I'd usually never pass up a meal.  Normally I would eat anything put in front of me. I wasn't picky to say the least. But something told me that this time needed to be an exception. Taking one look at the spread in front of me was enough to let my stomach know this whole thing could end in one huge disaster.

I was visiting my girlfriend's grandparents in New Mexico and we were having dinner at their home. Home was a modest word for this behemoth of a place. Mansion was probably a better suited word.

Actually, now that I think about it, estate was the best term to attach to the place they resided. The thing was enormous, and really old. Shane, my girlfriend, told me it had been in their family for almost two hundred years. It was built by her great, great grandparents who had immigrated from Spain. They had money, old money, and this place showcased it on full display.

Every surface was some type of hard-to-come-by material; imported marble fireplaces, hand carved mahogany staircase railings, freaking tapestries on practically every wall! It was unbelievable. When we had arrived that afternoon, I had wandered, slack-jawed, during the entire tour of this palace, which took just under three hours believe it or not. Her grandparents had practically given us a history lesson along with the tour. Shane had joked that I should have been taking notes, her grandparents were known to test their guests during dinner. At least I hoped she was joking.

Once the tour concluded, Shane and I settled into our respective rooms. Her grandparents were old-school, so yeah, we had our own rooms. There wouldn't be any action on this trip. It didn't really matter, actually. I was so intimidated by the house that there would be no way...ahem. Yeah.

My room was just an extension of everything I had seen. More tapestries and antique hand carved mahogany furniture. Some sort of metal was lining the ceiling in squares, each having a design etched or carved or molded into it. Whatever, I wasn't an art history major so I had no idea. Honestly, it was bordering on the creepy, like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. Well, maybe not that bad but seriously, I was creeped out. It didn't feel luxurious to me, more like ominous.

A few minutes after cleaning up in the wrought iron bathroom, there was a knock at my door. I opened it, expecting to find Shane smiling at me, but saw the somber face of one of the household employees instead.

Yes, her grandparents had an entire staff of employees meant to keep the place running.

"Dinner will be served at eight in the dining room. Appropriate attire is required, good evening, Sir." Then the little bugger turned and high tailed it out of there. It gave me a weird feeling, as if he knew something I didn't. Or maybe I was just paranoid.

I stepped into the hallway and walked a few doors down to Shane's room. Even the hallway felt suffocating. For some reason it reminded me of Disney's haunted mansion. I half expected the doors to start expanding and the paintings on the walls to come to life. I tried to physically shake the paranoia off of my body. Knocking gently against the heavy door, I waited for Shane to open up. And waited. And continued to wait.

Where the hell was she?

I gave up after knocking several times. It didn't help that this house seemed to swallow my cell service. It was as if entering the front door transported us back a hundred years because my phone had been malfunctioning the entire time. Shane had just shrugged it off and said it was normal there. The house was somewhat off the grid, apparently. Thanks for the heads up, by the way. I couldn't even use my GPS to get out of this place.

After heading back to my room, I checked the time on the antique clock. Six forty-five. What was I going to do for an hour and fifteen minutes? I'm a guy, it takes like five minutes to get ready for any occasion. I didn't primp or preen like Shane did. Don't get me wrong, she was beautiful so she had my permission to primp away, not that she needed it. However, I was never dissatisfied by the results.

Shane was a natural beauty with auburn locks winding down her back. I loved it when she wore it long but more often than not she kept it up in some sort of bun. On a typical day she was something to behold with brown eyes and a slightly olive toned complexion. Her mixed heritage gave her a dynamic combination of features. She had a slim figure yet she was muscular from working out regularly.

We met the last year of collage during a job fair. I saw her sitting on a bench leafing through handouts she had picked up from the various booths. She had a look of distress that made me want to help her out. As smoothly as I could, I sat down next to her and asked if she had found any intriguing job options. To my surprise she looked at me, right in the eyes, and burst into tears.

What the hell?

I knew I had my work cut out for me because I didn't normally deal well with that level of emotional outburst.

"Hey, it can't be that bad, right?"

"Yes, yes it is. I've spent my four years at school getting ready for a career I'm gonna hate." More sobbing. Damn my luck.

"I'm David. What's your name?"

"Sh-sh-ane" she sobbed. I had to admit, even with the tears and snot, she was adorable.

Somehow I succeeded in cheering her up. Must've been my wit and charm. Or not. But we ended up at a little coffee place nearby when I told her I'd buy her a latte if it would help calm her down.

See, charm.

We talked at that little cafe for three hours. I left with her number and she left smiling. I broke every bro rule in the book and called her an hour later. We've been together ever since. And now I had no idea where she was.

Did I hang out in my room? Should I go look for Shane? I made the decision to go ahead and dress for dinner, in what I assumed was appropriate attire, and head down early to see if Shane was somewhere near the dining room. Truth be told, I was a little worried about getting lost wandering around the house by myself so I was really praying that Shane would already be in or near the dining room. That was the room closest to the bottom of the stairs so I figured it was a safe place to start.

I pulled open my suitcase and found the necessary articles of clothing. Luckily I had packed my charcoal grey suit just in case there was a special occasion. Actually, that's a lie. I packed it because I was planning on creating a special occasion but I wasn't sure when. I figured it was better to be prepared so I dragged the suit along. It was formal enough to seem like "appropriate attire" for this dinner.

As predicted, I was washed, cologned and dressed in a total of five minutes. The clock in my room now read six fifty and I was ready to go. Stepping out into the hallway, I made a split decision and turned back to my suitcase. I dug under and around the clothes until the object I was seeking came into contact with my hand.

Pulling out the small box, I opened it to inspect its contents. The ring I had been carrying around with me practically everywhere I went for the last month sparkled back at me. As cliche as it sounded, I was waiting for just the right moment, one that I had thought through for much longer than the month that I had the ring. Shane was the one, I was sure of it. But I could never seem to do the deed and ask her already. Honestly I don't know what more I was waiting for.

When she first mentioned coming with her to meet her grandparents, I thought the trip would be a good excuse to finally ask her to marry me. Maybe I would whisk her off for the evening to someplace new in a town we'd never been to together. That seemed like a romantic notion to me. But once we got here, I was so awestruck by this estate that my plan had been forgotten.

I put the ring box in my jacket pocket and headed back out the door. Maybe after dinner I would take her on a walk through the extensive gardens and get down on one knee and...

Thinking about it was making me dizzy so I decided to just focus on finding Shane.

#-----
A/N This is my entry for the First Words challenge by Floats . Each act will be about 1500 words, give or take

Hey, don't forget to vote ⭐️!!! Please comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts about David, Shane and what you think about the house...it's a big player in this story 😉

P.S. Here's David and Shane: