Having dinner with Duncan’s family seemed way too…God, she didn’t even know the right word. Serious. This made things seem far too serious between them, when she wasn’t even sure what was happening. And Lovey and Marc would be there, so it was even more like a family thing, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be part of that.
She wore her sleeveless black dress and dressed it up with a gold statement necklace that she’d gotten at Forever 21. She had to remind herself that Duncan’s parents were farmers and not rich like him, and she didn’t need to worry about living up to some kind of image that she had in her own mind about how the date of a professional athlete should dress. Although, no doubt when he’d dated Melissa, she’d worn nothing but designer clothes. Blerg. Had his parents met Melissa? Double blerg.
They all slid into the booth, the leather padded seats surrounding three sides of the table, a big lamp hanging above it, creating a soft glow in the dimly lit restaurant. Lovey and Marc sat on the inside, Amber and Duncan facing Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong across the table.
“This is beautiful.” Mrs. Armstrong looked around.
Amber nodded. “It is.” She eyed Duncan’s mother across the table. She looked like Lovey’s sister, with her youthful face, shoulder-length brown hair, and slim build. Well, no…Mrs. A. had lovely laugh lines around her eyes and mouth and a maturity to her eyes that showed a life lived with love, laughter, and probably some hard times too. Lovey’s coloring was different, but she looked a lot like her mom. Mrs. A. wore a black turtleneck sweater dress and seemed at ease in the restaurant.
Then Amber peeked at Duncan’s dad over her menu. His hair was mostly silver but he didn’t look old, with the same strong square jaw and broad shoulders that Duncan had. She suspected his hair had been red or maybe chestnut like Duncan’s. He wore an open-necked shirt with a casual sport jacket over it, and notwithstanding Duncan’s denial that his dad looked anything like Phil Robertson, he didn’t look like she’d expected either. Although she wasn’t sure what she’d expected.
Lovey made things comfortable and easy with her usual chatter as they looked over the menu and ordered drinks.
“Would it be wrong to order salmon in a steak house?” Mrs. Armstrong asked.
“Order whatever you want, Mom,” Duncan said. “This is on me tonight.”
“Excellent,” Marc said. “This two-pound lobster sounds good.”
“It’s the most expensive thing on the menu.” Lovey elbowed him.
“Exactly.”
Duncan just laughed. “You won’t order lobster. I know you want beef.”
Marc grinned. “How about this caviar as an appetizer? Siberian sturgeon, only ninety-five bucks.”
“I am not eating caviar.” Lovey shuddered. “Uck.”
“You might like it,” Amber said. “It’s actually really good.”
Uh-oh. She caught the looks both Duncan and Lovey gave her.
“You want the caviar, sweetheart?” Duncan murmured. “Go ahead and order it.”
“No, no.” Crap, she shouldn’t have said that. Now they all thought she was pretentious, sitting there in her cheap dress and jewelry, talking about Siberian sturgeon caviar. Her insides cramped up and her face burned. She bit her lip and bent her head toward the menu.
They took their time considering options. Their drinks arrived. Duncan wanted to order a bottle of wine, and their waiter sent the sommelier over.
“Hi,” the young woman said. “I’m Frankie, the wine girl.”
They all grinned at her. “The wine girl?” Lovey said.
“We like to keep things casual.” Frankie smiled. “Wine should be fun. Are you thinking of red or white tonight?”
“No idea,” Duncan said.
Amber smiled.
They eventually settled on a bottle of Pinot Noir that Amber gulped at seeing was nearly two hundred dollars.
This was nothing like her other dates with Duncan—burgers and Thai. It had been a long time since she’d been to a restaurant like this; even so, she couldn’t say it was outside her comfort zone. There’d been a time in her life when this kind of experience was the norm, but that was in the far distant past.
Duncan’s parents were down to earth and funny. Amber was amused by how excited they seemed about Lovey and Marc being together. Mrs. Armstrong especially was beaming at the two of them.
She was also clearly curious about Amber and Duncan, friendly but with an assessing wariness about her. This no doubt was due to Melissa and the other women Lovey had alluded to who’d also taken advantage of him. Welp, Amber couldn’t blame them for reserving judgment. She had zilch money, so they might think she was dating Duncan for his wealth, but if they knew the truth about her background they’d understand that was definitely not the case.