I nodded. “Second base later, but don’t try to slide home.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m about to meet your mother. Could you please not use words like sliding home? I’m already at enough of a disadvantage being a Truitt, I don’t need her to think I can’t even control my own erections.”
I looked down. “Yeah…about that…”
Dex was acting weird. I wasn’t sure if he was pissed I decided not to tell my mom who he was before he arrived or if just being at my mother’s made him feel uncomfortable, in general. But his body language was stiff, and I could see the tension in his face. He was also being unusually quiet. When my sister called to check in on the girls, Mom went to the living room to put them on the phone, and I took the opportunity to feel out Dex while I put the flowers he brought my mom in a vase with water.
“Is everything okay?”
“Fine.”
I furrowed my brows. “Why do I feel like you’re upset with me? Are you angry because I didn’t tell my mother who your father is yet? Because I was planning to…I still am. I guess I was just stalling and ran out of time and then thought I really want her to get to know you for you and not be tainted by something that has nothing to do with the person you are.”
Dex closed his eyes. “It’s not that.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
“What’s your mom’s first name again?”
“Eleni.”
“I recognize her. I didn’t go to my father’s office often, but I must have met her at one point because as soon as I saw her I knew I’d seen her before.”
“Well, she didn’t seem to recognize you. Does that make you uncomfortable that you know who she is, but she doesn’t really know who you are? Because I’ll tell her right now if you want.”
“Do you see the irony in that question?”
I hadn’t until he pointed it out. “Yes, but this time it’s my fault that you’re not being forthright. I put you in this position. It’s not the same as when you weren’t honest with me.”
“Feels just as shitty to do it.”
“So, I’ll tell her. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“No, don’t. Not while I’m here tonight anyway. I feel like shit enough putting a face to one of the many people who my father treated poorly. I’m sorry that he affected your family, Bianca. I truly am.”
My heart broke a little. I knew what it was like to grow up with a father whose actions I wasn’t proud of. And as far as I knew, my father only ever hurt my mother. I couldn’t imagine having to live in the shadows of a man who openly embarrassed his wife with affairs and fired loyal workers without so much as a thought. “You’re not your father. We said we were going to put our past behind us. Please don’t feel badly for something you had nothing to do with. In the end, even my own resentment toward your father was somewhat misplaced. Sure, my family struggled a little when my mom lost her job. But plenty of families go through difficult financial times. It was my father’s actions that made my family fall apart. I think I just wanted to blame someone else. It’s time to grow up and put the fault where it really lies.”
I finished arranging the flowers, and Dex reached out and pulled me close to him. He caressed my cheek and then leaned in to kiss me, but the moment was disrupted by a certain little devil. Fearless, she ran right up to Dex. “Who are you?”
She’d been so hypnotized watching the TV, she hadn’t even noticed him walk through the living room and into the kitchen with me. Dex stood from his chair and crouched down to speak to Faith at eye level. “I’m Dex. Your Aunt Bianca’s friend.”
“Do you sleep in the same bed?”
My eyes widened. “Faith! What kind of a question is that?”
She ignored me and continued to speak to Dex. “When I go to Aunt Bee’s house, she lets me sleep in her bed. When Daddy goes away for work, Mommy lets me sleep in her bed. If you’re going to sleep in Aunt Bee’s bed, then I’m going to have to sleep on the floor.”
Dex’s lip twitched, but he answered her with sincerity. “You won’t have to sleep on the floor.”
“Are you going to marry Aunt Bee?”
Dex responded before I could. “If I’m lucky, maybe someday.”
“Could I be the flower girl? Cause there’s only one, and my sister picks her nose. So you don’t want her.”
I started to laugh, until I realized that Hope had walked in and overheard her sister. “I do not pick my nose anymore!”
Faith leaned in with a devilish smile and whispered to Dex, “She stopped yesterday.” These girls were going to be hellions when they were teenagers.
Dinner was a myriad of spills and arguments between the angel and devil. In between, Mom and Dex talked a lot. He was definitely a charmer, and it was interesting to see him in action. She’d put on an old Duke Ellington CD for background music during dinner, and he’d quickly picked up on her affinity for jazz music. Then he won her over by spouting off his favorite songs by jazz artists like Lester Young and Bill Evans, both of whom I’d never heard of. By the time dinner was over, Dex’s last name could have been Manson, and I wouldn’t have been worried. He’d insisted that Mom and I sit down while he and the girls cleaned up. The entire scene was comical to watch. We sipped wine while he took turns lifting the girls to put dishes up in the cabinets. If I didn’t know better, I’d have even thought he had the ability to tame wild beast four-year-olds.
“I like him. He seems genuine,” Mom said.
Dex was bending over to load something into the dishwasher, and my eyes were glued to the way his jeans hugged his firm ass. “I like him, too.”
I was mid-sip, still ogling the view when Mom sighed. “Does he have a nice father for your dear old mom?”
I choked, coughing some of my wine through my nose. It burned like hell.
Mom laughed when I finally stopped sputtering and caught my breath. “What? I’m old. Not dead.”
On the ride back to my apartment, I let Dex get to second base. We laughed as he discreetly felt me up in the back of the Town Car. He even managed to drop his head and take the taste he wanted while somehow shielding me from the driver and passing vehicles. Who knew how many uses a sports jacket could have?
When we pulled up to my apartment, I noticed there was a considerable bulge in his pants. “Do you want to…come inside?”