Page 102 of Free Heart
In the kitchen, Peggy Jo giggles. She fuckinggiggles.
Dan looks at me with his lips twitching. “Sorry, Doc. Looks like you’ve been upstaged by a hot old lady.”
I swallow hard, a pain in my chest.
Dan’s expression grows worried. “I was kidding. It was a joke. He wants to spend time with you. That’s why he’s here.”
Nodding, I observe as my dad leans against the refrigerator to watch Peggy Jo put some items from her luggage away in cabinets. Jam of some kind. A box of cookies. He used to look at Mom like that. And sometimes, just sometimes, he’d look at me with that much interest. I’d hoped he’d do that again during this visit. But maybe not.
“Let’s go,” I say, pulling at Dan’s hand to get him up. He groans, his leg tired after all the walking in the snow with the kids today.
I lead him toward the front door, calling, “Dan and I are worn out after watching the kids. We’re gonna take a nap in the van.”
“See you later, son,” Dad says, barely taking his eyes from Peggy Jo.
I press my lips together, and Dan is right behind me as we head out to the driveway and the van waiting there. It’s cold inside, but the gas heater gets it warm soon enough.
By the time I’ve got it going, Dan’s already on the bed, phone in hand. I crawl up beside him, gazing at the twinkle lights along the back and trying to keep from getting more upset than I already am.
“That didn’t go the way I expected.”
Dan shakes his head. “Nope. It sure as hell did not. Your dad liked me.”
“Did he?”
“Yup.”
Dan presses around on his phone and the familiar opening sounds of “gemini” start up.
“Dan, I’m not in the mood.”
“Why not? Peggy Jo and your dad are. Why can’t we be?”
“Because Peggy Jo and my dad are!”
Dan lets the song keep playing, but he tosses his phone to the other side of the bed, snuggling up next to me. A long pause ensues, during which I let him breathe in the scent of my neck. Eventually, he says, “I think I get us more now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your dad’s a lot like me.”
I frown, but Dan’s right. My dad is awkward and quiet and apparently easily won over by a pretty smile. Like Dan. “I wanted him to want to seeme.”
“He does want to see you, and he will. Tonight, over dinner, he’ll be more normal.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they’ll have gotten it out of their system by then.”
I smack his arm and hope to God he’s wrong. Not about dinner, but about the time in between.
Good lord willing and the creek don’t rise, as my dad always says.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Dan
I’m right, ofcourse. At dinner, Buck is much more relaxed, and his attention shifts easily between Sejin and Peggy Jo. Whether they hooked up or not, I can’t say for sure, but he’s not nearly as distracted as he was at first.
