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When he did, three more appeared. “If you tell me you have a bunker, I’m walking home.”
“So it’s a little messy in here.” She shrugged. “I’m usually in a rush. Got any more insults at the ready?”
“I’m learning so much right now. Who knew the always polished Sophie Anderson lived so casually? I like seeing this side of you. It’s like knowing how the magic trick works.”
He relished all these little Sophie secrets he was hoarding. It reminded him of when he collected shells as a kid. Once a year, like clockwork, his dad would pack up and take him to the scummy beach by Mineral Point. Black rocks instead of sand, no surf, the smell of seaweed everywhere. But it was theirs. Mitch collected a shell from each trip. Still did. Kept them all in a box on his dresser.
“Doesn’t knowing how it works ruin it?”
“No,” he argued. Never. “It only makes it better.”
Sophie turned the radio up and focused on the road in front of her but didn’t hide her smile.
* * *
Okay. Meeting the dad. This was totally a normal thing.
He definitely wasnoteven mildly nervous.
He could really use that theme song though.
Mitch was two steps from the front door before he realized Sophie wasn’t following. He spun and strode back to the car, where he found her still in her seat, belt on, worrying her lip.
“I know you haven’t been here before, but the inside of the house is that way.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
A smile cracked through, but she dropped her chin and studied her lap. “Shut up. I’ve never met a parent before.”
Mitch really,reallyhated that he couldn’t kiss her.
“You’re literally the most interesting person I’ve ever met. Trust me. He’ll be more nervous than you.” He rounded the hood of the car and opened the door, then propped himself against it.
Mitch could count on one hand the girls he’d introduced to his dad, and he’d been predictably embarrassing each time, but this — Sophie — was different. If he could get her to agree, if she got out of the car and followed him into the house right now, it didn’t have anything to do with sex. It was a chance for them to be more. A chance he would grasp with both hands and never let slip away.
“So…” he started, heart in his throat. “You coming?”
The shy smile she turned on him zapped through his system like a shot of Fireball.
“Kind of hard to go anywhere with you blocking the way, Langford.”
There really would be no curing him of her. “Then stop dawdling already.”
* * *
SOPHIE
This was fine. Nothing to be scared of. Only, Sophie had somehow gone thirty years without ever being introduced to the loved ones of a person she was sleeping with. It hit her as they crossed into the kitchen, where Mitch’s dad was unloading the dishwasher, that Sophie had no idea how Mitch would refer to her. His colleague? Fuck buddy? Girlfriend?
“Hey, kiddo. I got called in for a shift tonight, so pizza’s already on its way.” Mitch’s dad spun to face them. “Oh.”
Sophie froze. There was no guessing that he and Mitch were related. His hair was gray, and his shoulders were broader, but his smile was full of an open warmth Sophie had become very familiar with.
“Hi,” she said with an awkward wave. “I hope you don’t mind one more for dinner.”
“Dad, this is Sophie.”
The emphasis on her name told her this wasn’t the first time she’d been mentioned.
“Mitch senior,” he said with a gentle nod.
