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Instead of asking questions, my friend—who himself was an honorary Townsend family member—pursed his lips and mulled it over.
Finally, he nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that.”
It had to be said, I hadn’t called my own dad ‘daddy’ since I was little, and as far as I could remember, neither had any of my sisters. I couldn’t remember now, though, if I’d made a conscious effort to stop using the name or if it’d just been one of those things.
“Well, can you explain it to the rest of the class?” Evie huffed as she sat back so Leisha could put the new drinks in front of us and then thanked her as she threw us a wave and went back behind the bar.
“Okay, a few years ago, I was at this toy store with my son, who was only, like, one at the time. He wanted this massive giraffe, and I was trying to persuade him to take a smaller bear when this adult voice squealed, ‘I love you, Daddy,’ behind us.
“To this day, I don’t know if it was his actual daughter or if that was just their thing, but all I could think of were the romance books I’d read where the girl calls the guy that or they’re in one of those relationships where she gets looked after like a little girl. I do remember blushing and shuddering over calling my dad that ever again, though, in case someone ever thought I was in that sort of relationship with him.”
We were all processing this story with our mouths open, but Tony, calm as you like, just sipped from his martini glass, and nodded understandingly. “I get it. Those books are usually referred to as d/d or ‘littles,’ I think, and they’re a whole category of their own online.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to clear my brain of the memory. To each their own, one person’s preferences were up to them, but now all I could think of was how I’d never be able to buy another Father’s Day card with the word ‘Daddy’ on it ever again.
“So, you see why I made the comparison between that and being in a relationship with one of my brother-in-law’s brothers?” Cyn leaned toward Layla. “No offense, by the way. I do love your family.”
Layla pointed at Tony. “It’s his family, too.”
Cyn’s head snapped around to stare at Tony. “No shit?”
“No shit, girl,” he chuckled. “Although, as you can probably tell, I was pretty much adopted into it.”
Cyn’s eyes widened. “That’s not even close to what I was thinking. I wasn’t great at science when I was in school, but I do know that DNA isn’t always people’s friend in terms of inheriting traits like we’re expected to. Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but you can get some seriously ‘unattractive’ parents who’ve made the most beautiful kids together.
“What blows me away about the Townsend family is that their DNA hasn’t ever let down any member. Sure, what’s attractive for one person might not be attractive for another, but in my eyes, they’re all fucking outstanding. I just assumed the family would want to show the world where they’re from by having a big arse Townsend tattoo or t-shirts, at the very least.”
“Are you saying I fit into the family?” Tony asked quietly.
“Well, yeah? You remind me of a Hispanic version of Cole.”
Now that she mentioned it….
“Oh, my God, she’s right,” I breathed, turning Tony’s head to face me. “You do look like a Hispanic version of the guy.”
With his jaw in my hand, he couldn’t turn to face Cyn, but he did move his eyes as far to the right as he could to see her out the corner of them. “That might be the biggest compliment anyone’s ever given me.”
Layla had been quiet throughout all of this, but she hadn’t quit smiling once. “See, I told you that you fit into the family.”
From there, we relaxed, and the topics of conversation moved from one extreme to the other, just like they usually did when friends got together. Cyn fit in perfectly, and I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to them plan out the playdate they’d arranged for her son to meet Tony’s daughters.
I was still relatively sober as Leisha had stopped adding alcohol to my drinks a while ago, so when Cyn suddenly asked a question I’d never thought of before, I was the first to pull out my phone. Fun fact, I was also the only one who was actually able to type the question into the search bar to find the answer.
The question had been: “Hey, so if the penis is a muscle, does that mean if you use it more or tense the muscle to make it move up and down when it’s hard, it’ll get bigger?”
