Telling Dad about tonight might make it less likely to happen. I was really excited for the shenanigans and the shenanigans with Luke and the general shenanigan-ing.
Shenanigans!
I got up from the floor.
“Why do you need face paint?” Dad asked before I could leave.
I pointed a finger at him. Foul! “You just said you weren’t going to ask.”
“Executive parental override,” he retorted.
“You just made that up.” Where were the bowling guards when you needed them?
“I’m the parent,” he reminded me. “I can make stuff up if I want.”
“One day I’m going to be the parent.” Had anyone ever said that like a threat? I’m a trailblazer.
“Of me?” he wondered.
“Maybe,” I muttered petulantly.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Dad said while sitting on the edge of his bed, taking off his shoes as he was in for the night. “Just take it easy on the trouble tonight.”
I waited, but he didn’t say more. He really wasn’t going to ask again? Trap? No,ploy.
“You’re giving me something I want in exchange for an awkward feelings talk about your love life? Like how you have to release a few hostages first to show you’re willing to work with the police.”
“Which one of us is the hostage taker?” He immediately held up a hand. “No, never mind. This is important. The first meeting was sudden, I wanna do this right.”
I considered that. “Well, I would have already met her, but I wasn’t sure I was ready. You respected that, so running into each other was a risk I was taking.” Hey, that made me a risktaker.
Dad seemed confused by that, which sucked, because that was a rare moment where I actually made sense. “Look, in general? I know you’re smart and more trustworthy than not,” Dad told me. “But it’s still unsettling when you say sensible things out loud to me.”
“I’m a wildcard.” I made some sort of gesture I was still figuring out while making it, to indicate my unpredictably, and predictably, I almost fell over. I stopped doing that and leaned against Dad’s dresser.
“I still think I like her,” I said. “I think I’m okay with this. If I ever stop thinking that, I promise to inform you. Maybe even sooner than within 3-5 business days if I’m able. But if things are going well, and I have a feeling they could, why don’t we just let it happen?”
“Again with the saying reasonable things?” he wondered mildly. “That’s twice in one day.”
“I promise it will never happen again.” I did a gesture that might have meant Scout’s Honor.
Dad sighed. “Shouldn’t have brought it up.” He considered me, watching to see if I would start fidgeting or nodding profusely or had anything else to say.
I watched him back, resisting the urge to do a little dance or something because that might take away from my message of sensibleness. Eventually, he nodded and I nodded back. And then Dad dismissed me and I scampered off into the night. Except something cooler sounding.
Everything I said to Dad just now? I actually meant all that.
Joanne seemed cool, a good match for Dad. She was funny and smart. Similar enough that we’d get along but not so identical that it would be weird or the world would from implode from us being in the same room too long.
Meeting my dad’s girlfriend went from theoretical to HAPPENING NOW, DON’T CRY OR SCREAM OR START KARATE CHOPPING FOR SOME REASON. Uh… It went from one to the other really fast.
There were days when Dad dating and moving on from Mom was that thing I couldn’t think about for my own sanity and days when it didn’t seem so bad. More of the first at first and then the idea became normal. I could handle this.
Or I couldn’t. But the point was that I wanted to handle this. I wanted to try.
A lot of the thoughts on this topic could be described best as “fdklagjlgkjajk.” But there was one coherent thought. Aside from the nerves, the worry, there was this one thing that was clear.
I wanted my dad to be happy.
