Page 67 of Cherish

“I don’t want to hear about my daughter and Tinder. Don’t make me call Todd.” She looks at him in disbelief before she bursts into laughter. He reaches over and messes up her hair. “Yes, I know you think I’m a dinosaur, but I know what Tinder is.” He pulls her into his side and hugs her. She hugs him back as he kisses the top of her head. It’s a cute scene between father and daughter. Alex stops, her drink halfway to her mouth, a sad smile on her lips as she looks on. When she catches me watching her, she quickly averts her eyes.

I grab her hand, and everyone follows us as we walk inside.

“I’m going to torture myself some more here. Where did you two go for your honeymoon?” Tina asks.

Sandy reaches into the fridge and grabs the cake she brought. “Three weeks in Italy and one week in Paris. Oh, we snuck away to Greece for a few days in between. It was amazing.”

Tina, who until today, has been a no-nonsense business owner, visibly swoons.

Mellie and Ananda rush inside, holding the candles they forgot when they went out earlier. I grab them from Mellie and pretend to slap her upside the head for forgetting.

“Okay, happy birthday to Alex, take two. This party is not going to crash and burn like the first one,” Ananda, who has had one too many drinks, loudly professes.

The room goes quiet at her declaration, as everyone freezes, and then, like in a movie, we all start to move at the same time, no one addressing what she just said. As I put the candles on the cake, I hear, “I was wondering why you’re just now getting around to celebrating her birthday, but it seems there was already a party. One that was so awful, you had to throw her another one. What happened?” Alex’s father stares right at me as he asks the question, but I don’t flinch under his gaze.

“The cake fell on the floor,” Mellie says, giving Ananda an angry glare.

“When was this party?” he asks.

“About a week ago,” Alex replies.

“So, you got engaged after the awful party?”

“Dad, this isn’t an interrogation,” Tina says. “You’re retired, remember?”

“Well, it seems everybody knows what happened but me.” His sharp eyes go from me to Alex as he talks.

Instead of replying to him, Mellie puts the candles on the cake and Sandy busies herself with getting the ice cream.

Mr. Reilly’s sour expression softens when he turns to look at Sandy a few minutes later. “Honey,” he says to her, “this cake looks and smells phenomenal. Carrot is one of my favorites too.”

The tension in the room dies down as we sing happy birthday to Alex, and her cheeks are flushed with excitement. As we eat, Sandy and Jake talk about their honeymoon. I grab Alex’s legs and drape them over mine.

“Hey!” She hits my fork with hers before it can reach her cake. “There is half a cake ten feet away. Why are you eating mine? And you don’t like carrot cake, remember?” I ignore her, reach over and grab half of the cake left on her plate.

“I thought I didn’t, but this is amazing.”

“I agree with you on that, Jason. Best cake I’ve had in forever,” Tina says.

“Do you want some more coffee, Alex?” Alex asks her father. “I’ll make some.” Mellie catches my eye, a look of horror on her face. “It feels weird calling you Alex.”

“It’s weird to me too. I’m Dad to my kids.”

“Sit down. I’ll make the coffee.” I kiss her cheek and start to get up, but I can sense a change in her.

“I’m not ready for that yet, Mr. Reilly. Maybe we should do a paternity test.”

“Mr. Reilly is worse than Alex. I’m Dad. Just Dad. And if you want a paternity test, we can get one, but I already know you’re mine. You look like your mother, but you also look like my father. Your mannerisms, your smile. You’re a Reilly.”

“I can make arrangements at a lab,” I volunteer.

“Great,” my Alex says, standing up abruptly and grabbing my hand. “Let’s go make that coffee.”

“What if he’s not my father?” she asks as we wait for the coffee to finish brewing. “What if this is for nothing?”

“We’ll deal with it, but I’m pretty sure he is. The timing matches, and he and your mom were in love, and you do share some of his features. Don’t be nervous. Everything’s going to be okay.” I’m cut off by saying anything else when my phone rings. I pull it out and let out a curse when I see the unknown number.

“It’s Natalie.”

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