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I froze at the mention of her name. I was surprised he even remembered her name right.
“Oh, you know how it is. Work has just been extremely busy for the both of us,” I lied.
I didn’t have the heart to tell my father the truth right now.
“That’s a damn shame,” he lamented. “Take it as a word from advice from your old man. She’s a rare one, don’t let work get in the way. Don’t let her leave you.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked immediately.
His comment had caught me off-guard. Kathy wasn’t the first woman ever I had introduced to my parents. Usually, it was normal for my mother to take a great deal of interest in my love life. But as per my dad, I doubted he ever even remembered any of them by name.
“Because I saw how the two of you are around each other,” he explained. “It reminds me a little too much of what it was like when I first met your mother.”
“Really?”
“When I met your mother, I was madly in love. And look at us now, decades later. Still madly in love,” he chuckled. “I can see the same kind of love between the two of you.”
I was silent. Could it be possible that the two of us were just exceptionally good at acting?
“I don’t want to hear any more excuses, okay?” my dad continued. “Bring Kathy over as soon as possible. I miss her.”
“Okay, Dad,” I replied. “I’ll talk to you later.”
As I hung up the phone, my mind remained fixed on what my dad had said. In all my years of dating women casually, he had never once made a comment on any of my partners. His comment on Kathy left an impression on me.
But Kathy would be with Kevin now.
Was he holding her hand? Did he compliment her on her dress? Will he take her home after the night ends? Will she sleep with him?
Unable to ward off the intrusive thoughts, I grabbed my car keys and headed outside. Going on a drive was the only other option to clear my head. As I cruised down the streets, I found myself turning on the navigation and putting in the name of the restaurant I had overheard Kevin talk about.
It was only two miles from where I was.
It wouldn’t hurt to drive by, just to see.
Whatever irrational justification I gave myself to feel better about it had worked because without much thought, I had arrived and parked outside the restaurant. The restaurant itself looked small, not too packed. From its wide window, I could see several empty tables.
It seemed Kevin took her to a not-so-great restaurant. I could not help myself putting Kevin down in my head in any way possible. I tried to think of all the ways I could make his life miserable in the office. I even considered transferring him to a different branch in another state, so that he would never have to be around Kathy again.
I was gripping the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles had turned white.
I had to do something.
Mindlessly, I got out of the car and walked straight into the restaurant.
“Good evening, sir, table for one?” the waiter asked courteously.
I shook my head and scanned the crowd for any signs of Kathy.
“No, thank you. I’m just looking for a friend.”
And then I spotted her.
Her light brown hair was styled in little curls, and she was leaning over the table. Both had their menus out in front of them, indicating that they had probably just arrived not too long ago. I marched up to the table. All kinds of emotions were flooding me and I was not thinking straight anymore. The only thing I knew was that Kathy was mine and I had no intentions of sharing her one way or the other.
Kevin was chatting away as usual in that annoying voice of his when he spotted me. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost. Noticing the dramatic change in his mood, Kathy turned back to see what might have caused it. As soon as she saw me, her mouth hung open in shock.
“Dylan? What are you doing here?”
