Tell me why: I want it that way

by Ninon Amey

  Sunday, April 9th

  There is nothing more precious in this world than the feeling of existing for someone.

  Victor Hugo

  - Axel -

  12:10 p.m.

  I wonder how Sarah can be so tranquil. We’re invited to my mother’s, and I’m so nervous. I feel the same as when I officially met her parents, last week. I was so worried they would blame me for having hurt their daughter, but everything went well. Against all odds, they admitted they were happy that Sarah and I were finally free to love each other without hiding. What a relief!

  Today, it’s my turn to introduce Sarah to my family. I don’t know why I feel so anxious, because I’m sure my mother and her will like each other, but still… I imagine it’s because of the feeling of making our relationship official. But it’s the first time I make it official with a woman… I hope it’ll be the last!

  My mother welcomes us warmly. She hugs Sarah for a long time.

  “I couldn’t wait to meet you, darling. I wanted to thank you for making my Axel so happy.”

  I see Sarah is embarrassed and, to help her, I scold my mother. “Mom, stop please, she’ll run away!”

  “No, no she won’t. Come here, everything is ready!”

  She takes us to the living room, and we start drinking before lunch, calmly. Sarah and I are sat on the couch while she sits in front of us, on the armchair. Sarah and my mother talk, like two old friends who have known each other forever. I look at them with a real pleasure.

  My mother then tells us lunch is ready and asks us to come to the table. When we sit, the doorbell rings. My mother frowns. It seems like she wasn’t expecting anyone else.

  “I’ll be here in a minute…”

  Sarah takes advantage of this moment to come closer to me and kiss me.

  “I love your mom,” she says. “I can’t wait for her to tell me embarrassing stories about you when you were a kid…”

  I roll my eyes, shaking my head, amused. My mother comes back in the living room with a man. In a second, the atmosphere becomes heavier and my smile disappears quickly.

  Who’s that guy?

  My mother smiles at us, slightly uneasy.

  “Kids, let me introduce you Michael. He’s my neighbor across the landing. He comes to repair the leak on the bathroom sink, because I talked to him about it, the other day…”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt a family lunch,” the newcomer apologizes. “I’ll come back later, Janice…”

  “I can take care of the leak myself,” I say, in a tone that is drier than I would have liked it to be.

  I feel Sarah taking my hand under the table and squeezing it a little.

  What’s the matter?

  I weigh Michael up, and he seems confused.

  “Oh, yes, of course, no problem,” he answers. “I brought the tools, but they remain at your disposal…”

  He walks immediately towards the front door, my mother in his wake. She’ll have to explain who this man is.

  Sarah’s voice suddenly raises, just next to me.

  “Janice, if I may ask…”

  My mother turns around, surprised.

  But she’s not as surprised as I am.

  “Does your friend wants to join us for lunch?”

  Everyone looks paralyzed.

  “Well… if you agree, of course… this is your place…”

  I look at her, frowning, but she doesn’t smile at me, she’s impassive. Then I turn towards my mother, who seems clearly hesitant and looks at me worriedly. Michael answers: “That’s very nice of you, thank you, but I don’t want to be bold…”

  “As you wish but we’ll like it very much, right, Axel?” Sarah insists, squeezing my hand and plunging her nails in my hand.

  “Hmm…”

  My mother ends up looking at Michael.

  “Well… if everyone agrees, I’d love if you could join us…”

  Michael seems quite worried, but surrenders to the unexpected invitation. Sarah immediately creates some room on the table for him to sit.

  “Axel, can you help me get cutlery?” she asks.

  As if she couldn’t do it alone…

  I’d rather stay here, keeping an eye on that guy. I don’t like the way he hangs round my mother. Still, I follow Sarah obediently in the kitchen.

  - Sarah -

  1 p.m.

  I suppose Michael’s arrival surprised us all. Yet, I realize how Janice and this man look at each other. I have the impression of seeing Axel and me, during the first weekend at my parents’.

  We have feelings for each other, but we can’t feel that…

  Why not, after all? Perhaps because Axel stands guard firmly… I absolutely need to solve this. So, even without thinking, I suggest Michael should join us.

  I hope I didn’t go too far…

  As soon as the decision is made, I drag Axel in the kitchen to give them both time to make up the story they’ll tell us when we come back in the dining room. I want to take my time, because I know these brief and unexpected moments are precious.

  “What can I bring?” Axel asks as soon as we’re alone because apparently, he only has one idea in mind: going back there and keeping an eye on him.

  I smile at him fondly and press my body against his.

  “What are you doing?” he protests, pushing me a little. “We need to go back there…”

  That’s what I thought…

  “Axel?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Do you remember why we believed we couldn’t be together at the beginning?”

  He thinks about it for a moment, slightly annoyed… “Because of your family?”

  “Absolutely! We were—wrongly—convinced we couldn’t love each other because of what they could believe…”

  “And?”

  I take a step back to look at him, and a little smile curves his lips while he raises his eyebrows. I wait for the information to reach his brain. He takes a moment to connect the dots, but in the end, he realizes the same thing is happening to his mother.

  “Oh.”

  I’m glad to see he understood what I meant, so I make sure he agrees.

  “Tell me why she wouldn’t have the right to be happy too?”

  He looks at me, sighing. “What would I do without you, Sarah?” he whispers almost immediately after.

  Then he kisses me, in a way that gives me an electric shock. We’re interrupted by someone coughing.

  “If we don’t start eating, it will be cold,” Janice says, sheepish.

  I hurry to leave the room with a plate and cutlery for Michael. When I turn around to walk through the door, I realize Axel is hugging his mom.

  Mission accomplished!

  Michael welcomes me with a benevolent smile. “That’s nice of you,” he says warmly.

  “You’re welcome. My name’s Sarah, I’m Axel’s girlfriend.”

  “I know, yes, Janice talked a lot about you.”

  I smile at him.

  It seems like these two are closer than I thought.

  Axel comes back with his mother and holds out his hand to him.

  “Please, excuse my behavior, Michael. If you make my mother happy, then you are welcome in the family.”

  I notice the tear Janice tries to wipe away subtly and, proud of my boyfriend, I kiss him on the cheek as soon as he sits by my sides.

  “So? Perhaps you could tell us how you both met…” Axel adds.

  Janice takes a deep breath.

  I guess this is a very long story…

  I don’t care, I love romantic stories with a happy ending!

  The end.

  Acknowledgements

  I have to say that for this novel, I was surrounded by a wonderful team! (I sincerely hope they’ll be there for the next one…)

  First, I’d like to thank my dear husband, my first beta-reader. He always gives me good advice and knows how to make me feel better and calmer when I doubt (which is often!).

  I also want to thank Laura
, my second beta-reader who validates the story or not, and gives me some advice to improve it.

  Then, I’d like to thank a new beta-reader, Yannick, who joined my team for this novel (and I hope he’ll stay). As for him, he dissects the scenario and the characters’ psychology. His work is insane!! (When it comes to Canada, I didn’t follow your advice, but I’ll try to put it in another novel ;-)).

  I also thank my beta-reader, Nanou, who does a wonderful job and spots the orthographic mistakes as well as weird grammatical phrasing, or inappropriate vocabulary. She makes me work, that I can assure you!

  Finally, I want to thank Alexandra who corrected this text and spotted all the little imperfections that were still there, down to the last dot. She makes my texts better every time she works on them, and I’m very, very grateful. THANK YOU!

  If there are still some mistakes, don’t blame us, dear readers. The human eye is imperfect and correction software are fallible. Don’t hesitate to DM me if that’s the case, and I’ll be glad to collaborate with you on the project.

  Anyway, THANK YOU to my wonderful team (I’ll have to think about a name for you). Without your help (unpaid—it’s important to specify), this novel wouldn’t be what it is today.

  I want to thank as well readers that followed me from the beginning, as well as all the new readers that came along the weeks and the months. When my first novel, L’empreinte du passé was published [in France], I didn’t think I would move thousands of readers. Yet, today, I did it and that’s thanks to you. So THANK YOU, really!

  Don’t hesitate to talk about my novels around you, and to write a comment on Amazon, that’s really important for us if we want to be noticeable and stand out from the crowd. And then, I’m always happy to read your reviews.

  I also thank my friends and my family who support me, always and forever, and who are here for me anytime I’m discouraged or when I doubt. Thank you, really, for your permanent support.

  Thank you to my fellow authors, especially Marjorie Levasseur and Audrey Martinez, who are always here to answer numerous questions on self-publication and many other topics… Thanks girls!

  For this translation, I send a huge THANKS to Alexia and her team. They do an incredible work. I also want to thank my English-speaking friends who proofread and check the English version before it’s published. I’m so happy to be able to share my stories all around the world, it’s a dream come true! It’s so wonderful!

  Never stop dreaming! Believe in yourself!

  A special thanks for Alexiane De Lys, a talented French writer and a great friend who proofread and corrected this text in English.

  I also want to thank the reviewers who trust me, while I’m a stranger to them. Thank you for talking about my novels on social media and blogs, which helps the readers know about my stories. It’s so important.

  Finally, thank you to my English-speaking readers. I’m really glad to take you in my romantic universe. I hope you like it. Don’t hesitate to post comments after your reading. Once again, the more readers I’ll have in English, the more books I’ll translate. I can’t wait to make you discover my other stories. So, let’s meet again soon!

  Don’t hesitate to follow my Facebook page (@ninonameyauteur) on which I talk about my literary news, on Instagram and Twitter (@ninonamey) and on my author’s website: www.ninonamey.com

  See you all soon, with another novel!

  Starting all over again

  Alicia’s life changes dramatically on the day her husband and her daughter are involved in a car accident.

  After a treason which deeply shook his soul, Jeremy swore to himself he would never let his heart be broken by anyone.

  When they both meet at a wedding, a single look is enough for the magic to work instantly.

  But with the fears of one of them, the conscience of the other, and the family getting involved… everything suddenly becomes much more complicated.

  Will they really be able to start all over again?

  * * *

  [1] Taylor Swift, 1989 (Big Machine Records, 2014)

  [2] Ed Sheeran, X (Asylum Records, 2014)

  [3] Ed Sheeran, X (Asylum Records, 2014)

  [4] Bruno Mars, Unorthodox Jukebox (Atlantic, 2013)

  [5] A raclette is a Swiss dish composed of melted cheese, potatoes, and cold meats like ham and dried sausage (Translator’s note).

  [6] See footnote n°1.

  [7] NSYNC, No strings attached (Jive, 2000)

  [8] I love her to death / Francis Cabrel, Les chemins de traverse (CBS disques, 1979)

  [9] I loved, I love and I will love you / Francis Cabrel, Samedi soir sur la Terre (Columbia records, 1994)

  [10] See footnotes n°3.

  [11] See footnote n°1.

  [12] 3 Doors Down, Away from the sun (Polydor, 2002)