So, yeah, that was how we broke in our home.
It was perfect.
Valen - 3 months
“Stop fidgeting,” Louana said, slapping me from the driver’s seat. “It makes you look nervous. And he can smell fear,” she added, shooting me a smirk.
“Not helping here, babe,” I said, grimacing as I looked at her parents’ house.
Three months was a long time to be with Louana and not running into her old man.
What can I say, I’d been “busy” a lot when he just so happened to be around.
I’d seen her mom, Evan, quite a few times.
But Luce?
Luce, I’d been avoiding.
Because I knew he had to do the dad thing. I knew he had to let me know that he was pissed at what I’d done to his little girl. Even if it was years ago. Even if we’d worked it out. It was his job to put the fear of God into me, so I didn’t ever think of doing it again.
Or, in his case, the fear of heated lye and needle nose pliers yanking my teeth out.
Luce may have been retired, but I knew he was fully capable of brushing off the old tools if he felt like he needed them.
Hence the avoiding him thing.
But it was Evan’s birthday, so we had to meet them for dinner. Besides, I was going to need to make right with the man if I was going to ask him for his permission to marry his daughter.
“Come on. You can do it,” Louana said as she climbed out of the car and waited for me to join her.
Taking a deep breath, I climbed out, grabbed her hand, and walked up the driveway toward her childhood home.
I knew it pretty well. Even if the only times I’d really been inside it were when I was not supposed to be there.
“Hey, Diego,” Louana said when we walked in to find a massive blue & gold macaw sitting on the back of the couch like he was waiting for us. “How you doing, bud?” she asked, reaching out toward him, but getting a bit of a warning lunge. “He never did warm up to me,” she said, shrugging.
“It’s because he’s gotten so spoiled by Barrett,” Evan said as she came out of the kitchen, giving us a warm smile.
“Happy Birthday, Ev,” I said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“Thank you. I told you no gifts!” she grumbled when Louana held out the box.
“Like that was going to happen. Where’s Dad?”
“Out back. Pretending to know how to grill. You want to go give him a hand?” Evan suggested, giving me a knowing smile.
Yeah.
That’s what I wanted to do.
Try to tell him that he was cooking the steaks wrong.
That would go over justgreat.
“Rip off that band-aid,” Louana said, smacking my ass once then moving off with he mother, the two of them talking about how long the new living room set we ordered was taking to come in.
I was halfway to the back door when Diego flew onto my shoulder with a little squawk.