“Ew,” I say.
“Exactly! See?” She lunges forward and drags me into a tight hug. “Listen, I just want you to be happy. And I want my dad to be happy, too.”
“Truly? Even though I was a shitty friend and lied to you?”
“Truly. I understand where you were coming from. Otherwise, what kind of friend would I be?” She takes a deep breath. “So let’s agree to all be happy for each other, and never, ever talk about details.”
“Understood. One hundred percent.”
“Good.” She steps back and gestures to a car parked on the street. “Am I right in guessing that Tag is here, too?”
“Yeah. That’s his car. Um. I think I’m going to be with both of them.”
She nods as if steeling herself. “Got it. That’s as far as the details go.”
“Yep,” I agree.
“How about you go in and say hi to Tag, and send my dad out here? I have a few words I’d like to say to him, as well.”
CHRISTOPHER
Janie comes to the door. I open it immediately, because of course I was hovering here, waiting for her to approach.
Her lips curve upward in a soft smile. Her dark brown hair is down around her shoulders, and she has on jeans and a red sweater. I want to tug her to me in an embrace, but I hold back.
“Everything’s okay?” I ask.
“It’s okay between me and her,” she says. “She wants to talk to you now, though.”
Of course she does. I touch Janie’s shoulder as I step out of the house and into the driveway.
I face my daughter. “Ariel.”
“Dad.” She puts her hands on her hips. “I’m feeling a little gaslit. That age-gap relationship you talked to me about? It was with my best friend.”
“Yeah. I…” Fucking hell. I hate disappointing my daughter. “I wanted to tell you about it, but it was still new. I needed to figure things out with Janie.”
“You couldn’t talk to me about it first?” Her brow furrows with hurt.
“You’re my daughter, and it isn’t the kind of thing I’m used to talking to you about. This was a big, tangled mess. No matter what I did, I felt like I would fail one of you. Or both of you.”
Her shoulders ease down somewhat, although she’s still frowning. “You wanted to tell me the other day at brunch, didn’t you?”
“I did. But I couldn’t, not without betraying Janie’s confidence. We hadn’t decided anything yet, anyway.” I clear my throat. “It’s still a very new relationship.”
She takes a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I understand why you kept this from me, and yeah, I wouldn’t have told you about a relationship in its infancy, either. That’s not something we’d share, is it?”
“Not usually, no.” I risk a smile. “That would’ve been like me telling you about my hook-ups.”
“Stop there.” She holds up a hand, a panicked expression in her green eyes. “Janie and I agreed no details, ever. That goes for you too, Dad.”
“Understood.” I open my arms. “Can we hug it out?”
Rolling her eyes, she steps forward. “You are such a dad, seriously.”
“I’m always your dad, Ariel. No matter what. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she grumbles into my shoulder. “Now let me get out of here so you guys can, um, talk.” She stops. “Oh, the whole reason I came here was to bring you some cookies the guys and I made earlier today.”
