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The doorbell rang, and I looked at the clock on the microwave. I must’ve lost track of the time. “I guess that’s Dex. I didn’t realize it was so late.”
“Dex?”
“Yes. His name is Dexter, but he goes by Dex.” I’d have to fill her in on his last name another time. Maybe it was better that way. She would get to know him independent of any negative feelings that she might still harbor toward his father. “I’ll get the door.”
“I’ll get the brownies out of the oven.”
I took a deep breath before opening the front door. It had only been a few days since I’d seen Dex, but I’d thought about him non-stop since our night in the back of the theatre. In fact, I was finding it difficult to focus on anything but Dexter Truitt the last few days. My heart rate was out of control when I opened the door and took in his handsome face.
Dex smiled, and I swear my knees got weak like a teenage girl. He held a big bouquet of colorful flowers in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Leaning in, he kissed me gently on the lips then looked over my shoulder inside the house. The twins were glued to the television. “They good for a minute there?” he whispered.
“Full House is better than duct tape and rope.”
Dex abruptly hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me outside onto the front stoop, shutting the door behind me. Before I could even realize what was going on, my back was pressed up against it. He took my mouth in a serious kiss. “I missed you,” he groaned when it broke.
“I missed you, too.”
He leaned his forehead against mine and then his eyes trailed down to my cleavage. I’d picked out a dress with a lower neckline than I’d normally wear. “My mouth needs to taste those so fucking badly. We skipped second base and went to third.”
“Not here.”
“No. Not here. But tonight.”
I cleared my throat. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
I nodded. “Second base later, but don’t try to slide home.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m about to meet your mother. Could you please not use words like sliding home? I’m already at enough of a disadvantage being a Truitt, I don’t need her to think I can’t even control my own erections.”
I looked down. “Yeah…about that…”Dex was acting weird. I wasn’t sure if he was pissed I decided not to tell my mom who he was before he arrived or if just being at my mother’s made him feel uncomfortable, in general. But his body language was stiff, and I could see the tension in his face. He was also being unusually quiet. When my sister called to check in on the girls, Mom went to the living room to put them on the phone, and I took the opportunity to feel out Dex while I put the flowers he brought my mom in a vase with water.
“Is everything okay?”
“Fine.”
I furrowed my brows. “Why do I feel like you’re upset with me? Are you angry because I didn’t tell my mother who your father is yet? Because I was planning to…I still am. I guess I was just stalling and ran out of time and then thought I really want her to get to know you for you and not be tainted by something that has nothing to do with the person you are.”
Dex closed his eyes. “It’s not that.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
“What’s your mom’s first name again?”
“Eleni.”
“I recognize her. I didn’t go to my father’s office often, but I must have met her at one point because as soon as I saw her I knew I’d seen her before.”
“Well, she didn’t seem to recognize you. Does that make you uncomfortable that you know who she is, but she doesn’t really know who you are? Because I’ll tell her right now if you want.”
“Do you see the irony in that question?”
I hadn’t until he pointed it out. “Yes, but this time it’s my fault that you’re not being forthright. I put you in this position. It’s not the same as when you weren’t honest with me.”
“Feels just as shitty to do it.”
“So, I’ll tell her. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“No, don’t. Not while I’m here tonight anyway. I feel like shit enough putting a face to one of the many people who my father treated poorly. I’m sorry that he affected your family, Bianca. I truly am.”
My heart broke a little. I knew what it was like to grow up with a father whose actions I wasn’t proud of. And as far as I knew, my father only ever hurt my mother. I couldn’t imagine having to live in the shadows of a man who openly embarrassed his wife with affairs and fired loyal workers without so much as a thought. “You’re not your father. We said we were going to put our past behind us. Please don’t feel badly for something you had nothing to do with. In the end, even my own resentment toward your father was somewhat misplaced. Sure, my family struggled a little when my mom lost her job. But plenty of families go through difficult financial times. It was my father’s actions that made my family fall apart. I think I just wanted to blame someone else. It’s time to grow up and put the fault where it really lies.”
