“Why are you never on Facebook?” Dalton squeezed Andrew tightly. “I can hardly keep up. Did I hear you quit the force?”
“Almost a year ago now. I started a security firm.”
“That’s awesome! And kind of funny. My dad does security too. Dad? What’s with the face?”
Dalton’s eyes landed on Isaac, and when Andrew turned to see that no, there was no other man in line of sight to be the bearer of that endearment, his jaw nearly hit the floor.
“Dad?”
“Do you and Andrew know each other?”
“How doyouknow each other?” Isaac threw back, because if they’d slept together, he would have an aneurism right there in the café.
“Andrew tutored me in Art History in college. How do you know him?”
The actual answers flitted through Isaac’s mind.
He was my nemesis.
He’s the detective who put me in jail.
We fucked on his living room sofa half an hour before I met you, and I helped him through two orgasms yesterday.
“We… dated,” Isaac sputtered—and what the hell was he thinking?! “Briefly.”
‘WHAT?’ Andrew mouthed in disbelief, but he must not have been able to think of a better answer either, because he screwed his face into embarrassed shock for Dalton’s sake and said, “Yeah! Very briefly. Boy, that must sound super weird since he’s yourdad.”
“Not… weird,” Dalton said, glancing stoically between them. He had Isaac’s knack for hiding his emotions unless he wanted others to know them. “I mean, we’re all adults. You’re a good guy, Andrew, and Dad’s—”
“A criminal,” Andrew blurted, unable to keep his floundering word-vomit under control any better than Isaac had. “That’s why we broke up! Detective, thief… you know…”
“Conflict of interest,” Isaac saved him.
“Exactly!”
“Sure.” Dalton nodded as if that made perfect sense, which it did, but that didn’t alleviate any of the awkwardness.
Andrew had deflated several inches, and when the silence stretched on for too long, he stammered, “Sorry, I’m still processing… this.” He gestured vaguely between them but turned soft and sympathetic when he looked at Dalton. “I remember how much you wanted to find your dad but didn’t know who he was.”
“Mom finally told me. Before she died.”
“Oh, I… I’m so sorry. I hadn’t heard.”
“I’ve had time to adjust. It’s tough, you know all too well, but I’m okay. A while after she passed, around Christmas, I found Dad, and we’ve been getting to know each other ever since.”
“Christmas?” Andrew snapped to Isaac.
“After the breakout.”
“The same night!?”
“It was a very full evening for me.”
Andrew’s blush might have given them away then, but the situation already called for embarrassment.
“So, you two dated before Dad went to prison?” Dalton asked.
“Yeah…” Andrew said slowly, looking to Isaac for corroboration, but he had no idea what to add.
