I looked at the card, but didn’t take it.
“That’s very kind, Mr. Woods. But Bliss and I have no plans to move to London.” I directed my last few words to my father, as firmly as I could without seeming angry.
For the first time, my dad cut in and said, “Maybe it’s something you should think about, Garrick. It’s a good job.”
I’m sure it was a fine job. But it wasn’t a coincidence that this interest was coming now with my father watching on. He was a puppeteer pulling strings, but I’d cut mine a long time ago.
Mr. Woods added, “If it makes a difference, I’m sure it would be a significant step-up in pay from teaching, and we’d cover your relocation.”
If it were a significant step-up from teaching, it would be about three or four steps up from what I was doing now. It had been difficult segueing back into part-time work and small contracts from my comfortable job at the university. But we were making it.
I took the card just to end the ambush and said, “I’ll think about it. But I really am happy where I’m at.”
I could feel my father’s stare, but I didn’t meet his gaze.
I nodded at Mr. Woods. “It was nice seeing you again. Thank you for coming. Enjoy the party.”
Then I turned, and stuffed the card into my pocket. I made it just a few feet before my father stopped me for our first private conversation of the night. In years, really.
“I know what you’re thinking, Garrick, but you should give this job a fair shot.”
“I have a job, Dad.” Several, actually.
“But this is a job that could really lead somewhere. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll be forty and working at a restaurant to make ends meet. These kinds of opportunities won’t be around then.”
“Thanks for the confidence, Dad.”
“Don’t give me that. You’re an adult. You don’t need me in the stands cheering you on and lying to you. You’re about to have a wife, a new life. What you need is to grow up and get a real job. Something with real benefits.”
Oh, the irony of him lecturing me on what was real.
“Thanks for the talk, Dad. But I need to go find Bliss and Mum.”
I maneuvered around him and left before he could drag me back into the argument. I was halfway across the room before I really looked around.
Bliss wasn’t where I’d left her. And neither was my mother.
8
Bliss
GOD, HIS MOM should have been a lawyer instead of working in finance. Just her stare was like a fishing hook, luring all my secrets out of me. And I was the poor fish, dangling on the line, a rusty piece of metal tearing me open. An hour alone with her on the stand, and I would be in the fetal position, reciting the traumas of my childhood, like that time Jimmy pantsed me at the top of the slide during recess in third grade.
“And have you two set a date yet?”
I almost asked her if she would prefer to choose for us.
“Well . . . we’re not set on anything yet. But we were thinking maybe June. Or August.”
“Of next year? Oh, that could definitely work.”
“This year, actually . . . ma’am.”
“This year? But that’s only a couple months from now.”
“I know, but we weren’t thinking of anything big. Just a small ceremony for close friends and family.”
“But you won’t have even been engaged for a year at that point.”
This was one thing I wouldn’t submit to her on. There was no way in hell that I was waiting over a year to get married. Garrick and I had had enough waiting for a lifetime.
“Yes, but we’ve been together over a year.”
“No, you—” His mother stopped, her brows furrowed and one finger in the air. “Wait, you’ve been together over a year?”
I nodded, and then immediately wished I hadn’t. Her eyes narrowed, and she fixed me with a look that was more sledgehammer than fishhook.
“I was under the impression that the two of you met in Philadelphia. But Garrick would have been teaching in Texas a year ago.”
I swallowed. God, please don’t tell me that Garrick hadn’t told them about how we’d met. After he told Graham and his big speech about not lying or being ashamed, I had just assumed that he’d told them, the basics anyway.
Based on the calculating look on his mother’s face, I was going to say that was a big, fat no. “So the two of you met in Texas?”
I tried to say yes, but really I just made noises and nodded.
“How old are you, Bliss?”
I could have narcolepsy! That would get me out of this question, right? I could just pretend to pass out. Or maybe I could really pass out?
My non-answer must have been enough to confirm things for her because she spun on her heel and started in Garrick’s direction.
I darted around her and held my hands up.
“Mrs. Taylor, wait. We didn’t do anything wrong. I promise.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Her smile gave me chills. “I don’t think you did anything wrong.”
“You don’t?” I was shocked into silence.
“No, dear. My son is the one who has done something wrong.”
I flinched back like she’d slapped me. I had enough doubts about Garrick being with me in my head, all of which seemed to have compounded in the hours since we’d arrived. I didn’t need her adding any more to that. I stood up taller, and in my plain clearance dress, I faced off against her immaculate, no doubt heinously expensive cocktail dress.