"To love again, you must not discard what has happened to you. Take from it the strength you'll need to carry on."

—Simon Van Booy

If anyone understood what it meant to be tired, it was me. Oh yeah, it was definitely me. I was tired of feeling like crap. Tired of being sad because of the same thing day in and day out. Hell, I'm sure you're tired of hearing me complain about the same guy over and over again as well. Trust me, I'm sick of it, too. "I must've killed someone in a previous life," I muttered, feeling like killing more than just one person in this current one. "There's no way that I deserve to feel this way because of someone else's bad decisions."

"Probably not, but when you care about people, hurting is a piece of the pie, you know?" Nathan said wearily. He sounded tired. Maybe he was. He'd come straight over to my place after work and although he looked like he should've been in bed, the smile that he'd given me had banished all reasonable thought. The selfish part of me wanted him there so that I didn't have to be alone with my misery but a reasonable woman would have let him sleep. I wasn't a reasonable woman— Clearly.

I stood facing the window, my back to him and a frown on my face. "Except that I've been doing a lot more than just hurting."

"Tell me something, Taylor. What kills you more, the fact that he left you or that he's with her?"

I shrugged. "A little bit of both, I suppose. I mean, I've reached the point where him leaving doesn't really hurt anymore. I've more or less made my peace with that." I made swirls with the dust settling on the window, making a mental note to clean it. "But every time that I think about them together, my heart gets heavy because it feels like they've sacrificed my happiness just so that they can have their happily ever after and I'm a firm believer in not building your happiness by trampling on someone else's." I frowned. "Maybe that's why it kills me. Because I know that I would never do that to someone. Not even if I hated that person."

"Not everyone has the same heart as you, though. You need to understand that."

I turned around, releasing a deep sigh. "Trust me, honey, that's a good thing."

He smiled, making his way over to me. He put his arms around me and I buried my face in his chest with a groan. "It gets better," he said softly, smoothing my hair. "I promise you."

"Thank you for being you," I whispered.

"Thank you for accepting me," he whispered back, making me smile.

I squeezed him extra tight for good measure before letting go. I don't know how to explain it, but I had a good feeling about this one. His concern for me was so touching that if I didn't already have those walls up, I'd be falling so hard for him. Man, I'd be halfway to love-struck land by now.

"Still up for dinner?" he asked, chuckling at my grimace.

Word had gotten to his parents that he was dating again and he'd been instructed to bring his mystery girl over for dinner—tonight! Apparently, he'd known for a while but was afraid of how I'd react to meeting his parents for the first time. I didn't blame him though, I wasn't exactly in the best of moods these past few weeks.

I wasn't even sure if we were at that stage in our unofficial relationship as yet and the butterflies in my stomach refused to just die and leave me alone. "I don't think that I'll ever be ready," I confessed. "I haven't done this routine since college. What if they hate me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Who cares?"

I jabbed him with my elbow. "I care."

He laughed and wrapped me in his arms, kissing the top of my head. "Try not to care too much, alright?"

I nodded, knowing that those words were not meant to comfort me but to prepare me for what was to come. For all I knew, his parents still loved his ex fiancée and would most likely resent the new girl in his life. "I'll get my coat," I said slipping out of his embrace.

"And I'll get a beer," he grinned, already walking towards the kitchen.

I shook my head, my insides churning. It would appear that Nathan was a lot more nervous than I was. Sure, my family had its issues but I've never chugged a bottle of alcohol before one of our dinners— although the good Lord knows that I've wanted to— It made me wonder exactly how bad tonight was going to be.

"My folks can be difficult and pushy," he told me, frowning when I took his keys from him. There was no way that he would be able to drive in his sleepy, alcohol-induced state.

We hurried to the car and it wasn't until I'd started the engine that I realized that I had no idea where I was going. I looked over at Nathan who looked as though he was preparing to take a nap. "Hey, sleeping beauty," I said poking him. "Before you doze off, what's the address?"

He punched something into the GPS and reclined into his seat. His eyes were closed before I'd even pulled out of my driveway. "Men," I rolled my eyes. I drove for nearly two hours with the radio as my only companion, that and Nathan's light snoring. I was just as exhausted as him by the time I pulled into the driveway of a house even more impressive than Nathan's cottage that wasn't really a cottage.

"We're here," I said, softly shaking my travelling companion. "Wake up!" He opened first one eye then the other, groaning at my continuous shaking.

"We're here?" he asked with another groan as he sat upright and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Already?"

"Yep." I unbuckled mine and took the keys out of the ignition. "And it only took us two hours to get to paradise."

He reached over and gave me a kiss so hot that it had me curling my toes inside my silver pumps. "Sorry that you had to do all that driving."

I smiled, all thoughts of exhaustion gone. "What? Oh that, no bigge."

I was still reeling from his kiss when he knocked on the door of his parent's home. "Just don't let them back you into a corner and you'll survive," he whispered in my ear as a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and a face that was a slightly older version of Nathan's, swung open the door.

I was taken aback by the resemblance. I didn't have to see his mother to know that he'd gotten a whole lot of his genes from his father. Handsome being the most noticeable one at the moment. "Welcome," Nathan's twin said with a wide smile. "We're so happy to have you here."

"Thank you for inviting me," I said with a nervous smile as he took my coat. I glanced at Nathan who only rolled his eyes and pulled me closer to his side.

We followed his father down a brightly lit hallway and into the living room where his mother was waiting with open arms. Mrs. Davenport, a tall and almost too thin, titian-haired woman, hugged me as soon as we walked in and kissed my cheek. Not at all the reception that I had expected. "It's so nice to finally meet you," she said in a voice that demanded respect. "Nathaniel," she addressed her son who then enveloped her in a hug.

"Introduce your date," his father instructed, clapping him on the back.

"You'd think that they already know everything that there is to know about you, least of all your name by the way they greeted you," he said to me, earning him a frown from his mother. He sighed. "Mom, Dad, meet Taylor." He smiled at me. "Sweetheart, meet your future in-laws."

I pinched him, trying to hide my smile. He was terrible. "Nice to meet you both," I said before they'd had a chance to recover from his introduction. "You have a lovely home," I added when neither of them said anything.

"Why, thank you, dear," his mother said, finding her voice. "Why don't you have a seat while I check on dinner." His father nodded at us before following his wife.

I sat beside Nathan on a cream colored divan and he took my hand in his. "Well, they seem nice," I offered with a timid smile.

He chuckled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I think I like my future in-laws a lot."

At that he let out a full on laugh. "It does have a nice ring to it." At my eye roll, he kissed my nose. "Have I told you how amazing you look in that dress?"

Momentarily forgetting what I was wearing, I looked down at my dress and then back at him. I'd chosen the floor-length, sea-green maxi dress with the intent of being comfortable, not necessarily stylish, so his compliment was well appreciated. "No, I don't believe that you have," I said softly, batting my eyelashes at him.

"You look utterly stunning, Ms. Evans," he said, dipping his head to kiss me.

"Thank you, Mr. Davenport," I whispered against his lips.

"Way to make a girl feel single," a voice called out, interrupting our mini-make out session.

"Aw, man," Nathan groaned and I smiled, feeling like we'd just been caught doing something naughty. "Taylor, you remember my sister, Kelly, right?"

How could I forget? I'd met her the same day that I'd met Emily, the fiancée, as she'd put it.

Kelly, dressed in a floral turtleneck and black dress pants gave me a wide smile. "Hello, again."

"Hi," I said giving her a genuine smile since hers seemed pretty real.

"Has she met the 'rents as yet?" she asked Nathan taking a seat on one of the smaller couches. At his nod, she smiled. "Oh, man, this is going to be fun." She clutched her heart and smiled at me. "So much fun." And then she exchanged a glance with her brother.

I was about to ask them to clue me in but their parents returned. The man of the house held out a glass of white wine, which I eagerly accepted. "Thank you, Mr. Davenport," I said and then frowned at Nathan who had happily relieved me of my booze although he too was given a glass.

"Oh, please, call me Mark," Mr. Davenport said taking a seat beside his wife. "We're all family, here."

"Yeah, one big, unhappy, dysfunctional family," Kelly supplied, raising her own glass of wine. "Cheers to us!"

I bit my lip to hide my smile, thinking of how much I was beginning to like it there. This dinner was already headed in the wrong direction but for some reason, I felt relieved that Nathan's family seemed to be about as perfect as mine.

Nathan gave me a kiss on my cheek before whispering in my ear that I should probably say goodbye to my sanity for the evening. Little did he know that I'd already said goodbye to that a long time ago.

Mrs. Davenport cleared her throat and gave her daughter a disapproving look. "Maybe you should lay off the wine, sweetheart. We wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself in front of our guest, right?"

Kelly frowned but complied with her mother's wishes. "Sure, Mom."

"Great. Now, why don't we all take our seats at the dining table, dinner should be out soon," Mrs. Davenport said with a bright smile. It was too bright, almost like she was trying her hardest to make it seem real.

I was thinking about how similar her and my mom were in that regard as we made our way into the suggested room, when the doorbell rang. "Are you expecting company?" Nathan asked his dad before pulling out a chair for me.

"No," he answered, sharing a look with his wife that suggested that he was probably lying. "I'll see who it is," he said, his chair scraping the hardwood floor as he stood.

While we waited for his return, I took the opportunity to check out my surroundings. If you hadn't already guessed it, the Davenports were wealthy. And I don't mean that in the way that you would say my parents were able to afford my college tuition without the help of financial aid wealthy. I mean the type that were so well of that they could shell out fifty thousand dollars for a pair of shoes without hesitation. I classified myself in the first bracket of upper middleclass suburban wealthy but I'd been around the second type more than enough to know that all that money usually meant that a whole lot more misery accompanied it.

My eyes canvassed the ceiling and my brows rose, taking in the impressive chandelier hanging above the table. The thought crossed my mind to assess the damage that would be caused if it were to fall on us but I rejected the idea because a: the chances of it falling were slim to none and b: it was a weird thing to be thinking about in the first place.

I accepted the glass of wine that Kelly offered me and continued my tour. I was staring at a portrait of a stocky, bearded man on the wall above the entryway when Mr. Davenport returned. My gaze travelled to the black haired beauty standing beside him and I choked on my wine.

"Oh, look, it's Emily," Kelly announced as Nathan patted me on the back. "Why is she here?"

I composed myself a second later and used a napkin to wipe away the offending liquid from my face as Nathan echoed his sister's question.

Emily, wearing a salmon-colored wrap-skirt that ended just below her ankles and a white sweater vest, smiled, revealing a neat row of suspiciously white teeth. "I was in the neighborhood, so I decided to check in on Mark and Sheila as I usually do around this time."

I focused on her feet as she spoke and took in her gold, Jimmy Choo sandals with an inward chuckle. This girl was no doubt the one that the Davenports had in mind for Nathan. She practically exuded opulence. I resisted the urge to assess my own appearance given that I wasn't in the habit of comparing myself to other women and focused instead on steadying my breathing.

Nathan reached for my hand as she came towards the table and clasped it when his father offered her a seat. It would seem that her presence affected him more than it did me. I smiled when she looked at me. "You," she said, her brows lifted.

"Me," I replied, smiling sweetly. I really had no problem with her being there. Honestly. It was just fine.

"I should warn you," Kelly said, pouring me another glass of wine. "This place isn't what you're used to. It's not sunshine and roses."

I exchanged a smile with Nathan as if to say where did she think I'd come from? For someone whose life had been filled with rain clouds that peed on me at the most inopportune of times, nothing fazed me.

"Emily, darling, this is Taylor," Mrs. Davenport interrupted, gesturing to me. "She's Nathaniel's friend."

Nathan tensed when his mother addressed me as just a friend and I gave his hand a gentle squeeze to say that it was okay.

"Hello, Tasha," Emily said in a friendly tone but her narrowed eyes suggested differently. "It's good to see you again."

I almost rolled my eyes, feeling like I was suddenly in an episode of a bad soap opera. Her mispronouncing my name didn't bother me as much as it should have. I'd dealt with her kind before and the sad reality was that for some people, high school will never end.

"You know, this is actually a family dinner," Nathan said narrowing his eyes at his ex. "So, you may want to reschedule your visit for another time."

"Oh, we don't mind," his mother assured him, smiling at her husband. "Right, dear?"

"I mind," Kelly piped up. "I'm not having dinner with Satan's mistress if I can help it."

"Kelly, enough," Mrs. Davenport said sternly. "Emily is our guest and she's staying for dinner."

"Then I'm out," she said, draining her glass. I watched in silent amusement as she got up and walked over to kiss her father goodbye. It was just like dinner at my parent's house, except that my anger usually didn't permit me to kiss anyone goodbye. I'd just hightail it out of there.

"We're leaving too," Nathan said, rising from his seat.

"We are?"

"Oh, this is ridiculous," their father said, also rising from his seat. "Nobody has to leave. We're all adults here and I'm sure that we're capable of acting in a civilized manner."

"Not when it comes to her," Kelly replied. "Sorry, Dad."

"It was nice meeting you, both," I said, offering a weak smile as I followed them out.

"I had a feeling that Mom would pull a stunt like this," Kelly muttered, shaking her head as she distributed our coats. "The nerve of that woman, sometimes."

Nathan grunted in response and stopped me when I produced the keys to the car. "I'm sorry," he said, taking my hands in his. "I know that this is probably the last thing you need right now."

"Au contraire, my handsome friend," I said with a small smile. "It's a reprieve from all my other problems, really."

I guess that after everything else that had transpired over the last three months, a spoilt evening was no big deal. Besides, it wasn't like I'd expected it to go any better. Emily showing up tonight was so cliché, I almost laughed out loud. It was the perfect ending to our episode. We'll call this one, The dinner that wasn't.