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“Well, what?”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, David?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, swallowing hard. I was 30 years old. I didn’t need to explain to Bob what was going on between me and Zoey. Besides, maybe she didn’t want her dad to know her personal business.
Only, I knew that this wasn’t something I’d keep from someone like Bob. I liked the guy far too much. Besides, I respected him. If he actually wanted to call me out for dating Zoey, then I’d be honest about that.
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“You like her.”
“Yes.”
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Wow, Bob, don’t hold back,” I muttered.
“Try again,” he said patiently.
“Yeah, I love her.”
“You’re going to be good to her,” Bob said.
“Excuse me?” I looked over at him. He was watching me carefully, but he didn’t seem mad or irritated or disappointed. He just seemed relieved, almost.
“I know you, David. To be honest, I always hoped you kids would see what was right in front of your eyes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You two have always been destined to be together.”
“You believe in destiny?” Bob was a hardened veteran who had lived a rough life. He’d lost his wife far too young, and he’d worked his ass off raising his two kids. He didn’t strike me as the “fate is real” type of person.
“I believe that what you two have is destiny,” he told me.
“I like your daughter a lot,” I admitted. “She’s an incredible person.”
“I’d have to agree,” he said. “You know, her mother always thought the two of you would make a wonderful pair.”
“Really?” That was surprising. Bob didn’t talk about his wife too much. I knew it hurt him. He missed her a lot. My mom talked about her all of the time, though. She’d loved Zoey’s mom so much that sometimes it killed me to hear all of their favorite memories.
“Your mom has always thought so, too. Every so often she calls me up and asks when I’m going to nudge you two in the right direction.” Bob shook his head, as though it was the silliest thing he’d ever heard of.
“Are you serious right now?” I blinked, staring at him. I couldn’t really believe this conversation was actually happening. I was sitting in the parking lot with my best friend’s dad, and he was basically giving me his permission – and his blessing – to date his daughter. It felt like something out of a cheesy movie. It didn’t seem like something that could possibly happen in real life.
“Your mom is a bit of a meddler, son,” Bob chuckled.
“That’s putting it lightly,” I rolled my eyes. He was right about her on that count. My mom was wonderful, but yeah, she liked to fidget and meddle and mess with things that didn’t concern her. Only, maybe this time it wasn’t so bad. Perhaps knowing that our parents approved of what we had considered to be an illicit and wild relationship really was calming.
“We should get inside,” Bob said.
On a whim, I decided to take advantage of Bob being in the car alone. He was in a talking sort of mood, apparently. Perhaps it was because Felix had just gotten married, or maybe it was just because he was accepting of the fact that I was starting a relationship with his daughter.
“You remember Zoey’s boyfriend in high school? The one she had right after you moved back to Kansas?”
The look on Bob’s face said that yes, he definitely remembered. Zoey and Eric had barely gone out. They’d dated something like two weeks before it had all fallen apart. I wasn’t entirely sure how much Bob knew about what had happened, but apparently, the guy was smarter than I’d given him credit for.
“You know I punched him out, right?”
