Page 59 of The Virgin Playboy

“Okay,” she dismissed.

Balancing my attention between her and the road, I smiled, reaching for her hand to hold. “Still love me?”

“Of course, baby. I'm just doing my best to adjust.” By the time we reached the beach, we still had about forty-five minutes of sun left, and with no convincing, I got Jaq to join me in the water.

“See, I told you everything would work itself out if some of the trip was spent on the beach,” I leaned in to kiss her, balancing on my board.

“You seem happier than normal.”

“Of course, I'm happy,” I smiled. “I'm with my family. I've got my girlfriend here. From where I'm wading, everything's perfect again,” choosing happiness over sadness. “I wouldn't mind if you met my dad, though.”

“Is he okay?”

“Well, he's seen better days,” I smiled through the pain, but really, I just wanted her to have one memory with him before he passed. “But he's fine. Sure he'll be up and at them in no time,” bending the truth a little. He wouldn't be fine in the literal sense, just that he would be no longer with us and suffering, so it hadn't felt like a lie.

“It would mean a lot to me, Jaq.”

“Okay.”

“You sure? Because it's okay to say no.”

“I've literally met everyone in your family. I want to see the man responsible for lending his genetic makeup to make all this—” as she pointed to my chest. “Possible.”

“Don't have your expectations too high. Most of what you're seeing is my mom's genetics. All my weird and corny I get from him,” I warned.

“Well, your corny and weird match mine.”

“That's fair. Just wanted to set the bar low,” I joked. She had been firm at not trying any surfing, but that didn't matter, because I was right where I wanted to be, with exactly who I wanted to be with, and I never felt more home.

For once, she let me objectify her, letting me capture her on film, recreating the iconic Baywatch run. Man, I still pinched myself every day, knowing that this was my girlfriend.

If it hadn't been for my text alerts, I would have been willing to camp out at the beach, but Mum really wanted everyone to be home for dinner. It started out awkward, because you could literally feel my dad's absence, but Wilhelmina's husband, Ka’imi, and my uncle Tiake filled in his place, so they always kept the dinner talk light and friendly.

It was getting close to bed, and I checked in one more time, if it was okay with Jaq to meet him. I took her hand in mine, but the moment she saw him, she put a respectable distance between us. “Dad, I brought you to meet Jaq, my girlfriend.”

She shot me a look of worry, like she suspected he was worse than I said, but wasn't really willing to say it. “I've been waiting all day to meet you,” my dad smiled warm. It looked like someone had freshened him up a little because he looked more awake. Jaq uncomfortably sat at one of the chairs on his bedside and introduced herself.

“So, I'm told you're where my man gets his weird and corny from?” she came in her usual self, her signature silly voice.

“Is that what he said? I was hoping he would say that I was where he got his good looks from. But if you met his mother, you'd know that that was a lie,” my dad joked. He regarded her, smiled, and gave his blessing.

“I'm glad you're here with Graham. It's been an honor to meet you. Everyone bragged how smitten my son was, and I'm glad I'm finally getting to know why,” he beamed.

“Nice to meet you too⁠—”

“Elliot,” he interjected.

What was supposed to have been a hi-and-bye interaction turned into an hour-long go-around about what I was like as a kid or what I was like as a man, and even though half the time they seemed to talk about me as if I wasn't there, for me, it was healing to see two people I loved just get along without having to bring up the future, or religion, or kids. Or just any of the other touchy subjects that had plagued us throughout the day.

“You should join Graham and his sister for the show of Toiere⁠—”

“Oh, what's that?” Jaq cooed.

“It's a show that plays at the Opera House. It's a tradition we do every year with our kids, who’ve in our eyes, reached a level of maturity to join. Kylie is patiently anticipating the next year or two when she turns twelve. But for now, Winnie and Graham uphold the tradition,” as he paused and corrected himself. “Or at least he used to. Winnie, Ka’imi and Mārama and I went last year, but I'm not up for it at the moment.”

“Graham didn't tell me he used to go to opera houses.”

“It’s really my thing, but given his love for composing, I don't think he ever complained.”