Unexpected (19 page)

“Britta was actually just saying she was worried her mom’s dating Mr. Gallagher,” Jamie told her. “Why are you asking?”

“I was just wondering because it seems like when
Britta walks by, that girl shoots daggers at her,” Krista said.

“
What
?” I demanded. “She does? Why?” I wasn’t used to people disliking me. I kept to myself enough that really, they had no
reason
to dislike me. Except, okay, maybe there had been that brief period of time where I’d tried to befriend Heidi. I mentally rolled my eyes thinking, quite sarcastically,
How dare I?

“It could be that she still likes
Corey,” Willow tossed out.

“What?” I demanded for the second time in possibly thirty seconds.

“You didn’t know?” Jamie asked with a little laugh.

I shook my head. Was that why she’d acted toward me that way she had?
That would bring the whole sibling rivalry to a whole new level. Oh, wait, I was getting way ahead of myself on the sibling front. Again.

“It could be that,” Krista agreed. Then she gave me a devilish smirk. “Although pair the two together…You and
Corey…
you know
…Plus your mom and her dad…
you know
. No wonder she looks at you like she’d enjoy pulling out every last strand of your hair.”

I ignored that last bit. Possibly because I didn’t want to believe it was true. Or because my mind was still tangled up back with the news that Heidi liked
Corey.

“Are you sure? About the
Corey part?”

“What part would that be?” A too-familiar voice asked. It was full of amusement. He grinned at me as he helped himself to the seat next to me. “Don’t deny it,” he said with a teasing grin. “You were talking about me.”

Why did he have to look so pleased with himself?

I gave him my sweetest smile.
I may have even batted my eyelashes.

He grinned back triumphantly.

“We were just saying how you should invite Heidi to the winter dance,” I fibbed in a voice that was sugary.

“Heidi? Heidi who?” He demanded. His smile had fallen away but he didn’t look entirely glum. More like, intrigued.

“
Heidi Sandstrom
?” Jamie said in her best
duh
-voice.

He blinked at her and shrugged.

“Cute little junior?” I helpfully supplied.

This earned me a scowl.

“Well that’s not going to happen,” he informed me. “I have someone else I plan on asking.”

“Who?” Willow demanded.

Corey turned to me and made a face that implied,
Who do you think
?

“Well that’s not going to happen,” I mimicked.

He slumped. “Oh come on,” he said in his best have-pity-on-me tone.

It was a tone I knew too well. A tone I had given in to a few times too many. No way was I giving into it now.
“I can’t because—”

“She has a date!” Jamie ground out.

“
Who
?” he asked. He sounded genuinely surprised. Though I was sure he knew and was simply pretending not to know.

I couldn’t help it. I felt a bit offended. Apparently, so did Jamie.

“
My brother
!” she said.

I smiled to myself as her defensive side came out.

“Tristan?” he scoffed. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said
. I was starting to become annoyed by his attitude.

He just stared at me for a minute. As if it were difficult to try to assimilate the knowledge into something that he could easily understand. Seems like it should be a simple thing to do. Apparently for
Corey? Not so much.

Fin
ally, he shook his head and made a scrunched up face. “You and Tristan? Still? That’s just—”

Jamie cut him off. Again. “You better be very, very careful how you finish that sentence. That’s my brother you’re about to insult.”

Corey snapped his mouth shut.

“Looks like you might want to check in with Heidi after all,” Krista told him brightly.

He sighed but took the hint. He grabbed his tray and left without another word.

“Wow,” Jamie said. There was an element of surprise to her voice. “Who ever
would’ve thought that Corey Adamson wouldn’t have a date to the dance?”

“He’s not the only one,” Willow grumbled.

“You haven’t talked to Grant yet?” I wondered.

Her lip fell out in a pout that I wasn’t sure how to interpret.

“No. I did. That’s the problem. He asked Jannessa,” she glumly admitted. “She said yes.”

“How could he?” Krista asked, clearly flustered.

“Well,” I hesitantly suggested, “maybe because Willow told him to ask someone else?”

“I didn’t mean it!” she nearly wailed.

“Of course you didn’t,” Jamie said. She gave her a sympathetic look. “There’s still time. You have a dress. It can’t be that hard to find you a date.”

*~*~*

“I really think you should’ve mentioned to him that I was coming,” Tristan chastised.

I
was busy doing a not-so-fantastic job of parallel parking my car. It took me a few seconds to answer him.

“He’s not going to care,” I
finally assured him.

And if he did care?
And to be honest, I thought there was a good chance he might…Too bad. Tristan rarely had a night free. But when my dad called, insisting I meet him at Luca’s, I hesitantly agreed. The next morning, Tristan had told me he had the night off. I didn’t want to miss out on a night with Tristan. But I didn’t dare back out on my dad. Bringing Tristan with seemed like the only logical way to solve my dilemma.

“Hey,” he said as he grabbed my hand. He was looking at me worriedly. “You look like you’re nervous.”

I shrugged. “I just don’t enjoy this. I want it to be over with.”

He pulled m
e into him. “Don’t get mad…But I think maybe you make this harder on yourself than it needs to be. You need to relax.”

And somehow…I did. We stayed like that for maybe a few seconds, maybe a few minutes. I wasn’t sure. As always I just loved the way Tristan always made me feel so comfortable. He kissed my temple and then backed away.

“We should get going. We’re already a few minutes late.”

We quickly made our way down the sidewalk and into the warmth of Luca’s.
The aromas of garlic, pasta sauces, and bread were comfortingly familiar.

Dad was seated on a bench ne
ar the entry way, waiting. His face broke into a grin when he spotted us. He jumped to his feet to greet us.

He pulled me into a hug so quickly I didn’t have a chance to avoid it.

“Next time we are not going to wait so long until we get together,” he said firmly.

I
mumbled something noncommittal.

On
ce he released me, he threw his arms around Tristan. They did that man-hug thing where they clap each other on the back, hard. It sounded loud and painful. I decided it must feel more manly and acceptable to do it that way.

Dad turned to the waitress. “We need to add another chair.”

She nodded and we followed her into the dining room. It was busy but it wasn’t nearly as crowded on a week night. She pulled an extra chair up to our table and we took our seats.

“It’s good to see you!” Dad said to Tristan. “It’s been a long time!”

“Yeah,” Tristan said as he shot me a sideways look. Then he redirected his attention to my dad. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Dad grinned at Tristan like he really meant it. Like he really was happy to see him. Like he really didn’t mind that I’d brought him along for the sole purpose of crashing our dinner date.

The result?

I may have started to dislike my dad just a little bit less.

“How long have the two of you been dating?” Dad asked.

I bristled for no reason other than I was permanently on the defensive. I knew it but it didn’
t stop me from saying, “Who said we’re dating?”

Dad looked amused. “I saw you walking up the sidewalk holding hands. I just assumed…” He trailed off. Then he threw us an out. “Although, it is slippery out there
. And those boots of yours can’t have very good traction. So I could see if maybe Tristan was just lending a hand.”

“It’s been a few weeks,” Tristan told him. He was probably afraid I would continue to be difficult. I didn’t want to admit it, but he was probably right.

Dad and Tristan chatted throughout the meal. There was a whole lot of talk about the Jacobs, what they’d been up to. Dad asked Tristan if he still planned on following his dad’s footsteps. Tristan said he did. Though at this point, he was leaning toward family practice instead of pediatrics. Considering some of the stories he’d told me about his dad’s experiences, I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t have firsthand experience but I was sure kids could be exasperating.

T
hey discussed the neighborhood in general. Who’d moved away, the new families that had moved in. Dad seemed to enjoy bringing up the antics that involved Tristan and I when we were kids. Including the time one of Tristan’s bottle rockets came plummeting back to earth and nearly killed the neighbor’s cat. The Jacobs had gotten a hefty vet bill.

They were constantly pulling me into the conversation. At first, I was reluctant. Having Tristan there helped. It helped more than I would’ve imagined. By the end of the meal, I was relaxed. And…an interesting realization struck. I was actually having fun. With my dad.
In all honesty, I was having fun because of Tristan. But my dad was there. And feeling relaxed around him? That hadn’t happened since…
before
.

It took us nearly
three hours to finish our meal. Dad insisted on cannolis for everyone when dessert time came. The conversation seemed to go on and on. For the first time, it wasn’t strained. There weren’t long, agonizing lulls. I was so grateful that I’d thought to invite Tristan with. And just as grateful that he’d accepted.

At the end of it, the waitress dropped off our bill and Tristan took out his wallet, fully intending to pay for his own meal.

My dad let out an offended scoff. “Put that away!” he told Tristan. “This night was my idea. Besides, I enjoyed catching up with you.”

Tristan thanked him.

“Anytime.” Dad turned to me. “I mean it. You’re welcome to bring him with anytime. Especially if it means I get to see more of you.”

I smiled and it didn’t even feel all that force
d.

When we said our goodbyes, we both got pulled into hugs again. This time, the thought to resist didn’t even really cross my mind.

“Was that so bad?” Tristan demanded when we were safely in my car. Alone. His look was questioning but it was also at least a bit smug.

“No,” I said with a little shake of my head. “It wasn’t bad at all. Thanks.”

He smiled at me. “Not a problem. I always really liked your dad.”

I glanced at the clock. It was my mom’s night to teach night class.
She wouldn’t be done for another hour. At the risk of sounding like a clingy girlfriend I said, “I feel like I’ve hardly seen you at all this week.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that. It was a crazy week,” he said.

I nodded. “I didn’t realize how much you work.”

He grimaced. “Yeah…well, I didn’
t used to. There’ve been more, ah, I guess projects to deal with lately. So, yeah. I’ve been busier. ” He turned to me and made an apologetic face. “The timing kind of sucks.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. I was trying to go for a teasing tone. “It really kind of does.”

“Yeah?” he asked, teasing back. “Why is that?”

“Why do you think? Because I kind of want to see more of you.”

A completely sweet smile spread across his face. “I am never going to get tired of hearing you say that.” He put his hands on the sides of my face and gently pulled me in for a short kiss. “And,” he said, his expression happy, “I still can’t believe it’s okay for me to do that.”

“Um, more than okay,” I said with a quiet laugh. “Do you need to get home? Or do you
want to come back to my house for a while?”

He smiled at me
again. “Yeah. I was really hoping you would ask me that.”