27. Delaney
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
delaney
M Y PARENTS LIVED ALONG the coastline of Cape Cod—a familiar stomping ground for the upper echelon of society to gather at their country clubs and marinas. Blake drove us there, and I sat in the passenger seat, fidgeting with the hem of my blouse as a way to pass the time, internally cursing out Ophelia. Even though it wasn’t really her fault.
It was simultaneously the longest and shortest car ride I’d ever experienced. I dreaded arriving, but at the same time, I couldn’t wait to get this dinner over with. I wanted to get on with it and experience the disappointment that would undoubtedly be my mother’s disapproval so I could move forward and determine a new plan.
Blake seemed confident that wouldn’t happen, but he’d never met my mom before. His family was made up of the most supportive people in the world. He shouldn’t expect the same sort of situation here.
The first time I’d brought a boy home in tenth grade, my mom’s first question was who his parents were. And when she didn’t recognize their names because his whole family had only just moved to the Cape, she made a face and said she supposed he could still stay for dinner, during which my dad grilled the poor sixteen-year-old about his intentions for after graduation and, more importantly, his financial planning.
I told myself I’d never bring another guy home again.
And here I was, bringing home a husband.
“Give me your hand,” Blake said without taking his eyes off the road. I gave it to him, and he took it, lifting my hand to his mouth to press a kiss on the back of it. His soft lips grazed my skin, a gentle caress that sent a shiver through me.
When he did things like that it made me question everything.
There was no one in this car but us and not a single ounce of seduction in what he’d just done. Only tenderness and affection and reassurance and things that might be considered friendly on paper but in real life, in this moment, felt like more .
Blake and I had yet to talk about our feelings. As far as I understood, we were married best friends with benefits. But that description was inadequate, wasn’t it? It had to be. It certainly felt like it should be when Blake did things like use his kisses to comfort me and call me “sweetheart” at the dinner table when no one was around to hear.
We fit together in an inexplicable way; there really was no denying it anymore. But I still couldn’t wrap my head around what that meant for me or us, for our future or where this would lead. Maybe it didn’t matter, though. Labels were the last thing I should be concerning myself with, and I should just be grateful to have him by my side.
“It’s going to be okay,” Blake whispered, and I let that soft declaration soothe my nerves.
He tossed a smile at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
They didn’t have anything to do with my worries about dinner.
The GPS indicated for Blake to turn off the highway as if the stone columns housing the front gate weren’t a big enough sign, and I held my breath as we rolled down my parents’ dramatically long, curved driveway through a wooded area that eventually ended in a circle drive in front of my childhood home—a coastal traditional with grayish-blue siding and white trim that loomed three stories up, sitting on a rocky inlet. Salt air wafted through the car windows as I rolled them down. And on the oversized wraparound porch was Bryan.
“Laney!” I heard him yell before the car was even in park, and my heart expanded in my chest. Not in a cardiomegaly way, but like a cardiac emergency, nonetheless. Because it was a homesick sort of feeling that I never imagined I’d experience. I’d never longed for being in this house, but I had longed for being with Bryan. The dissonance I had with my parents kept me away from him, and a heavy dose of both shame and relief came at the sight of his smiling face.
Bryan bounded down the porch steps to meet us in the driveway, and as soon as I got out of the car, he flung himself at me, wrapping me up in a bear hug. Considering that my little brother wasn’t so little anymore, it nearly took me to the ground. I might be taller than him, but he had a sturdy build that I almost couldn’t support.
“Hi, Bry,” I laughed before pulling back from the hug. “How are you?”
“So good. So, so good,” Bryan responded immediately, speaking in a rushed cadence like he usually did when he was overexcited. “How are you?”
“I’m good, too,” I said, and at this moment, I actually meant it. I heard Blake getting out of the car behind me, and I angled my body to include him. “Bry, this is Blake.”
I almost tacked on my husband , but it felt weird forcing that fact, which was both true and not true, on Bryan. I wondered if this was what Blake had felt when we’d gone over to Natalie’s for dinner. My parents were one thing, but it was uncomfortable deceiving people who I had no reason to deceive. People who only wanted our happiness.
“Hi!” Bryan waved enthusiastically at Blake before apparently deciding that wasn’t a good enough greeting and that Blake deserved a bear hug, too. And before I could do anything to stop it or throw out a warning, Bryan had nearly tackled Blake to the ground.
But not only did Blake manage to stay on two feet, but he also had a grin on his face from ear to ear. So wide. And I knew it was because Bryan’s mood was infectious. He experienced joy in a way that was often considered over-the-top and comical, but it was really just unreserved and real and the way we all should allow ourselves to experience our emotions.
Once Bryan released Blake, they both took a step back, both grinning at each other.
I never realized how badly I wanted this moment to exist until I was living in it. The two most important people in my life, together. I wished we hadn’t lived so far from Bryan for so many years in school, so this could have happened sooner.
“It’s great to meet you, man,” Blake said before clapping Bryan on the shoulder in the same way that he would with his own brothers.
Maybe I was experiencing cardiomegaly. My heart felt so big it might burst.
People often infantilized Bryan because of his disability. Even my parents were guilty. My aunts, my uncles, my cousins, too. But he was an adult, and Blake was speaking to him like one, and it was such a little thing that felt really, really big.
Emotion clogged my throat as I stood back and watched as Bryan and Blake chatted. Because of Bryan’s hypotonia—his genetic muscle weakness—and how it affected his tongue, among other things, he sometimes struggled to articulate his words clearly. He often used an AAC, augmentative and alternative communication, app to effectively communicate with others, but he must have left his tablet inside. Blake didn’t seem to have any trouble understanding him, though. He listened to Bryan talk about his job and his girlfriend before they somehow landed on a critical discussion of a new action movie, the latest in a series that was Bryan’s favorite.
I’d always been envious of the loving family that Blake had grown up in. I never stopped to think that because of how Blake was raised and who he was that he could create that feeling for me, too. That being married to Blake meant that he could give me a whole new feeling of family. Because that was what it felt like right now, watching how he was with Bryan. I told him once that it was hard to believe in a lasting love because I never saw it echoed in the way my family treated each other, but I was realizing that I did see it in how he treated me. How he treated his family. And now, my family.
And maybe it wasn’t love in a romantic way, but it was still love, right? The way Blake had brushed his lips across my hand in the car was some kind of love, wasn’t it?
And the feeling bursting in my chest, that was some kind of love, too.
It was, wasn’t it?
Love for Blake.
A desire for him that oddly had nothing to do with lust.
And had nothing to do with friendship, either.
It was bigger than both of those things.
Scarier, too.
But pieces were clicking together, and it was definitely…there.
Bryan went back inside to tell my parents we’d arrived, and I turned to my husband. My best friend. I took a shaky breath as I looked at him, feeling like I’d just had a veil yanked from over my eyes. Things were clearer than they’d ever been, and it gave me a different sort of hope for the future, my heart traveling down roads despite my brain knowing I was moving too fast.
“Hey, did you mean it when you said that Bryan could move in with us?”
The question was out before I could stop it.
I shouldn’t put that kind of pressure on Blake. He’d already done so many favors for me recently; I didn’t need to pile on another.
But he just nodded solemnly.
“Of course I did.”
“We’d have to share a room,” I pointed out.
“Why do you think I suggested it?” His lips curved, and he remained unfazed as I walked forward and elbowed him in response. “I’m just kidding,” he added. “But truly, you could move all your belongings into my room tonight if you wanted, Lane. And if living with us was what Bryan wanted—and you—then he could absolutely move in.”
“Thank you for that.” The aching pressure in my chest grew tenfold. “For considering his wants first and, well, for everything.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Bryan is a part of you.” The salty, early summer air whipped my hair around, and Blake reached out, tucking loose strands behind my ear. “He’s a big reason why you are the person you are today, Lane. And I?—”
He blew out of breath, cutting himself off. He looked to be finding words—new words than what he’d originally been about to say—but I never found out what they were because I caught sight of my mom lurking in the front door and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I pushed up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to Blake’s. And even though I’d done that countless times by now, a zap of electricity still shocked me. I leaned into him, and he kissed me back without hesitation, deepening it with a soft moan until I forced myself to break away.
“What was that for?” He released a breathless laugh against my lips. “I need to know so I can do it again.”
“Sorry.” Heat flooded my cheeks. “I just knew my mom was looking at us.”
“Oh.” Blake cleared his throat, his eyes sweeping away from my face. After he swallowed hard, he looked back at me with a crooked grin. “Are you going to kiss me like that every time your mom looks at us tonight? Because I might not make it if that’s the case.”
He was teasing, but his usual accompanying twinkle was absent from his eyes.
I flashed a reassuring smile. “I think you’ll survive.”
He shook his head. “There’s so much you underestimate, Lane.”
And with that, he walked away, directly toward my mom. He didn’t wait for me to introduce them, didn’t hesitate to take charge of a situation he knew I was dreading. He just strode to the front door of the house that had held me captive for so many of my younger years, stuck out his hand, and told my mom how delighted he was to meet her. How much he’d heard about her. How happy he was to be here, to see where I grew up, to have dinner with my family. He thanked her for the opportunity, and all I could do was stare, impressed.
I wasn’t sure how Blake knew that my mom was the kind of woman who appreciated that kind of direct hostess flattery, but the little show he’d just put on had been exactly the kind of thing that might win her over.
She was even smiling.
But that faded ever so slightly when she looked over Blake’s shoulder and her eyes landed on me.
“Well, are you just going to stand there?” she called.
My stomach plummeted, and I took a deep breath as I forced myself to join Blake in the front entrance. “Hello to you, too, Mom,” I muttered.
She raised a barely defined brow. Her hair, like mine, was so fine and blonde that she needed to dye her eyebrows just for them to be visible. “You’re the one who’s lurking back there like you don’t want to see me.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying the obvious response.
“My most sincere apologies,” I said instead, plastering a smile on my face that she saw right through.
“Don’t start with your attitude.” My mom glanced at Blake, her lips curving. “Can you believe the attitude on this one?”
“I’m not going to lie, Mrs. Delacroix,” Blake started, looking at me with quiet admiration in his gaze, warming me from the inside out. “I’m a big fan of Delaney’s attitude. But I would never say she’s known for it. In fact, between the two of us, I think I might have the bigger one.”
“Really?” My mom looked genuinely shocked at that. She smoothed the pencil skirt that was plastered to her slender frame. “Huh. For a moment there, I mistook you for a gentleman, Mr. London.”
“An easy mistake,” Blake said with a wink in my direction. I nearly melted into a puddle in my parents’ foyer. “Although I did wait over a decade before making a move on your daughter. So I like to think there’s hope for me to become a gentleman yet.”
“And it’s Dr. London, Mom,” I corrected, to which my mom sent me a withering look that affected me very little. She pursed her lips in thought, but I could tell she wasn’t quite sure what to think. Her gaze traveled up and down Blake, and I knew even she couldn’t deny just how perfect he was.
But then, of course, she sniffed and said, “Gentlemen are not made; they are bred,” before spinning on her heel and leading us into the house, where we ran into my dad and Bryan in the living room. The space looked nothing like I remembered, which didn’t surprise me. She always kept an interior designer on hand to update the house’s finishes as styles came and went over the years. God forbid she ever be caught entertaining people in a home that boasted out-of-date design.
Once again, Blake took the initiative in greeting my dad, who couldn’t look less interested in meeting my husband for the second time. He also didn’t make any indication that he realized he had met Blake before, but that didn’t surprise me. My dad was simply being the same as he always was, except his hair had grown grayer and his eyebrows bushier, and I felt guilty again about time passing and being absent. Especially when his bright blue eyes lit up a bit at seeing me. I smiled at him, walking straight into his arms when he opened them for a hug.
I wished I had a stronger backbone, more will to resist when my parents offered the tiniest shred of emotion toward me. Instead, I snatched it up and then felt like a fool later.
“Look who’s been living on the East Coast for months and finally decided to take the trip down to see us,” my dad said, but he was grinning as he gave me a tight squeeze.
Blake side-eyed me, and I bit the inside of my cheek. I’d told him I’d moved to Boston to be close to family, so I was sure that my lack of visits might come as a surprise to him, even knowing what he did about my relationship with them. I’d had dinner once with Bryan and his girlfriend, but beyond that, I’d kept my distance. And I could blame that on how busy it was finding an apartment, and starting a new job, and then marrying Blake. But maybe coming home was a little more painful than I cared to admit.
And perhaps there’d been another reason I’d moved to Boston.
One I hadn’t totally admitted to Blake.
Or even myself.
“Well, a new job, a wedding, and a honeymoon have kept me pretty occupied, Dad.”
My dad nodded. “Bry showed us the picture of the plane.” He switched his attention to Blake. “Where’d ya take her?”
“To the Netherlands,” Blake answered. “Your daughter loves tulips, so it felt only fitting.”
“Does she?” He looked back to me, his expression a little funny. Like he was realizing for the first time how much he didn’t know about me.
“Is it time for dinner yet?” Bryan asked, keeping us all on track. I laughed, and my mom actually smiled because if she did have a soft spot, it was for her son. Not for me, never for me. But I’d gladly give up that position for Bryan.
“Yes.” She clasped her hands together. “Why don’t we migrate to the dining room?”
I gave a little thumbs-up to Bryan for helping to move this evening along before Blake placed a hand on my back and led me to the dining room table after my parents, as though he’d grown up here and not me. The table was decorated lavishly, even for what I was used to growing up, and I wondered who my mom was trying to impress or what point she was trying to make. Because absolutely nothing she did was ever accidental.
My parents served steak for dinner, and Bryan proudly provided a side of mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus, which were both things he’d learned to make recently in one of his independent-living courses. Everything tasted delicious, and it filled me with pride to see Bryan learning skills that would help him live on his own and chase his dreams one day.
The mood at dinner surprised me, staying light and conversational until almost everyone was done eating. Or until Bryan had finished eating and excused himself. And that was when it took a turn.
“So, Dr. London.” My mom cleared her throat, and I knew that whatever came next was not going to be fun. “I know you and Delaney have been friends for many years.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Blake nodded. “And please, call me Blake.”
My mom gave a tight-lipped smile. “Tell me, why have you now decided to take an interest in my daughter? I don’t suppose it has anything to do with a certain inheritance that might be awarded to Delaney in the instance that she marries, does it?”
“No, Mrs. Delacroix,” Blake chuckled, sounding alarmingly at ease with that lie. I never imagined Blake would be so effortless at delivering outright lies, but here we were. “You’ve got it wrong. I haven’t just taken an interest in Delaney. I’ve been interested. For a long, long time.”
His eyes met mine, and my heart jumped into my throat. We sat across the table from each other, which I didn’t like. I’d much prefer to have him next to me so I could, I don’t know, touch him or something. I just had this feeling that if I could reach out and grab his hand right now, everything would be better. I needed something to ground me in reality. Like the squeeze of his fingers to let me know I should play along. To remind me that we were both on the inside of a little joke, and everyone else was on the outside.
He said he’d convince my parents that this elopement wasn’t actually sudden or fake. That our marriage had been years in the making. I was sure that was what he was doing.
“I see,” my mom tutted. “So then, why wait? Why wait for such a long, long time?” She emphasized Blake’s words in the same manner that he did.
But Blake was unbothered by her attack. “I waited because, as you might know, Delaney made it clear to me that she didn’t want to settle down. And you could say I’m the settling down type.”
“So you’re not like your brother, huh?” my dad cut in, chuckling a little to himself as though he made a really funny joke. Then he went back to polishing off his steak.
Blake bristled at that. “Assuming you’re talking about Noah, he’s actually in a committed relationship. And I don’t expect that to be changing anytime soon.”
“Well.” My mom pursed her lips. “Then do tell. I’d love to know how you got our daughter to change her very stubborn mind about settling down. Since we all know that Delaney is not one to do things she doesn’t want to, especially if it doesn’t align with her…what do you always call it?” She glanced at me. “ Life vision , right?”
I snorted. “I don’t know how you can honestly sit there and say that when I let you puppeteer me until I moved out. I danced for you, debuted for you, did everything just to make you?—”
I interrupted myself, clenching my jaw.
I’d always thought that if I made my parents happy, maybe one day they’d make me feel the same. But that didn’t happen. There was never any hope of that happening.
“If you did everything we wanted, you wouldn’t have run off to play with people’s hearts,” my mom snapped back.
I gritted my teeth. She said that like I’d gone off to run a reality dating competition and not become a fully trained cardiologist.
“What was it that you wanted me to do?” I countered. “Stay home and become some investor’s wife?”
Beside me, Blake stiffened.
“We would have liked to have some involvement in your marriage pursuits, yes,” my dad said carefully before taking a sip of his red wine. “Why do you think we convinced your grandparents to include that addendum before they passed?”
My jaw dropped as my vision went hazy.
So this…this was a punishment , wasn’t it? For chasing dreams that they never wanted me to have.
“But of course you ignored it,” my mom said with a roll of her eyes. “Didn’t even think to include us. You can thank yourself that we’re here tonight.”
“I scoured the will I received,” I countered. “Trust me, there was no addendum. I had no idea I was supposed to include you in my marriage plans, and I assumed you wouldn’t be interested in meeting my husband, considering how much interest you’ve shown in other areas of my life.”
My mom frowned, shooting daggers at me with her eyes before switching to her husband. “Did you not send it to her?”
“Me?” My dad waved the thought away. “I’m sure Anderson would have supplied her with the updated version.”
“There was no updated version,” I insisted through gritted teeth, annoyed that they didn’t have anything to say about the part of the conversation where they never cared about me unless it somehow impacted them. “Not that I received.”
“Clearly.” My mom sniffed and then straightened. “Well, then you might as well tell us more about your…elopement.” Her mouth twisted when she said the last word, like it left a bad taste in her mouth.
Blake cleared his throat. “I know the elopement might seem sudden to you?—”
“Sudden?” My mom laughed. “Not as sudden as you might think. Despite what we hoped would happen, I always suspected she would do this. Show up with a husband she manifested from thin air just to get our money.”
“It’s not your money,” I argued, feeling my blood pressure continue to rise.
“Tell me, how much of a cut is she giving you?” she went on, looking at Blake and ignoring me. “I bet you have your one-year anniversary marked on your calendar, counting down the days until you can divorce. I don’t blame you for wanting to detach yourself from her, considering?—”
“Stop.” Blake nearly bellowed the word, and I jumped in my seat, startled. “Delaney is my wife, and she will be my wife for as long as she allows me to be her husband. I refuse to sit here and listen to you disrespect her. She might not be living her life the way you want her to be, but each and every day, she cares more about the people around her than she cares about herself, and your continued insinuation that she is selfishly chasing her inheritance is unacceptable.”
I blinked at Blake, shocked and breathless, as my parents struggled with what to say to that. I couldn’t really blame them because I didn’t have any words, either. Even if I did know what to say, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to say anything through the emotion choking me. No one had ever defended me to my parents before. It had always just been me against them, in each and every argument.
“Please.” My mom brushed off her momentary speechlessness, but I could tell she was still a bit rankled by Blake’s assertion. “I’m sure that ring is from a cereal box or something.”
She gave a forced, haughty laugh, but Blake’s lips twitched with the slightest smile, surprising me. “Ah, I’m so glad you brought up the ring, Mrs. Delacroix.” He held out his hand to me, catching my eye. And this time, I knew I was on the outside looking in at something for the first time. Because I had no idea what he was about to say. “Lane, can I see it for a second?”
I nodded, wiggling it off my finger and placing it in his palm.
Blake took it, examining it as he twirled it between his fingers. Then he leaned forward so my mom could have a better look at it, too. “You might not know much about jewelry, Mrs. Delacroix, but this ring is vintage. Are you familiar with Kashmir sapphires?”
I smiled to myself because I knew how much that comment was going to provoke my mother.
As suspected, she sat straighter. “Of course I am.”
Blake nodded. “Then you’ll know that they’re incredibly rare. Their unparalleled quality makes them highly sought after, but there was only a limited number of these sapphires mined over a century ago. This ring was my grandma’s and my great-grandma’s before that. She worked as a governess for the Rockefellers when they stayed at their estate in Duluth to tend to the mining on the North Shore, and they became fond of her. So fond that they actually helped arrange her marriage to my great-grandfather, who was a local philanthropist, and even gifted this ring as an engagement present. It became my great-grandmother’s wedding ring.”
My gaze shifted from my mom’s dropping jaw to Blake’s intent look, trying to puzzle together fact from fiction as he kept talking.
“My mom never wore the ring once it was given to her,” he said. “She tried to pass it down to my sister, but Natalie, like my mom, has never worn much jewelry and said that it should be saved for someone who it might complement better. Who might appreciate it.”
Blake looked directly at me, and I suddenly found breathing to be laborious. Challenging at best. Nearly impossible at worst.
“I met Delaney on my first day of med school,” he said, brown gaze still boring into me, melting me. “I called my mom that night and said I met a girl with sapphires for eyes and begged her for the ring.” He held out his palm, his lips curved as he gestured for me to place my hand in his. I did, and his touch burned its way through me, heating me at my core. “You’d think it was designed for her. But no, it’s just a bit of fate. I’ve been waiting years to see it through. To put this ring where it belongs. See how perfectly that fits?” He slid the ring back onto my finger, and it felt heavier than before. “I didn’t even get it resized.”
Blake laced his fingers through mine, and I stared at our clasped hands, feeling entranced by his touch and his words and the weight of both of them. They felt unfabricated and unburdened despite the story he was weaving.
“I’ve been in love with your daughter since the day I met her, and I’ve been waiting to give her this ring for years,” Blake said, directing his attention back to my mom and causing me to jerk my head up. My lips parted in shocked awe as I struggled with what to believe. “We might have eloped, but this marriage is anything but sudden. Proposing to Delaney has been all I’ve ever wanted. When I saw the very first glimpse of an opportunity, I took it. And you think I’m counting down the days until I can take it all back? Not a chance in hell. I’m staying attached to this woman for as long as I fucking can, understood?”
I stared at Blake, trying to reason with his words and decipher what they meant—if they meant anything at all. I would have realized, wouldn’t I? If they were true, I would have realized. He must have concocted that story. Had it ready in case my mom pressed him for details about how long our relationship had been going on. It was the responsible thing to do when you were someone who was faking a marriage and trying to make it seem like an elopement hadn’t been fake. And Blake had only ever been responsible.
But then Blake turned to look at me, and all of the little reasonings I was making in my head washed away.
And I was left with a pounding, aching heart.
No…it couldn’t be. It couldn’t all be true.
Because then that would mean that I’d spent the last ten years blind to what was right in front of me. Missing everything . We could have been so much more for so much longer, but I’d just had no idea. How could that be? How had I missed it?
I wasn’t sure I knew how to accept what Blake was saying and what his eyes were telling me, wasn’t sure I knew how to process that. My chest tightened. I struggled to get sufficient air into my lungs.
But at the same time, my stomach couldn’t stop flipping.
Butterflies hadn’t stopped fluttering.
And I knew I was falling, falling, falling.
“I understand,” my mom finally relented with a sigh. “I don’t appreciate the language, but I understand. And I believe that you’re not playing us, Dr. London. But have you ever stopped to consider that maybe she is playing you ?”
Blake opened his mouth, and I could see the fire in his eyes, his eagerness to defend me. But it was my turn to speak up.
“For crying out loud, Mom. I’ve known about the will since I was twenty. I’ve known what I wanted to do with that money since I was twenty-two. I’ve known Blake would marry me so I could get that money since the end of our first med school semester. That was ten years ago. There’s a reason I never asked him. A reason I never even told him about it.”
I expected my parents to counter me, press me for more, but they were silent. Instead, Blake spoke, his voice gentle but demanding.
“What’s that, Lane?”
Our eyes met, and I knew, at my core, that we were having a real conversation right now. It wasn’t for show or to be convincing; Blake wanted to know. And shit, I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him everything.
“I’ve heard enough.” My dad cut off my response before I could even think of it. “Elizabeth, just let them have the damn money or at least ask the important questions.”
My mom threw up her hands. “Be my guest, Robert. Ask the important questions, then.”
My dad pointed his fork in Blake’s direction. “Do you have a good credit score?”
Blake laughed. “I have an excellent credit score, sir.”
“Well, there you go. Welcome to the family.”
“Robert,” my mom chastised. Her eyes cut sharply to him, but he ignored her, too focused on swirling his wine. A muscle jumped in her jaw before she said, “We’ll talk about this later. This matter is not settled.”
“Can’t wait,” my dad muttered, thick with sarcasm.
I almost smiled.
No, I did smile.
Even though my mom had made it clear that the conversation surrounding the inheritance was not done, I felt lighter than I had in years. And while it was my dad’s comment that had made me smile, I knew there was only one person at this table who I had to thank for that.
And I was pretty sure I was in love with him.