2. Leah Mae #2
Dad had balked at hiring someone to help him around the house, but after his hospitalization, I’d insisted.
And Betsy Stirling was perfect. She was a part-time nurse down at the Bootleg Springs Clinic, and had been looking for a side gig to keep her busy.
She helped Dad with things like grocery shopping and cleaning up the house, and she kept tabs on his health.
It made me feel a lot better to have her around.
“How long do you think you’ll be in town?” Dad asked.
“A few days,” Kelvin said.
I glanced up at Kelvin, raising my eyebrows.
Our return flight to L.A. wasn’t for a week.
But since he’d insisted on flying in and out of Pittsburgh—as if there was something wrong with airports in West Virginia—we’d need to leave Bootleg Springs on Friday afternoon. Still, that was more than a few days.
“We’ll be here until Friday, actually.”
Kelvin cleared his throat but didn’t argue with me.
“Anyway, Dad, there’s something Kelvin and I wanted to talk to you about.
” My heart started to thump harder and my fingers tingled.
I didn’t know why I was so nervous to tell him I was getting married.
It hadn’t been difficult to tell my mom.
But I’d been more sure of how she was going to react.
Dad? He could go either way. And as frail as he seemed, I didn’t want to shock him too much.
“All right,” he said, resting his hands on his thighs. His gaze flicked to Kelvin for a second before coming back to me.
“Well, you know Kelvin and I have been seeing each other for a couple years,” I said. “We’ve decided to get married.”
“Huh,” Dad said. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” I said, trying to keep my voice bright. “We can’t talk about it publicly yet, but we wanted to tell you while we were here.”
Dad crossed his arms and leveled Kelvin with a hard stare. “You’ve already asked for her hand?”
Kelvin blinked. “Asked for her hand? We decided to get married, yes.”
“Isn’t there something you’ve forgotten, son?” Dad asked.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“I don’t recall you ever coming to me to ask my permission,” Dad said.
Kelvin’s brow furrowed, and he cracked a little smile. “Well, no, but that’s a very old-fashioned custom, don’t you think?”
“’Round here, that’s the way it’s done,” Dad said.
“Okay…” Kelvin said. “But Leah is a twenty-eight-year-old woman, not a girl being handed off with a dowry.”
“Daddy,” I said, putting my hand on his knee, “Kelvin didn’t realize that would be so important to you. That isn’t the sort of thing everybody does anymore. This is my fault; I should have told him.”
Dad looked at me, his eyes boring deep into mine. “You want to marry this man?”
“Well, yeah.”
He held my gaze a moment longer, scrutinizing me. I tried not to fidget. He sighed, like he was resigning himself to something unpleasant. “When’s the wedding?”
“We haven’t set a date yet.”
“It depends on our schedules,” Kelvin said. “We probably won’t have time for anything fancy. I’ve been thinking we’d just go to Vegas after Roughing It airs.”
I glanced at Kelvin in surprise. He’d never mentioned getting married in Vegas before. “You don’t want a wedding? ”
“We could still have a wedding, babe,” he said. “But this way, we could work it in when we both have a few days free. Come on, you don’t want to get married by Elvis?”
My mouth dropped open. “No, I don’t want to get married by Elvis.”
He smiled. “You know, you’re right. If we have a big wedding, we could turn it into a great PR opportunity. We could sell the rights to the wedding photos.”
I gaped at him. “We’re not selling the rights to our wedding photos. What are you talking about?”
“I’m glad you brought it up,” Kelvin said. “We’d be crazy not to. That’s a huge missed opportunity. We should get planning now if we want to capitalize on your visibility from the show.”
He walked outside, pulling out his phone as he went. The screen door banged shut behind him.
“Really?” Dad asked.
I sighed. “I know, he seems… opportunistic. It’s just the way he is. That’s why he’s so successful.”
Dad raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t buying it.
“He’s just… not a Bootleg type of man,” I said.
“No, he is not.”
“But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other good qualities,” I said. “He’s just different from what you’re used to.”
“Leah Mae, I’ve seen the sorts of people you run with now,” he said. “Slick big city folk. Smooth talkers. I admit, I’ve never cared much for any of it. But it’s your dream and I am nothing but proud of you. And if this is what you want, I’ll be happy for you.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I squeezed his hand. “Listen, why don’t I take Kelvin into town and show him around. We’ll come back here with dinner for all of us before we go check in to our cabin. Do you need any groceries? ”
“No, I’m fine.”
I didn’t believe him. I’d pick him up a few things just in case. “We’ll be back in a little while.”
I got up and found Kelvin on the front porch, typing something on his phone.
Probably texting his assistant, asking her to look for wedding venues.
I sighed again. That was Kelvin, always going at full speed.
I figured I should be happy he’d let go of that silly run-off-to-Vegas idea so easily.
He wasn’t always so quick to change his mind.
“Come on, let’s go into town,” I said. “We’ll bring back dinner.”
“Are we going to be able to find a place that’s paleo and gluten-free?”
I stopped myself from sighing. The chances of that were very slim, but I didn’t want to sour him on my hometown before he’d even seen all of it. He was just a bandwagon health nut anyway; it wasn’t like he had real food intolerances. “I’m not sure. I guess we’ll have to look around.”
We got back in the car and headed into town.