her moments.
As Emily sipped her tea, she noticed Byron looking around warily.
“They won’t get here that quickly,” she said.
“I was just keeping an eye out for the paparazzi,” he explained.
“See anyone?”
“No. This is just like those journalists,” Byron complained, “when I didn’t want them around, they were all over me. Now that I’d like our relationship to be documented, they’re nowhere to be found.”
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Emily said, “I wouldn’t want them to take pictures of my family. How embarrassing would that be?”
“Everyone feels that way about their parents,” Byron reasoned, “I’m sure they’re not all that bad.”
