Page 81 of Surprisingly Us

“Is Mom doing another redesign?” I ask, taking note of the two sitting chairs that are no longer there.

“Something like that. You know how she is; I can’t keep track.” He laughs, but it seems forced.

“Is she home?” I ask.

“No, she had a client meeting downtown.”

I nod. That seems to be how it goes lately.

My dad pushes a hand through his hair. It’s still dark, like mine, but flecks of salt and pepper are starting to appear around his ears and at his hair line. He’s a handsome guy. Tall, lean build and dark glasses that my mom always said made him look like a sexy professor. As his teenage daughter, that was something I did not want to hear.

I don’t know if it’s because in the last month I haven’t seen him for longer than a few minutes at a time, but he looks different. A few more wrinkles at the corner of his blue eyes, maybe? He looks tired and stressed, the same way my mom had appeared at Hannah and James’s wedding.

“I was wondering if we could find a weekend for the three of us to go to Lake George?” I ask.

Our house at Lake George has not been impacted by my mom’s constant need to reinvent every living space.It’s timeless, she said when I asked her about it.No need to change it.

Maybe that’s why I love it there so much. It’s a constant.

My dad winces. “That’s going to be a tough one this year. Your mother and my schedules are completely opposite right now. I’m teaching an evening course during summer break and she’s booked with client meetings during the day.”

“Surely we can find one weekend that would work.” I give him my best pleading look, lower lip pout and all.

“What about that boyfriend of yours?” His brows lift in question.

Oh, right. Somehow, I’ve managed to forget about Rhys. Not intentionally, he’s just locked in a place in my brain for safe keeping so I don’t keep ruminating over how he found myvibrator under my bed this morning and has yet to respond to my text.

My fingers itch to check my phone.Don’t do it.

“Rhys?” I ask.

“Unless there are others?” He smiles.

I shake my head. “No, just him.”

“He’s a good kid.”

I’m surprised by his nonchalant attitude about me and Rhys. I’d expect a dad, especially mine, would be more concerned about his daughter dating the bad boy with a big reputation. But I’ve never dated anyone. Never brought anyone home or introduced a guy to my parents, so maybe he’s unfamiliar with how to handle the situation.

“You think so?” I ask.

“If a wonderful person like you is with him, he must have good qualities.”

I smile at that because I’m finding Rhys isn’t who everyone thinks he is. He’s so much more.

“Does he make you happy?” he asks.

It’s a simple question, but with me and Rhys’s situation, it’s not a simple answer. We’re together for reasons that don’t require happiness to be a factor, but when I think about our time together, his teasing and patience and thoughtfulness, then I guess the answer is yes.

“Yeah, he does.”

“That’s what is important.”

We catch up, talking about his summer course and my upcoming evaluations for the fall session. I confirm that he and my mom will be at the Leg-Up fundraiser event on Friday evening, then he walks me out. As we go our separate ways, him heading south toward the NYU campus and me west toward Lincoln Center, I realize he never answered my question about Lake George.

As I walk, I pull my phone out to see if Rhys has responded.

Still nothing.

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