Naomi waved her hand in dismissal and said, "That's fair. You two should head off, then."
"Bye, Henry. Bye, Ms. McKinnon," Sienna chimed in, bidding them farewell with a wave.
Henry suddenly interjected, "Why are you calling her Ms. McKinnon? We're family. Sienna, you should call her Samantha."
Sienna blinked at him in surprise.
She wasn't the only one surprised by his words. The rest of the group had also paused briefly in surprise.
"Bye, Samantha," Sienna said, changing her form of address obediently.
Samantha turned as red as a tomato from her neck to the tip of her ears. She was so flustered that she pursed her lip slightly and murmured, "It's alright. You can call me whatever you want."
"No, that won't do at all." Henry shot her suggestion down. Then, he pulled Samantha into his arms and said, "Let's go, sweetheart. I'll drive you back."
Samantha murmured softly, still blushing, "Alright."
Once they were gone, Naomi couldn't help but click her tongue in intrigue. Then, she nudged Sienna, commenting, "Sienna, I think Henry's serious about her."
Sienna readily agreed with her, adding in her two cents, "Henry does treat Samantha a lot differently from the women he dated in the past."
Naomi tugged Tessa along. "Come on. Off to the bar we go. Let's party!"
Sienna cut in, "You guys go on ahead. I have to go home."
Sienna had always been the model daughter and was never one to indulge in alcohol. So, Naomi didn't force her to stay. Instead, she just said, "Sure, go on home."
Then, she asked, "Are you two coming, Stephen, Tessa?
Stephen turned to look at Tessa, a silent question hanging in the air.
Tessa understood the look he was giving her. He would only go if she did. Naturally, he wouldn't if she didn't.
Frankly, she wanted to go to the bar so she could spend more time with him.
Unfortunately, her alcohol tolerance was terrible. The last time she had gone to the bar for a drink, she had become so wasted that she started rambling all sorts of nonsense. To make matters even more humiliating, she had ended up clinging to Stephen like a koala.
Tessa couldn't help but look at them in amusement. "Dad, Ms. Connors, what are you two on about? There's nothing going on between Lester and me. I have no idea how he feels, but I know I'm not interested in him that way."
Samuel took a sip of his soup and said lightly, "Tessa, you're already 27. It's about time for you to consider marriage."
Tessa thought wearily, "Here we go again. Yet another marriage pep talk."
She curled her lips into a wry smile. "Dad, all I have in mind right now is my career. I want to focus on expanding my law firm. I don't have time for romance."
Marianne shot Tessa a look, words threatening to bubble from her lips.
However, she remained silent. After all, she was only Tessa's stepmother. It wasn't appropriate for her to pressure Tessa about something like this.
Samuel's tone remained even despite Tessa's answer. "You could get married and still focus on your career. They aren't mutually exclusive things. You could always get married before planning for kids."
Tessa's voice turned cold. "No, thanks. I've got a plan in mind and am going to stick to it. Romance isn't a part of it right now."
Samuel glanced at Tessa before replying genially, "Alright, then. I was just making a suggestion. Let's eat."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: His Unveiled Passion
I know this isn’t Stephen’s fault but I still hated how he was so careless around this bitch even after Tessa already told him it’s obvious that this bitch likes him and she looked at Tessa with hostility. If Tessa breaks up with him again, I’ll even support her. Ugh. Good luck on winning Tessa back again, Stephen. Tss. I so hate these updates....
Nooooo! Not again! We don't need a twist like this. Is it too hard for the writer to conclude with..."and they live happily ever after"?...
Finally getting Stephen and Tess back together then to tear them apart with foolishness. This is craziness...
Yuhohoooo!!! Finally!!!...
Aaand~ Tessa and Stephen are finally back together! Yaaaaay!...
Why make an uninteresting, irrelevant twist when readers are waiting for Tess and Stephen to be together?...
Gosh just let Tessa and Stephen get back together already! Ugh...
Oh my god, when is this book finishing... they're not even back together yet and more nonsense side plots.....
Whoa! Hahahahahaha! Go, Sophia! Burn, stupid Rowena! Lol...
Sooo~ Chapters 310-318 were just a repeat of Jacqueline’s punishment, official expulsion from the Jacobson family, and arrest. With few changes since Tessa and Stephen are not together this time. So Tessa didn’t witness how Jacqueline was tortured at Stephen’s base, though at least Tessa was still called over and witnessed how Stephen officially expelled Jacqueline from the Jacobson family and how Stephen’s subordinate made Jacqueline grovel in front of Tessa. Lol. I hope Jacqueline’s really out of the story now....