Page 30 of Reluctantly Married

She laughed. “I’m sure no scarier than my family.”

He let out a nervous chuckle. “No, I’m sure not.” Wait, had he just insulted her family? “I mean, he’s harmless.” Nice save. He closed his eyes and banged his head back against the headrest. “I’ll pick you up in the morning. We can go eat lunch with my father, then Leon wants to film us coloring eggs.”

She sighed. “Of course he does.”

Finally, neutral ground. They spoke for a minute about Leon’s intrusiveness and then hung up. Adam stared at the phone. He hoped tomorrow would go better than his gut was telling him it would. Why had he invited her along, anyway?

Megan’s stomach twisted in a knot any Boy Scout would be proud of. Adam would arrive soon…without Dale. She’d kind of gotten used to the whole ‘pretend for the camera’ thing. Was this considered a real date, then?

She was going to meet his father. No pressure, right? She paced the room, butterflies assaulting her middle. She didn’t like Adam. Couldn’t like him. Couldn’t trust him.

But when she looked into his clear blue eyes, that fact was hard for her to remember. In fact, it was hard for her to even breathe when he was around.

Her cell phone chimed, and she pulled it out. Wendy. She sighed and answered.

“When is Adam coming over to dye Easter eggs?”

Megan glanced at the clock. “In a few hours.” No way was she telling her sister about meeting his father. She’d take it the wrong way.

“What’s going on? Why do you sound so strange?”

Dang, her sister could always tell when she was lying. “I have to go. Something is about to burn in the oven.” She cringed. Lame.

“Really? You’re lying. What’s really going on?”

“Nothing. I swear.”

The door buzzed, and Megan jumped. “That was the timer. I really have to go. Talk to you later!” She hung up and pressed the button to let Adam in. That was close. If her sister had heard his voice, there’d have been no getting off the phone until she’d spilled everything.

When she opened her door, she about swallowed her tongue, he looked so good in a pair of jeans and a short sleeve button down shirt. And he smelled woodsy and clean. How was she going to keep her head on straight?

He fidgeted. “Before we go, I should tell you something. My father has some issues.”

“Don’t we all?” She waved his worry away. “We can talk about it in the car.”

As soon as they were on the road, she asked, “How far are we headed?”

“Just outside of Council Bluffs.”

“That’s close. Do you visit often?”

He tapped the steering wheel. “As often as I can.”

“And you didn’t want Dale coming because…?”

The car sped up as he merged onto the interstate. “My father’s in a mental institution.” The words came out quietly.

Shock rang through her. That wasn’t what she was expecting. She blinked, unable to think of anything to say.

He sighed. “If you don’t want to go, I’ll take you home. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before now, it’s just that—”

“Adam. It’s okay.” She laid her hand on his arm, which was a bad decision. Touching his muscular forearm sent tingles through her, but she didn’t want to withdraw it. “I can handle it.”

A contemplative look came over him, and he studied her, silently.

Megan gave him an encouraging smile. “Tell me about your father.”

“He’s had a hard life.”

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