Page 38 of Roommate Wars
Tom shook his head. “He did not tell me this, but it doesn’t surprise me. He and Jack used to clean out my pantry every afternoon. Never saw anything like it. You wouldn’t believe the food bill I had back then.”
I nodded. “I can envision it. Jack is a garbage disposal. I fed him the worst dinner the other night, and he gobbled it up like it was filet mignon instead of burned beef patties.”
Tom laughed, his cheeks turning rosy with mirth. “There were plenty of dinners I made after Jack’s mother passed where that kid didn’t bat an eye. Overcooked vegetables, oversalted meat—he ate it all.” Tom’s expression softened into one of sadness. “I think he didn’t want to complain. My sweet wife took pity on me early on over my lack of skills in the kitchen, and she did most of the cooking.” He shook his head, then looked up and smiled, though the sorrow lingered. “I’m glad Jack has someone now. Glad he’s got you in his life.”
I’d opened my mouth to correct him when the front door swung wide. I must not have shut it fully.
Jack stepped inside. “Dad? What are you doing here?”
ChapterSeventeen
Jack
When I walkedinto the apartment, it was to a scene I hadn’t expected. My dad and Elise were hanging out in the kitchen, and if I wasn’t mistaken, my dad had just called Elise my girlfriend.
“Dad?” I closed the door behind me. “What are you doing here?” The chemo had taken a toll on his body, and he wasn’t regaining his health fast enough to my mind. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He smiled at Elise. “Just getting to know your new girlfriend here.”
Elise’s eyes widened comically. “I’m not—” she started before I cut her off.
“Sorry I wasn’t home when you arrived.”
“You know, Jack,” my dad said, “you can introduce me to your girlfriends. I don’t bite.”
My dad’s back was to Elise, and she pointed furiously behind him, jabbing at the air and silently cursing me.
I hadn’t planned to call Elise my girlfriend in front of my dad. He’d finished treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma a couple of months ago, and I’d been checking on him regularly, but the last couple of weeks had been busy, for lack of a better word, with Elise moving in. Agreeing about her being my girlfriend seemed easier than trying to explain the long story to my sick father. “None of my exes were special enough to introduce you to,” I finally said. “Elise is different.”
Elise’s jaw unhinged.
“Yet you haven’t told me about her,” my dad said.
“You’re meeting her now.” I stood beside Elise and wrapped my arm around her waist, hoping she’d relax. “We’ve known each other for months, but she recently moved in to rent the second bedroom, and things happened from there.”
My dad’s eyes narrowed. “I see. Well, I like this one. Don’t go breaking up with her. You have a pattern, son.”
“It’s not his fault,” Elise said. “He’s never dated anyone as good as me.”
And there was the real Elise, sassy as ever.
She grinned and pinched my ass where my dad couldn’t see, and I pressed my lips together, holding back a smile.
Elise was right. I’d never dated anyone like her—sweet, sassy, smart, and asmartass.
She slipped past me. “I’ll leave you two to catch up.”
Elise walked down the hall to what I assumed was her bedroom, and my dad’s mouth twisted. “This one’s different.”
I set a jug of milk I’d picked up inside the fridge. “Dad, you’ve never met the women I’ve dated.”
He strummed his fingers along the counter. “I’ve met a few of them coming and going, like today. They were nice enough. Elise is different.”
She also wasn’t my real girlfriend, I thought but didn’t say. “It’s still new, Dad.” I poured myself a glass of water. “Try not to get your hopes up.”
He frowned. “Why not? You’re thirty. Don’t you want a nice woman by your side?”
If I said no, it would blow my ruse. “Sure.”
