Chapter Twenty GRAHAM #2
“You know what I mean. I’m in high school, and I don’t have any memory of you dating anyone.”
“Well, I haven’t,” I said honestly. “I’ve been busy, and I like my life the way it is.”
I knew I was stumbling a little with this, but I didn’t know how to smoothly back out of this conversation.
Allie let out a doozy of a sigh. “Oh, my God. Whatever, Dad.” She climbed out and then paused with her hand on the door as I dropped my keys into the empty cup holder. “I still think Maddie is awesome, and you’re stupid to overlook her.”
After navigating that gauntlet with my daughter, I walked into dinner with my parents.
I loved my parents. I even liked my parents, but I should’ve been prepared.
I hadn’t even thought about the fact my mother had met Madison when she was at dinner with us.
If I thought my daughter was on my case about dating, my mom was even worse.
She made a delicious stir-fry for dinner.
Afterward, Allie went upstairs to do some kind of video game thing with her friends.
My mother didn’t waste a second of time once Allie was out of earshot.
I was enjoying a late evening cup of coffee, and my father was reading the newspaper.
He still liked to do it the old-fashioned way with an actual paper.
My mother looked at me from across the table. The second she smiled, I knew she was onto something. “So, Harold’s granddaughter is your new neighbor.” Her voice was bright and casual.
I kept my expression bland, or so I hoped. My head bobbed up and down. “You met her.”
“Madison seems like a lovely girl.”
“She’s very nice,” I commented noncommittally. I heard my father’s paper rustle and looked up to see he had bent the top down and was eyeing me. There was a slight glint in his eyes. He looked from me to my mother.
“I wondered how long it would take you to get to that,” he said to my mother. He went back to reading his paper with a chuckle when I rolled my eyes.
“What?” my mother protested.
“It’s fresh meat for your matchmaking efforts,” he replied without looking up.
“Mom,” I warned. “Don’t even start with this.”
“Honey, I would just like you to find someone. I hate seeing you alone.”
“Mom, I’m not alone. I’m a busy guy with a daughter.”
My mother pursed her lips as she looked over at me. “You use Allie as an excuse.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered.
“It isn’t necessary to swear,” my mother interjected.
I groaned and took a big gulp of my coffee. “Allie said the same thing,” I finally mumbled. She would talk to my mom about us, so there was no sense in avoiding that.
“She’s a smart girl. And she shouldn’t feel like she’s your excuse.”
“Mom, can we just leave it alone? If I meet someone and it feels right, it’ll happen. I’m sure you’d be the first to say that I shouldn’t rush into anything.”
“Of course, I would say that. But you don’t even amble into anything.” She pursed her lips again, shaking her head in disappointment.
I was so grateful for my parents’ support.
Without them, I didn’t know what I would’ve done when Alison bolted when Allie was only a month old.
It was tough, really tough, and there had been a tussle for control between Alison’s parents and me.
They thought they should have custody. Fortunately, the court didn’t even entertain that idea, but it had been tense, and my parents had been an immense help.
They’d also stayed civil with Alison’s parents despite what they’d tried to pull when Allie was a baby.
“Mom, just let it go, okay? Madison’s my neighbor, and it’s good to have a neighbor without any complications.”
My mother ignored me. “I asked Janet what she knew about her.”
My father chuckled, not even moving his paper. “You knew she was going to do reconnaissance for you, right?”
“I did.” I took a breath.
“She seems nice. She’s an actuary. That means she’s smart,” my mother offered. “Janet has nothing but good things to say about her.”
“I know.” I resigned myself to getting through this conversation and wondered what my mom would do if she knew that I already knew Madison really well, biblically speaking, that is.
“Apparently, there were some issues with her family’s company,” my mother was saying.
I couldn’t help it because I was so freaking curious about Madison. “What do you mean?”
My mother’s lips twitched, and a knowing gleam entered her eyes at that.
“Her father’s facing charges for fraud, and she refused to cook the books for him.
I don’t know if she was actually the whistleblower, but the evidence she provided only bolstered the case against her father when the investigation began.
All of her father’s assets are frozen. According to Janet, Harold wasn’t even on speaking terms with her mother, but Madison was close with him.
We can overlook what happened with the family.
” My mother waved her hand in the air as if she had some kind of say about it.
“Jesus, Mom. You can’t hold her accountable for what her dad did.”
“I know, I know. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”
I heard the sound of Allie’s feet coming down the stairs, and I looked at my mother, narrowing my eyes. “Don’t bring up your matchmaking ideas about Madison in front of Allie, please.”
My mother twisted her fingers in front of her lips as if turning a key. “I promise. Whether it’s Madison or someone else, just think about what I said. Allie could use a woman’s influence in her life.”
“She has you,” I said just as Allie came in.
She looked back and forth between us. “What?”
“We’re just talking about planning for the school dance. I’ll be chaperoning,” my mother said.
Damn, my mother was slick sometimes. I’d begged my mom to handle the school dance chaperone gig in my stead. Bless her heart, she’d graciously agreed.
Allie shrugged. “Okay. I still think it’s stupid we need chaperones What do they think we’re gonna do?” she pressed.
I thought about what I’d done at my first high school dance and decided to hold my silence on the topic. I didn’t get anybody pregnant until my senior year, but I’d sure been into finding hidden corners to make out any chance I had. School dances were awesome for that.
“Can we go? The controller here is being weird,” Allie said.
I hadn’t even heard my mother’s reply to Allie.
“You got it.” Usually, I might try to get her to hang out with my parents longer, but right now, I wanted to escape my mother’s curiosity.
Once we were driving home, Allie chirped, “I heard Gram talking to you about Madison. See, I’m not the only one.”
Fuck my life.