“Were you expecting her to come over?” I ask in a panicked voice.
“No—were you?”
I shake my head, fumbling with my zipper. I’ve somehow managed to put on my jeans inside out, but whatever. I won’t worry about fixing it now because there are more important issues at hand. Rob has crossed the living room and is peeking through the blinds.
“Is she still there?” I ask in a shaking voice.
He nods. “She’s sitting in her car. I think she’s waiting for us to come out.”
I pull on my sweater and join him in the living room. I peer through the blinds and see Mindy sitting in her car with her arms crossed. She looks pissed. “Shit,” I say.
Rob steps back from the window and runs a hand through his hair. “I guess we have to come clean. There’s no explaining away something like this.”
I grimace.
“You’re right. It was only a matter of time before she found out about us, especially now that I’m pregnant.”
Which brings us to the bigger issue. He glances at me, a smile spreading across his lips, that mobile mouth devastatingly firm and sexy.
“You are, aren’t you?” he says in a soft voice, pushing my hair behind one ear. “I’m so happy sweetheart. Mindy will come around, you’ll see.”
I inhale heavily and look into his eyes.
“I hope so,” are my words. Then I hold my hand out, and he takes it. We lace our fingers together, put on shoes and coats, and head outside to brave Mindy’s wrath. Oh god. Hopefully, this isn’t going to be too terrible. But what would you do if you found your best friend and your dad in the middle of having sex? Her shock and anger are absolutely justified.
A sense of doom settles in my chest, but I make myself buck up. It can’t be that bad, right? The snow crunches under our boots as we approach the car, but Mindy won’t even look at us. She stares straight ahead, as if refusing to acknowledge the situation in front of her. When she’s happy, she looks like a mix of her mom and dad, but right now, she looks pissed, which only deepens her resemblance to Rob.
We stop by the vehicle, and I hesitantly raise a hand and wave. “Hi, Mindy,” I say, lamely. “Um, how are you?”
Her chin jerks my way, and those pretty brown eyes narrow at me. Oh shit, oh shit. I look up at my lover, but he merely has a stern look on his face. Eventually, Mindy cracks her window down a bit and a burst of hot air wafts from the inside of her car. For a second, I wonder if the heat’s coming from her A/C or her anger.
“Why didn’t you tell me you’re dating my dad?” she demands accusingly.
I open my mouth and shut it. She turns her attention to Rob.
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me you were dating my best friend?”
“I—well, you know.” He glances down at me. I nod emphatically even though I have no idea where Rob is going with this. “We weren’t sure how—er, that is, we didn’t want—” He stops, and the sentence dies. I guess it’s really hard to talk with your child about sensitive subjects sometimes.
Mindy sighs and rolls down the window the rest of the way. “You two are so bad at this.”
“Yeah,” I say quickly. “You’re right. We’re sorry for keeping this from you but we didn’t know what to say or how to say it or really, how to go about this at all.”
She nods. “You should be sorry. You guys should have told me as soon as it happened because what the hell? I wouldn’t have been angry or anything. I mean, come on, how hypocritical would that be? Dad, I’m dating your best friend. In fact, I’m married to him now so I, more than anyone else in Prescott, would understand, don’t you think?”
Rob and I share a look of relief. He wraps his arm around me, and I lean into his embrace.
“Sorry, Mindy,” I murmur apologetically. “I guess we got so caught up in hiding it from the town that we lumped you in with everyone else. But you’re right. We misjudged this entire situation and should have been upfront from the get go.”
She rolls her eyes, opening her window a bit more.
“Seriously, have you guys been sneaking around, hoping nobody you know will see you? Behaving like a bunch of teenagers?”
Rob and I share a look.
“Maybe,” I smile shyly. My man squeezes my shoulder.
“Okay, yes,” he says. “But Mins, you caught us early. It’s not like we’ve been sneaking around for years. It’s just been a couple months.”
My best friend rolls her eyes.
“A couple months? That’s a long time! Oh my god, I can’t believe you guys kept this from me for sooooo long.”