Chapter 415: A man just trying to get along with his in-laws
Rhys was doing his best. Trying to be the perfect son in law, and in doing so was making everyone else laugh. Genuinely, not faking it, kind of laughter.
He tried everything, Kellen would give him credit for that. Bless his heart, but he looked positively ill after trying some of the food Kellen made. Everyone told him he didn’t need to, but Rhys wouldn’t hear it.
Even as he politely spit everything into a napkin Kellen provided for him.
This was truly the first time Rhys hadn’t liked something that Kellen had cooked, and he looked horrified at that realisation, while Kellen just found it amusing. Kellen had a feeling that Rhys was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Kellen’s Dad was more of a carnivore than he thought.
It was Kellen’s Mom who made sure that Kellen and his sister ate balanced diets, since his Dad would have just served them meat if he had it his way. Not without sides or anything like that, he wasn’t going to neglect their nutrition. He just liked...meat more.
Kellen supported Rhys through his display of loyalty, of course. Making sure that he was able to whip up a nice, full of fruit and flavour salad to cleanse his palate and when Rhys finally tossed in the towel, Kellen brought it over like a reward for him. It was full of lettuce and berries, crunchy, flavourful granola, a little bit of crumbled feta cheese and a nice orange vinaigrette.
Rhys looked up at Kellen with tears in his eyes, like Kellen hung the moon and the stars. Kellen’s Dad, along with Gwen and Charlie started laughing at the situation. Kellen’s Mom watched over everything, her shoulders relaxing, as Casper helped with cleaning up and other things.
It wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t awful, and Kellen was glad to see that his Dad looked tired, but he looked better after being around others. He wanted to poke the bear, bring up the whole reason for this, but he was also afraid that it would send him spiraling. He didn’t want to make him spiral, he wanted to help him heal.
Gwen didn’t leave his side after she got her shower. It was one of the quickest she’d ever taken, and she was drowning in Kellen’s clothes.