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Chapter Thirteen
Willow
I nervously chew my lip and twist the bottom of my shirt, stretching the material. My gaze skitters over to Tegan to find his hand casually thrown over the steering wheel, sunglasses covering his eyes, like he has no care in the world. My eyes go back to the window. I’m a nervous fucking wreck, and I don’t know how to stop the shaking in my body.
“Hey.” I feel the warmth of Tegan’s touch as he pries my fingers from the cotton material. “Stop or you’ll ruin your shirt.” He laces my fingers with his, and I know he feels the trembles.
“I don’t care about the damn shirt,” I grumble.
His chuckles, and normally I would relish in the sound, but right now it just pisses me off. I shoot him a glare, which he catches out the corner of his eye, and it only makes his chuckle turn into a laugh.
“Why are you so nervous?”
I look at him incredulously. “Seriously? We’re meeting your dad, Tegan. I think that’s a valid reason for being nervous.”
He smiles at me, and I try to let the look diminish some of my anxiety, but it doesn’t work.
“Willow, my dad is going to love you. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
“I bet you’d be worried if you were meeting my parents,” I tell him, in an attempt to make him understand. The first meeting with the parents always goes this way.
“Umm… no I wouldn’t, because I know they would love me. There’s no way they would be able to resist my charm.” He sends me a wink.
I laugh, because that’s exactly what Tegan would say, I should have expected it. But he’s right, my parents would have loved him. And so would have Bryan in a past life. An ache forms in my chest when I think about Tegan never meeting any of my family.
“They would have loved you. I wish you could have met them. I wish you could have met Bryan when he was different.”
His jaw hardens when I mention Bryan’s name, but he says softly, “I wish I could have met them, too.”
We sit in silence for several minutes. The trembling is still there, but not as pronounced.
“Tell me about your dad,” I beg, so I’m not so blindsided when I meet him.
His thumb starts rubbing circles on my hand while he looks out the windshield with a thoughtful expression.
“He’s fiercely loyal. He’s been that way as far back as I can remember, but he’s also kindhearted. He always made time to do stuff with me. He was my best friend growing up.” He laughs, shaking his head. “Every year he got us season tickets for the Atlanta Braves, so we went to every home game. One year they made it to the World Series, but my dad was supposed to be out of town for work for all the home games. I was so disappointed. On the last home game, he surprised me by coming home early.”
“Your dad sounds like an amazing man,” I tell him, enjoying the small smile on his face as he talks about him. He looks at me and his smile grows bigger.
“He is. He’s the best man I know.” He lifts my hand and kisses the back of it, sending butterflies to my belly.
“At the same game he surprised me with, one of the players hit a foul. It came our way, and I had my glove ready, but the asshole beside me snatched it right out in front of me. He literally leaned in front of me to catch it. My dad was pissed and ended up punching the guy, then made him apologize to me and give me the ball. The guy ended up leaving early because the crowd kept booing him. I don’t know how he did it, but after the game, my dad somehow got my favorite player, Chipper Jones, to meet us down at the field. He signed my ball, and I got a picture with him. It was one of the best days of my life.”
I squeeze his hand, glad he has good memories of his childhood. After what his mom forced him to do, I’m surprised he’s not more affected by it. Those are life-altering, emotionally scarring incidents. Tegan is strong and tough, and I admire him so much.
“Have you told him about me?” I ask anxiously, hoping like hell he’s not bringing me home to meet his dad for a surprise.
“I have. Shocked the shit out of him. I’ve never brought a girl home before. I thought his jaw was going to hit the floor.”
I grin. “That’s gotta mean I’m special, since I’m the only girl you’ve brought home, right?”
I say the words jokingly, but the look Tegan gives me says it’s anything but funny. The intense look in his eyes sends shivers down my back and straight between my legs.
“You are very special, Willow,” he says quietly, his voice deep with emotion. “More special than you can ever imagine.”
I swallow, all of a sudden nervous, but also extremely excited and happy. He says I’m special, but I think he’s the special one. I also think that I’m falling in love with him, and I hope his words imply that he might be too. Actually, I don’t think I’m falling in love, I know I am.
The realization of that sends a giddy feeling through me. It’s also ramps up my nerves a hundredfold. Before I was just meeting my lover’s father, now I’m meeting the father of the man I’m falling in love with. There’s a big difference there. The need to impress and the worry that his father may not like me jumps up ten rungs.
Oh, God, I’m going to be sick.
I pull in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Tegan must sense my anxiety, because he looks over at me.
“We’re here.”
My hand in his jerks, and I look out the window. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts of what Tegan said and my worry about impressing his dad that I didn’t realize we had pulled up to a house.
My wide eyes fly back to him, and he laughs. The asshole actually laughs. I try to yank my hand away, but he doesn’t let me.
“This isn’t funny, Tegan,” I tell him with a glare.
