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I knew that, but I respect that he needs to say it. “I understand,” I say.
Tate blows out a long, disappointed breath. But I’m pretty sure the disappointment is for me, not her.
Jules lets go of my hand, gesturing to the end of the block. “I’ll meet you at the café. Okay?”
I don’t want to leave her, but I understand what she needs.
“I’ll be there.” I don’t drop a kiss to her cheek. There’s a time and place for that, and right now it’d be rubbing it in Tate’s face.
Before I can go though, Tate clears his throat. “Finn, she’s mydaughter.” His voice is ice and fire. “What the fuck?”
I can’t fault him for his reaction. I can only own my choice. “I get that you’re cutting me out of your life. Just know that I’ll treat her right. That’s a promise. For always.”
Then I walk away from the friendship. But he catches up with me seconds later.
His jaw is so tight it looks like he’s grinding his teeth, but then he grits out words. “If you hurt her—”
“I won’t.”
He seethes. “I mean it.”
I don’t break eye contact. “So do I.”
Then I leave, going to the café to wait for my woman.
36
THIS THING
Jules
Sometimes it’s easier to deal with logistics. “So, what brings you over here on a Saturday morning?”
“Right. That,” my father says slowly, but he’s still out of sorts. Understandable. “But…Julia.”
He heaves a sigh, then says nothing.
I can’t not fill the silence. “Are you mad at me?” I feel like a kid all over again. I guess that never goes away with your parents.
“No,” he says without hesitation. “I’m just…surprised.” He jams his hands into the pockets of his shorts.
“This isn’t how I wanted to tell you,” I say, wishing I had scanned the street first, seen him coming, something, anything. “That probably sounds trite. Like a line. But I mean it. I wanted to sit down with you and tell you what was going on.”
I hope he hears the plea in my voice.
“Yeah, that would have been nice.” It’s not sarcastic, though, just an admission that he’d rather not have been surprised. I get that.
“As soon as we knew that this was real, that we were committed, I wanted to tell you. He did too.” It’s weird and uncomfortable to say all these things to my father. But I suppose I’ve been prepared for weird and uncomfortable for a long time. “I didn’t want to just shock you with it like that,” I add, flapping my hand in the direction of my apartment where we obviously came from. I don’t need to spell out the rest of what we did in my apartment.Ever.
“I am shocked. And I’m honestly not sure what to think, Julia,” he says, a little lost. He might be for a while.
And I can’t make this go more smoothly. I lied by omission, so I don’t have the moral high ground. I’m okay with what I’ve done though. “He’s good to me. I promise,” I say.
That word hangs in the air, fragrant like perfume. Finn’s promise. My promise. I’ll write about all these promises in my journal tonight when I tell Willa about my day. “I promise,” I say again. I want him to feel the strength of that word deep inside him.
My father’s quiet for a long beat before he nods at last. Perhaps, that’s his olive branch. “Good. A man should treat you like you’re the center of his world,” he says.
If I was looking for acceptance, I just got it. I beam, like the sun. “He does. He really does, Dad.”
