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They start talking about Ridge and how well his marketing company is doing. I feel intimidated every time I hear about my brother’s accomplishments. I worry that my parents’ expectations of me are way too high, and that I’ll never be able to make them as proud as Ridge does.
“What’s going on with you, Slayer?” Dad is asking me now, eyeballing me funny from the kitchen table where he is now folding napkins which he then puts by each plate.
“Uh, not much, Dad, same ol’, you know,” I shrug and pray that he’ll drop it. I don’t want to have to tell him that the top priority for me right now is to not go back to New York still a virgin.
“Have you decided what you’re going to do once you’re done with school?”
I am currently home on a school break. While I already have all my credits to graduate, I have one semester left, which, technically, I could do online. The classes I have left are easy enough. Now I am itching to see where things with Zach may go. What if we get serious? Will I want to stay home?
“Not yet, Dad, still thinking,” I tell him now and leave it at that.
My dad starts walking toward me where I am perched on a bar stool at the kitchen island. It’s like he can look inside my soul when he watches me like that, and I worry that he sees something, anything, that I am not ready yet to share.
“You know we’ll be here for you no matter what you decide, right?” He puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me what it’s meant to be a reassuring squeeze.
“I know,” I smile, then relax when I see his eyes softening. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Slayer.” Dad pulls me into a tight hug, and I squeal when it’s just a tad too tight.
All of a sudden, Mom is at my back, and she’s thrown her arms around both me and Dad. “I love you guys, too,” she gushes which in turn makes Dad laugh.
“Can I not give our daughter a hug without you getting in on it, too? Ever?” Dad starts teasing Mom mercilessly. He’s right though, she always does that. It’s like she’s got a secret radar, and as soon as he hugs me or shows any sign of affection, she is right there wanting to participate.
“I just love my family, shoot me.” She gives Dad the finger and rushes back to the stove. “On second thought, don’t actually shoot me. You got too good of an aim,” she jokes.
The rest of the morning goes by fast, easy banter between all three of us filling every minute of it. I look at the clock hanging on my mom’s kitchen wall and realize that I need to go take my shower and get dressed if I want to make it to Zach’s on time.
“Okay, I have to go get ready to meet Mattie.” I stand up and take my plate to the sink.
“What’s that code for?” Dad watches me with a suspicious glint in his eyes.
“What?” My voice hitches when I say that, and I want to slap a hand over my mouth. I need to stop talking. My dad always knows how to extract information out of me.
“Jack, leave her alone,” Mom, God bless her, oblivious to my distress, smacks my dad playfully with a kitchen towel.
“I just want to know,” Dad insists, but now his attention is on her instead of me. I take advantage of it and slowly move toward the stairs so I can run up to my room.
“Why do you always think there’s something more behind everything Hunter says?” Mom continues chastising him in a soft voice, but I can still hear them. I stop when I am almost at the top of the stairs to eavesdrop a little. I’ve always done this ever since I can remember.
“Because I know my daughter,” Dad deadpans with an assured voice.
“And I don’t?” Mom throws back, and I can almost picture her crossing her arms over her chest and getting in battle mode.
“Evie,” Dad’s voice is now almost patronizing, and I know Mom will pick up on that and hell will break loose. “Did you hear how her voice got high when I asked her about the Mattie thing? She’s lying!”
“Jack Montgomery, did you just call my daughter a liar?”
“I’m just saying that she’s probably going out with some boy who she doesn’t want us to meet, like that one she brought home when she was in seventh grade. Remember him?”
I snort, remembering how bad that meeting with my parents went.
“Are you saying Hunter is attracted to boys who are a little slow?” I love how indignant my mom is, and how quickly she gets on my dad’s case.
“All I’m saying is that the boy was scared to be in a car that went into the city because he thought his parents would need to pay a troll. And he was scared of trolls.”
“Jack, you better rethink this whole thing you’re trying to tell me right now, or we are going to get into a huge fight right this second.”
It takes everything in me not to laugh out loud when Dad starts backtracking so that he doesn’t end up on Mom’s shit list for the weekend.
