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My dad shook his head. But then stopped. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Sure. But if you ask her out any time before that or tell anyone about this conversation, I’ll kill you. Got it?”

Axel’s eyes grew round.

“Got it?” my dad repeated.

Axel slowly nodded.

“Are we done here?” my dad asked. “Because I need to go check on my daughter who’s been crying all evening.”

Axel didn’t respond.

And then my dad slammed the door in his face.

Axel stared at the door for a moment, and then dropped the bouquet onto the ground. His shoulders hunched forward as he walked toward the elevators.

“Told you it was rough,” RJ said as he hit pause.

My eyes were full of tears. “Dad,” I said. “How could you?” That day had haunted me half my life. And Axel had come here to apologize? And to ask me to be his girlfriend? And I’d never known? I turned to Axel.

“I’m so sorry,” Axel whispered to me. “I was so focused on the loophole. He said I couldn’t ask you out. But he never said you couldn’t ask me out. I’m so sorry that I hurt you. I just wanted you to love me back. I thought that if I made you jealous you’d finally see me the way I saw you. It seemed like it was working. But you never asked me. I didn’t know what else to do.”

He’d had his own operation this whole time? The same kind of operation I’d used against him. How had I not seen it? I’d loved him every second of every day. Why had I never asked him out? What was wrong with me?

“I was joking,” my dad said and forced a chuckle. “Clearly I was joking.”

“He was twelve,” Uncle Tyler said. “He didn’t know that you were joking. Obviously.”

“But I was,” my dad said. He forced another laugh. “This is all just a big misunderstanding.”

Axel stepped forward. “Joking? There’s no point in lying now, Uncle James. I came to you several times since then and begged you...”

“All kidding,” my dad said. “Just...shenanigans. It’s not my fault the kid is gullible...”

“James,” my mom said. Her voice was barely a whisper. She was staring at my dad like she didn’t recognize him. “How could you?”

My dad threw up his hands. “He made my daughter cry. I was just trying to protect her. Scarlett told Axel no, and he didn’t get it. He’s just like his father.”

“Excuse me?” Uncle Tyler said.

“What? You didn’t think Penny told me what you did at that frat party? And this isn’t about you, it’s about your son.”

Uncle Tyler stepped forward, but my mom held up her hand.

“We both know this has nothing to do with Axel,” my mom said. “You said in that video that no one was allowed to date Scarlett before she was 18 and you stood in our living room popping champagne when Jacob started dating her.”

“Because that was Jacob! He’s a good boy.”

“I mean, he is a good boy,” Uncle Mason said.

Aunt Bee slapped his arm to silence him.

“And it’s not about Jacob,” my mom said. “It’s about Brooklyn.”

My dad scoffed. “Oh, give me a break.”

“Our daughter has clearly been in love with Axel her whole life. And you wouldn’t let her date him because he’s Tyler’s son.”

“That’s not...”