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Dad chuckled as I wrapped up talking about how Toby tried to swap Bryan’s science books out with his own in hopes that Bryan would do his physics homework.
“They sound like good guys,” Dad said as I pushed the bowl of peeled and cut apples his way. He briefly inspected them before nodding in approval, and then he handed me a written recipe to make pie crust.
I swallowed hard as I looked over the steps and then got to work. It was nice having something to do with my hands while I talked with Dad.
“What’s Justin’s story?” Dad asked.
“What do you mean?”
Dad didn’t respond right away. He cleared his throat and I looked up from measuring flour.
“What?” I asked.
“Well, I just noticed how he held your hand yesterday during the concert. And he was with you when we met at the cafe. Aren’t you dating Toby?”
“I am.”
“So why?”
I felt all my blood rush from my face. Sure, I talked with the others about dating and we were, except with Bryan, though I planned to talk with him tomorrow during Thanksgiving. But I hadn’t talked to anyone about how to deal with others like our friends and family.
Stupid. It was such a stupid oversight.
And I wasn’t sure how to tell my dad that I had multiple boyfriends. How did someone break that news to their family?
How was he going to respond?
I liked what we had going on at the moment. It was simple. I wasn’t ready to open that kind of conversation with my dad.
Hey, Dad. I have more than one boyfriend. We all began dating recently. Surprise.
My stomach twisted just thinking about it, so I did what I did best and gave him something else instead. “Justin’s dad is in a coma in the hospital. He’s really sick and the doctors don’t think he’ll last much longer.”
Dad’s eyes grew big. “I’m so sorry.”
I shrugged. “It’s complicated. Really complicated. So I like to make sure Justin knows that he isn’t alone.”
Dad’s expression softened. “You truly are a remarkable young woman, Cadence.”
That was the last thing I expected to hear from him.
My throat tightened and I had to work to keep my emotions from bubbling over. “Thank you.”
He responded with a warm smile and we went back to baking. Dad told me a bit more about his life in Vegas. About his gallery. The adventures he’d gone on. The people he’d met. He quietly mentioned a couple relationships, but nothing had stuck for him.
That had taken me a moment to process.
Lindie dated around. Of course he would have too. It was still a little hard to swallow. Lindie’s relationships never lasted long, a couple months at most. I still remembered the first time she mentioned dating someone. I was twelve and it felt like a gut punch at the time. Like everyone around me was moving on but me.
Turned out it really was true.
“So no one currently?” I asked.
“No. No one.” Dad sounded a bit sad when he said that.
I poked at the crust I had created. “Do you miss her?”
“Miss who?”
