Chapter 311: Too rich for this
"Maxwell fucking Beckett! That crazy man! How am I not really surprised?" Maria said, her eyes sparkling and her breath pillowing around her, filling the air. Andrew’s face burned as even Amir was staring at him, all smiles, his eyes sparkling from behind his glasses.
"Maria." Zack warned, and Maria flushed as she realised she swore around her daughter. "With that said, that is exciting. So you two are moving forward? Are you feeling rushed?" Zack asked. Maria reached over and smacked his shoulder, glaring at him.
"Zack! You shouldn’t ask him that in the middle of the street!" Maria scolded, and Andrew just found himself laughing.
"Alright, I agree with you on that. We were going into the jewelry store here, and we apparently have an appointment. Did you want to join us so you can ask all of the questions that you wanted?" Andrew offered and that apparently seemed to be exactly what they wanted.
"We were going in the same direction. We were picking up a birthday present for Kailey from there as well. We also have an appointment." Maria said with a grin. She looped her arm through Andrew’s, grabbing Kailey’s hand once more and turned everyone towards the store. "Let’s not keep them waiting too much longer!" Maria sang, her eyes bright and Andrew glanced towards Amir and his grandmother. He worried that he’d made the wrong call, but where he expected to find some trepidation, he instead found warmth. Kindness.
Amir and his grandmother didn’t appear to be upset at all. They seemed to be welcoming Maria’s behaviour, along with Zack and their daughter. Kailey seemed to know exactly how extraverted her parents were, and it also appeared that she wasn’t that. Andrew hoped that she was okay with him hijacking her day. He’d check in with her later.
~
Andrew felt overwhelmed as soon as he stepped into the store. He’d never been inside of a store that had a receptionist before. Amir took the lead, his stature straightening as he brought up the name of the reservation with the woman who was there, along with the time.
Andrew watched as Amir’s grandmother’s hand on Andrew’s arm tightened as the woman glanced from Amir, to the elderly man on Andrew’s arm, and then up to Andrew and back to the reservation.
"Um, I just wanted to confirm-" She spoke quietly before Amir’s grandmother spoke up.
"Call over Jennifer." He said. His voice brokered no argument, and Andrew wondered what line had been crossed. Were they being judged because of the colour of their skin? Because they weren’t dressed in the same fashion as Maria? Andrew thought he was pretty dressed up. Maxwell had helped him dress so that he could speak to his Mom.