AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh.” Lily’s eyes widen in surprise, and she shoots Dan a look. “A paramedic, huh? Well, if that isn’t a nice fit for our daughter, I don’t know what is.”
“Mom,” Kate snaps.
She lifts her hands in defense. “I’m just saying…”
“He knows what you’re saying,” Kate grits out, turning to me. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Snaking my hand around Kate’s lower back, I pull her into my side, hoping to calm her down. Her fingers fist the back of my shirt, and she shakes her head but stays quiet.
The girl’s definitely prickly. I think it’s cute how she wants to stand up for me. How she wants to defend me even though she doesn’t need to.
Satisfied she isn’t going to bite her parents' heads off, I turn back to Kate’s parents and explain, “I have two daughters myself. If one of them had a medical condition, I’d be pretty happy if they wound up with someone familiar enough with it to take care of them. It’s not why I’m dating your daughter, but I get it.”
“Exactly,” Lily announces, dipping her chin as if that’s that. “Now. Let’s eat. I hope you like Chinese food.”
“Yeah, it’s delicious. Thank you.” With our fingers tangled together, Kate leads me into the dining room, and her parents follow.
“So, where are you from?” Dan quizzes.
“I grew up in Lockwood Height, not far from LAU’s campus. How about you both?” I pull the chair out for Kate, and she sits.
“I’m actually from Los Angeles,” Lily tells me. “I met Kate’s father there. He was the whitest of all the boys my parents would’ve chosen for me,” she adds cheekily. She sits on the opposite side of the table next to her husband. “And Dan is from Texas.”
“Born and raised before going to college,” her dad mentions.
The table is already set, littered with plates, cutlery, and a few takeout containers filled with Chinese food. Kate motions to everything. “Dig in.”
I start scooping ham fried rice, orange chicken, and chicken lo mein onto Kate’s plate. I’m dishing some up for myself when Dan speaks again. “So, Macklin. You mentioned you have kids?”
“Yeah. Two daughters,” I repeat. “One is sixteen. The other turned eighteen recently.”
“And how old are you?” he asks.
“Dad!” Kate practically squeals.
“I’m thirty-four,” I answer, not giving Kate a chance to jump across the table and throttle him. I understand where they’re coming from. Why they want to know my background and if I’m a good fit for their daughter, despite the initial brownie points I earned by being a paramedic.
Reaching beneath the table, I squeeze Kate’s thigh. “My ex-wife and I had been dating for a year in high school when we found out she was pregnant. We got married, started our family pretty young, raised two beautiful daughters, and decided to divorce a couple of years ago.”
“And why’d you divorce?” he prods.
“Dad,” Kate snaps, giving him a death stare. “Are you serious right now?”
“It’s only a question,” Lily defends her husband.
“It’s fine, Porcupine,” I reassure her. “And honestly, I’m not exactly sure what the final blow to our marriage was. I think a big part of the problem was how young we were when we first married. We made a lot of mistakes. Our marriage was based solely on an obligation to each other. When I came into some money, she realized she didn’t need me to provide for her any longer in order to stay at home. She took half of my winnings and sent me divorce papers.”
Resting his fork on the edge of his plate, Dan stares at me from across the table, his gaze impenetrable. “And you didn’t fight for her?”
“I stopped fighting for her a long time ago. Long before our marriage ended,” I admit. “But I learned what was worth fighting for because of it. And your daughter?” I turn to Kate. “She’s pretty incredible.”
“How’d you meet our Kate?” Lily asks, picking up a piece of orange chicken with her chopsticks.
Kate grabs my hand and digs her fingernails into my skin as if she might actually kill me if I dare to bring up her seizure. Hoping it’ll be enough to ease her anxiety, I hold her gaze and smile.
“My younger brother goes to school with Kate and is dating one of her roommates. Since I was the lonely, recently divorced older brother with no friends, my brother invited me to tag along to one of their get-togethers, which is where I met Kate. Neither one of us is a big party animal, so we decided to start hanging out as friends. Things progressed from there.”
“Really?” Lily asks, turning to Kate.
