"They think that I'm just upset that I lost a lot of money and a lot of credibility, which I did. I was the idiot kid who thought that I could build an empire only to be screwed over by my own family. It took me years to win back that trust and reputation, and sometimes I'm still not taken seriously. But it's a lot more than that, a lot deeper than that. So I can't be in a room with them all and play nice and shake his hand and pretend that everything's all completely fine because I'm not that kind of guy."
Beside me, Amelia shuffles her body closer to me and rests her head on my shoulder, her hand softly scratching my scalp and the back of my neck.
"I get it now. I didn't understand why you felt this way about seeing your family because to me they seem so caring and wonderful."
"And they are, they made a bad call about this one and it soured our relationship. It's not the same with you and them, they all genuinely like you," I quickly interject. I don't want her to think that my extended family are all fake assholes and that they don't actually like her. They love her, it's almost annoying how much they like her because now they think they can talk to me about how great they are.
"It just blows my mind that Dante would think that I would get involved in solving things between you two when he hasn't even tried on his end," she sighs in an exasperated tone. I want to pump my fist into the air; I'm not being a jealous paranoid asshole, he needs to stay the fuck away from my girl.
"I've made it clear to his family and they've assured me that he knows that he is to keep his distance from me. When you came to meet everyone, that warning extended to you too. I never wanted you to have to get involved in this shit, I didn't want to deal with him saying some shit to you that wasn't true or trying to trick you into thinking that I'm the bad guy," I start to ramble on. That prick has taken too many things from me, ruined too many things for me, I'm not about to let him ruin this.
"Hey, hey, none of that will ever happen. This is your family, and I'm with you. Whatever issue you want to take with them, I'm on that side too. If you want to go back there and scream at them until you're blue in the face then let's fucking go do it I'm ready to yell at them. If you want to just get in the car and drive back home then I'll go upstairs and pack, you can wait in the car. I'm with you, on your side, always," she explains to me in a slow and sweet voice.
The thought of Amelia marching back to my childhood home and screaming at my relatives is endlessly amusing to me, and also just so fucking sweet. My Amelia; the sweetest and most gentle woman I've ever met, swearing at my aunt and uncle for being such greedy assholes is something so completely unexpected. Yet I know she would, if I asked her to. She's on my side, she's in my corner. She believes in me; she doesn't think I'm an ungrateful asshole or that I should suck it up. Yet she brings out a side of me that I never really thought existed, a side that wants to keep the peace with my family so that she can enjoy a proper family Christmas like she never really got to when she was a kid. I would probably do just about anything to make this girl happy, to keep her with me. And that was her doing the same for me right now; offering to give up this whole weekend that I know means the world to her.