The Longest Dinner Of My Life!

We decided that we would ask my parents to watch Alexis while we were at Devon's for dinner. So at 5:30, I was at my parents door ready to drop her off. My father answered the door and let us in. He took Alexis' overnight bag from Reed and led us into the 'family' room where there was a toy box of stuff for Alexis to play with.

"Where's mom?" I asked him as I placed Alexis on the floor with some of the toys my parents had for her.

"She's at some charity meeting," he told me. "You know how good I am at remembering the names of your mother's projects."

"When will she be home?" I asked him, not sure if I wanted to leave Alexis here without my mother. He told me he wasn't sure when she would be home. "Maybe we should just take her with us," I smiled at him. "I didn't realize that mom wouldn't be home, I didn't want to bother you."

My father assured me that it was ok, he actually seemed a little upset that I didn't think he would want to watch Alexis with my mother not there. "Amber don't worry about Alexis," he told me as he tried to push Reed and me out the door. "We'll be fine," he smiled down at Alexis who was holding on tight to his shirt. "Won't we Peanut?" Then he told her to wave 'bye-bye' to me and Reed.

"Bye Princess," Reed gave Alexis a kiss on the cheek and then put his hand on my back. "Ready to go?"

"I..." I looked up at my father. "You have our number if -"

"Yes Amber," my father chuckled, looking at Alexis he said, "I believe your mommy forgets that there were many times when it was just me and her." He turned to me again, "I promise to take good care of her."

I watched Alexis wrap her tiny arms around his neck as she rested her head against his shoulder and I felt silly for worrying, I knew my father wouldn't let anything happen to her, I was still a little surprised with how great he has been since I moved back home.

"Ok," I smiled and truly meant it. "I'll see you two later. You be good," I gave Alexis a kiss and then looked up at my father. "You be good too!" I chuckled and kissed his cheek too. Something I haven't done in a long time, I think it shocked him, I know it shocked me.

My father didn't say anything as we walked away but Reed told me when we got in the car that he was proud of me. "I thought I was going to have to drag you away kicking and screaming before you left Alexis with your father."

The drive to Devon's didn't take that long but before Reed would let me out of the car he made me promise that I wouldn't say anything to Devon about what I think of him getting married.

"If he asks, do you want me to ignore him?"

"He won't ask Amber."

"Ok, then you don't have anything to worry about," I smiled at him. "But if he does ask, then I'll tell him."

Reed shook his head, telling me once again that he won't ask.

When Janie was dating Devon, before Annette came into the picture, he was living in a new condo on the back part of town. The view from that place was fantastic, no other building for miles so there was nothing to block the view of the outdoors. The place we walked up to was an older house that didn't look to welcoming; it looked like a sad and dreary place. There wasn't that much space on either side of the house before you saw the neighbours houses. Reed told me that the house was actually belonged to Annette's great aunt and she got it when her aunt died. "I guess they were really close, her aunt didn't have any kids and tended to favor Annette."

I didn't really say much, I couldn't believe that Devon would voluntarily live there, it was nothing like the places he lived before, they always seemed to have....life.

I thought that maybe the inside would be more welcoming than the outside but it wasn't. My first thought when I walked into the house was, I'm glad we left Alexis with my father. The house was too stuffy, too 'perfect', too unlivable for me. I know I'm not making sense but it felt so cold, so empty of life and happiness.

But I guess that would make sense, there wasn't any real life or happiness inside the walls.

Devon, who met us at the door, led us back through the house and out into the backyard. I was so glad to find out that we would be spending most our time out there, at least there I didn't feel so out of place.

We had settled around the table and made small talk for a few minutes. "So where's Annette?" I asked politely, I really didn't care where she was.

As Devon told us she was upstairs getting a planner that she forgot to bring down, she walked through the door. "Hello," she smiled as she joined us at the table. I smiled at her but the guys pretty much ignored her as they talked about work.

I tried to find something to say to her but all that popped into my head was the phone call I made to Reed where she told me he was in the shower. I wanted to call her on that but I knew that Reed wouldn't like it if I did or said anything to cause problems, I didn't want to upset him.

So I sat there half listening to the guys talking as I tried to size Annette up with out staring. She wasn't that pretty, in fact I didn't see anything that set her apart from all the other women that I knew, if I didn't know that Devon was only marrying her because his father was a dirt bag, I would be really concerned about him. I guess the fact that I was Janie's best friend and Janie still loved him - even though she denies it - made me a little bitter towards Annette.

But soon I didn't like her because of her.

Devon got up to get beer and he asked us if we wanted something. Once he returned to the table, Annette started in on him. "Don't you think that you've had enough?"

He gave her a funny look, "This is the first one today," he twisted the lid off and took a swig.

"Aren't you going to use a glass? You aren't at some dirty bar you know."

"No," he said slowly. "I'm at home, I thought I could relax here."

"There's a difference in relaxing and acting like a pig Devon," Annette pushed her chair back and disappeared into the house for a moment before reappearing with a glass. "Here," she shoved the glass at him.

I tried not to look at Reed at that moment because if I did, I think I would've laughed. I couldn't believe that she was freaking out over this.

With more calm that he appeared to have at that moment, Devon poured his beer into the glass. Once the bottle was empty, he turned to Annette. "Happy?" He asked, lifting the glass to his lips, taking a drink.

"Yes," she smiled at him.

Devon turned back to Reed and continued the conversation that they were having before he got up to get something to drink. But not even two minutes into the conversation, Annette made another snide comment about him. "Since Devon insists on being rude," she was looking at me. "I'll have to introduce myself." She held her hand out to me and told me her name. "I've heard so much about you from Reed."

I smiled at her, I went to say something 'nice' but she continued. "You are very lucky Amber, a man like Reed is hard to find."

Turning to Reed, I grinned. "Yes I am lucky but you are too," I turned back to her. "Devon is a good guy," I don't know who was more surprised I said that, Devon or Reed.

"Yes," Annette said with a underlying hostility which I wasn't sure was directed at me or him.

Soon Devon mentioned getting the BBQ ready to cook supper. "We aren't having BBQ Devon!" Annette snapped at him. "We are going out to the club for dinner."

"No," Devon shook his head. "I told Reed we were eating here, that we were having a BBQ, that's what they were expecting." He got up to head to the grill.

"Devon! I'm not serving our guests BBQ! That's just down right insulting!" Annette jumped up and grabbed hold of his arm, spilling his beer on her dress. "Look what you did!" She shrieked, "Why do you have to ruin everything?" She took off into the house, cursing Devon with every step. Devon glanced at us before mumbling something about going to make sure she was ok.

Once they were both out of ear shot I turned to Reed and with a straight face I said, "They seem like a happy couple."

Reed laughed, "If that's happy, then what does that make us?"

"I don't know," I told him as I got up and moved over to sit on his lap. "Down right ecstatic?"

We cuddled for a few minutes before he asked me to excuse him, he needed to use the bathroom.

I felt a little weird sitting out there by myself so I got up and walked towards the edge of their deck, to check out the view from the back yard, there wasn't much of one. Sure there were a few trees and some grass but just beyond that row of trees was another house. I sighed, I wouldn't want to live here, thankfully Reed choose a great location for us.

Devon soon returned from seeing to Annette, he stomped over to the cooler and grabbed another beer, twisting the top off he took a long drink from the bottle. "I'll drink like a fucking pig if I damn well want too you pretentious bitch!" He drew off and winged the bottle cap at the house, it bounced off and disappeared into the bushes around the deck.

I stood frozen in place, I didn't know if he knew I was there or not and I didn't want his anger to be taken out of me. I wondered if I could make it back to the table before he saw me. But before I could move, he turned, took a step and froze as he saw me standing there. It took a moment before he asked me what I was doing there, "I thought you were still at the table," he closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I'm sorry about everything."

"I don't see what you have to be sorry about," I told him.

He laughed, "I'm sorry I'm insulting you and Reed by suggesting we have a BBQ."

"Reed loves BBQs," I told him. "He was really looking forward to it, he'll be disappointed if he has to go to the club."

"Don't worry," Devon came over to stand beside me. "We aren't going to the club," he paused, "She can if she wants but we aren't."

I nodded, I wasn't about to ask him how that would go over.

Devon and I stared out over their backyard. "Where is Alexis tonight?" He asked me.

"At my parents' house," I told him, "Reed didn't think it would be a good idea to bring her over here."

Devon nodded, "Yeah that probably was best but..." he trialed off.

"But what?" I turned towards him.

He shrugged, "I was sort of looking forward to seeing her." He went on to tell me that he even made sure he had some food that she could eat. "Crazy, huh?"

I laughed, "More like unexpected. But then again, there are many things about you that have surprised me lately."

He took a mouthful of his drink before looking at me, there was something in his eyes that I didn't recognize. "That makes you think I'm a good guy?" He raised his brow, "I wouldn't go that far Amber, I've done some things that I'm not proud off."

"Yeah, I'm sure you have, most people have."

"No, Reed hasn't, he the good guy."

"Yeah, I'm pretty bias when it comes to him," I grinned. Devon studied my face for a while, almost to the point where I was starting to get uncomfortable. "What are you thinking?" I asked him.

"It's nothing," he said with a shrug, "I should get started on supper."

But he didn't move, he stayed where he was.

I turned to look back out over the yard but I could still feel his eyes on me.

"Amber?" Devon moved in closer to me, turning back on to the yard, he leaned back against the railing of the deck; his hip rested right next to my hand.

I turned my head to look at him. "What Devon?"

We heard someone come out onto the deck, it was Reed. "Never mind," Devon said as Reed walked over to us. "Hey man, I'm about to get the grill going, are you hungry?"

"Starving!" Reed exclaimed as he pulled me back into his arms. "And I could use some food too," he added with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes and glance back at him, "I thought I took care of that one?"

"It keeps coming back," he told me.

"Yeah, I'm going now," Devon shook his head as he walked away from us.

By the time Devon had the grill ready, Annette had come back and wanted to talk to Reed about the wedding. I was only half paying attention to what they were saying, I still couldn't believe that she could sit there so calmly after what went on between Devon and her.

While Annette was talking about who was walking in with who, Devon come over to sit down. He was leaning in close to her, trying to see something in one of the books she had spread in front of her; he couldn't read it, so he moved in closer to her, almost looking over her shoulder.

"Devon!" She snapped, spinning around to glare at him. "I'm trying to talk here, don't you have something to do?"

"I was just trying to see the seating chart."

"Well," she slapped the book down in front of him. "How many is that?" She asked when she saw the bottle in his hand. He told her it was his second. "Yeah right," she rolled her eyes. "I can smell it a mile away. Would you get something else to drink already? It's making me want to thrown up."

Devon didn't answer her, he was going over the seating chart. "Who are you looking for?"

"I'm just looking," he told her.

Annette pulled the book away from him. "None of your whores are there, if that's what you are looking for!"

My head snapped up when she said that. I looked at Reed, he was staring at her with his mouth opened in shock. My eyes turned to Devon who looked so close to going off on her.

But he didn't, he pushed his chair away from the table and got up so calmly, I thought I was seeing things. "I'm not seeing anyone but you," he told her through clenched teeth before returning to the grill.

Annette didn't say anything, she just started talking about the weeding to Reed again like nothing happened. I had to get out of there, it was just too screwed up for me. I excused myself, telling Reed I wanted to check in on my father and Alexis.

I made my way over to the spot on the deck where I was earlier as I dialed my parents' number of Reed's cell. After a brief conversation with my father, I said good night and hung up. I went to head back to the table when I changed my mind, I went to see how Devon was doing.

"Hey," I said when he acknowledged my presence. He asked me what I was doing and showing him the phone, I told him I was checking in on Alexis. "She's having a blast with my father."

Devon nodded but he didn't say anything.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked him.

"Yes," he told me. "Tell me how Janie is doing."

"I meant with dinner," I told him.

"Amber please?"

I sighed, "You saw her last Saturday Devon, how did it look like she was doing?"

He poked the meat on the grill a couple times. "Better than me." He turned to me. "I miss her more than I thought I would," he confessed. "I thought it would be easy to forget her but she's always on my mind."

"I don't know what to tell you Devon."

"Tell me she misses me, tell me she isn't happy with that guy."

"Why? What good would it do Devon?" He started to say something but I didn't let him. "It's better for Janie if she gets over you now, it won't do her any good to spend anymore time with a guy who can't promise her anything. You can't give her anything she wants Devon."

Devon slapped down the fork he had in his hand, "I can't help it I can't have kids," he hissed.

I laughed, "You think that's all she wants?" I shook my head, "You don't know her that well if you think she would care that you can't give her a baby!" It was true, he didn't know her at all if he thought that mattered to Janie, she didn't care if she had babies of her own, she knew there were other kids out there that needed parents.

She knew that all too well.

Janie was adopted.

"She wants children Amber, I can't give them to her." Devon picked up the bottle beside him and drank the remainder of it in one swallow. "Go back to the table Amber." He grabbed another beer from the cooler.

I turned to do just that when I stopped, I had something to say to him. "You are the only one in control of your future Devon, make sure the decisions you make are the ones you really want." I stopped him from taking a swig of the beer. "You already saw what this did to your best friend, do you really want that to happen to you?"

"It's different for me than it was for him, he wasn't forced to marry someone he didn't love to protect his mother."

I shook my head sadly, "You aren't protecting your mother Devon, you are helping hurt her. She wouldn't want you to be unhappy for her."

Releasing his hand, I turned to walk away.

"What am I going to do Amber?"

Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled at him. "You know what you should do Devon."

Reed gave me a questioning look when I returned to his side, I told him Alexis was having fun with my father.

Dinner passed by with a few more snaps between Devon and Annette. By the time Reed and I left, I was so tired.

We went straight to bed when we got home.