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Mike’s Tavern is just down the hill from the house. It’s dark by the time Garrett and I start to make our way there. Every time a car passes us, he puts himself between me and the road, holding me to the side like I’m a toddler at risk of darting in front of a moving car. I laugh a little each time it happens, but inside, I love it.
Our parents are at a table in the back, and they spot us immediately. They wave us over, and as usual, they are not alone. When my gaze catches on a new face at the table, I pause. Not because I don’t know who he is, but because he’s young, good-looking, and my stepmother has her arm on the back of the chair. I can tell before I even approach the group that she is trying to set me up with a handsome boy my own age.
My stepmom is a social butterfly, which is great for my dad, who tends to be a bit of a loner. It’s nice seeing them with friends and enjoying a full life. Even if he’s always looking more tired than he used to—a sign that the cancer is still taking its toll.
“Mia, come sit over here!” Laura calls. “I have someone I want you to meet.”
The guy smiles and awkwardly waves at me. Garrett’s scrutinizing attention is on me and this new stranger I’m being ushered toward.
“Hi,” I stammer. Laura scoots over a seat, leaving the one between them for me.
There’s only one other empty seat at the table down near my dad, putting Garrett and me as far away from each other as possible. Probably a good thing, but I’m still left feeling strangely disappointed.
Once I sit down, I glance up at him, and his eyes are laser-focused on me, his jaw clenched and his shoulders tight. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he looks a little jealous.
“Mia, this is Reese. He’s Marcia and Todd’s son. He just graduated from Yale!”
“Wow…congratulations,” I say, forcing a smile in his direction. Reese is handsome, with lush black hair and bright golden-brown eyes.
“Reese, this is my beautiful daughter, Mia,” Laura says as she touches a lock of my silvery blonde hair.
But then a voice booms across the table. “She’s not your daughter.”
Everyone goes silent and all eyes drift over to Garrett. And like everyone else at the table, I’m staring at him wide-eyed as he cowers in shame as if he just realized what came out of his mouth.
“Of course she is,” Laura responds, putting an arm around me.
The table resumes its casual conversation, and while Reese and Laura chatter back and forth about school and his parents’ lake resort business down the road, I keep glancing over at the man sulking at the other end of the table. What the hell was that all about? All of a sudden, he has mommy issues, and he’s jealous that his mother sees me as one of her own. It’s never been a problem before.
In fact, I like it when Laura calls me her daughter. I don’t remember my own mother, but from what I’ve heard, she was lovely. It doesn’t change the fact that she doesn’t exist in my memory, though. Instead, it was Laura chaperoning my field trips, and buying my first maxi-pads, and taking me prom dress shopping. She never had a daughter and I never had a mother…so who cares if she calls me her own.
The only other reason I can think of that he would freak out like that is if his mother calling me her daughter makes it too weird for him, considering what has transpired between us in the last twenty-four hours. There’s a sexual energy there, where there wasn’t one before, and it’d be a lot easier for both of us to process if our parents didn’t treat us like blood-related siblings.
The waitress brings over our drinks, and Garrett’s attention rarely leaves me as Reese and I chat. For some unknown reason, guilt gnaws away at me, especially when he makes me laugh or touches my arm. Reese is a software engineer with dreams of working at Google. He tells surprisingly good jokes, but other than that, there’s no chemistry between us. Regardless of how good looking he is, I’m not dying to see him naked.
After our second round of drinks, the waitress brings over the karaoke menu of songs and some slips of paper to fill out. I snatch it up excitedly.
“Oh no. Here she goes,” my dad announces when he sees me browsing the song list.
“You like karaoke?” Reese asks, sounding a little uneasy.
“I fucking love karaoke,” I reply, without looking up.
“That’s cool. So you can sing?”
I laugh. “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.”
When I glance up at him, he looks uncomfortable. “What?” I ask. “It’s karaoke. You’re supposed to sound bad!”
“You’re not…embarrassed?”
I laugh again. If only he knew about my real job.
When I look toward Garrett, this time, he’s not radiating jealousy. He’s sort of smirking at me. Then he shakes his head and takes a deep breath. He’s probably gearing up to give me shit about my singing, but I don’t care. Ilovekaraoke, and even he can’t ruin this for me.
Meanwhile, I jot down four songs on the tiny piece of paper and hand it to the waitress.
