I’ve lied to him, and he hates me.
I fight to keep breathing and lick my dry lips as I figure out what to say next.
“I’m seeing someone, and it’s serious. I’m in love with him and?—”
“Where is he?” Dad asks, cutting me off.
I glance back over my shoulder as if just seeing where he is will give me the strength I need to get through this.
“Umm…out in the car. I thought it would be best if?—”
“Do you love him?”
“Yes. I love him so much. He’s…he’s everything to me.”
Something flickers in Dad’s eyes, but it’s gone so fast I can’t identify it.
“Go and get him.”
My mouth opens and closes like a fish before I spin around and summon the man I hope isn’t about to be traded as far away from me as possible.
85
CASEY
Ishriek when I open the front door, because Kodie isn’t in the car waiting for a signal to join me. He’s standing right there as if he was just about to barge in the house.
“I’m sorry,” he mutters. “I couldn’t just sit out here. I?—”
“He asked me to come and get you.”
“Did he know already?”
“I think so.”
Taking his hand, I march him through Dad’s house until we’re standing side by side and hand in hand in the entrance to the kitchen.
Dad's face doesn’t show a single emotion as his eyes flick back and forth between us, alternating between our faces and our entwined hands.
The silence in the room is deafening, ensuring my heart continues to pound faster than I’m sure it should.
A million words dance on the tip of my tongue, but none of them fall free.
In the end, it’s Kodie who breaks it.
“Sir, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, and I’m sorry for not coming to you sooner, but I need you to know that I’m in love with your daughter. She is the most incredible, intelligent, funny, talented, beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and over the past coupleof months, she has made me happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”
Dad’s lips press into a thin line the moment Kodie mentions a timeline, and I panic.
“Dad, I?—”
Dad holds his hand up to cut me off. “Let him finish.”
“I-I…um…” Kodie stutters, having lost his flow.
Dad frowns slightly, and Kodie thankfully finds some words.
“I know that I’m not the kind of man you hoped for, for your only daughter. I know I’m a disappointment, but I promise you, sir, I will protect her with everything I am. Every single day, I will strive to make her as happy as she makes me. I want to give her the life she’s always dreamed of. I know that’ll include me being away for games, and that fucking kills me, but sir… I can’t live another day of my life without her in it. I love her,” he says before ripping his eyes away from Dad and turning to me.
