Page 143 of Life and Death
Charlie cleaned up while I got dinner ready. It wasn’t long before we were both at the table, eating in silence. Charlie was obviously enjoying the food. I was wondering how on earth I was supposed to broach the subject of my new . . . girlfriend.
“What did you do with yourself today?” he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Well, this afternoon I just hung out around the house. . . .” Only the very recent part of this afternoon, actually. I tried to keep my voice upbeat, but my stomach was hollow. “And this morning I was over at the Cullens’.”
Charlie dropped his fork.
“Dr. Cullen’s place?” he asked in astonishment.
I pretended not to notice his reaction. “Yeah.”
“What were you doing there?” He hadn’t picked his fork back up.
“Well, I sort of have a date with Edythe Cullen tonight, and she wanted to introduce me to her parents.”
He stared at me like I’d just announced that I’d spent the day knocking over liquor stores.
“What, Dad? Didn’t you just tell me that you wanted me to socialize?”
He blinked a few times, then picked up his fork. “Yeah, I guess I did.” He took another bite, chewed slowly, and swallowed. “And didn’t you just tell me that none of the girls in town are your type?”
“Ididn’t say that,youdid.”
“Don’t get touchy with me, kid, you know what I mean. Why didn’t you say something? Was I being too nosey?”
“No, Dad, it’s just . . . this is all kind of new, okay? I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“Huh.” He reflected for a minute while he ate another bite. “So you went to meet her folks, eh?”
“Er, yeah. I mean, I already knew Dr. Cullen. But I got to meet her father.”
“Earnest Cullen is great—quiet, but very . . . kind, I guess is the best word for it. There’s something about him.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
“Meeting the parents, though. Isn’t that kind of serious? Does that mean she’s your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” This wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be. I felt a strange sense of pride, being able to claim her this way. Kind of Neanderthal of me, but there it was. “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.”
“Wow.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Do I get a visit, too?”
I raised one eyebrow. “Will you be on your best behavior?”
He lifted both hands. “What, me? Have I ever embarrassed you before?”
“Have I ever brought a girl over before?”
He huffed, then changed the subject. “When are you picking her up?”
“Um, she’s meeting me here. See—you do get a visit. She’ll probably be here soon, actually.”
“Where are you taking her?”
“Well, I guess the plan is that we’re going to go . . . play baseball with her family.”
