“I know you’re not honey.” I patted her hand. “I appreciate you asking, and you’re right, I do have some stuff going on… at work. But it’s nothing that serious.”
She nodded. “Okay, if you say so.”
“I’ll be just fine, I promise.”
“Good,” she said. “Because you know I just want you to be happy.”
“I do know that.”
We went home shortly after that, and I fished the box of Christmas decorations out from the basement storage room. Victoria found a channel playingA Charlie Brown Christmasand put that on in the background while I went about untangling strings of lights. That night we stayed in and watched movies until well after dark. I was content. More than content, I was happy.
Even still, shortly after ten, when my phone buzzed in my pocket and I tried to get at it without waking Vic who was curled up next to me on the couch, I couldn’t help but hope it was Kat texting me. No one else messaged me this late, except Sean, and he was out of town.
The text wasn’t from Kat. It was from Dean.
“Can I come see you at your office tomorrow?” the text read. “I think we should talk.”
My hands began to sweat as I read the message, unsure what to think about the whole thing. Was he still mad? Would he be coming around to yell at me in front of everyone at the company? Because I couldn’t allow that to happen. I had to maintain the upper hand, and I knew there were some people in the office who still thought of Dean as the head honcho. I couldn’t let him undermine my authority like that. But on the off chance that he wanted to drop by to make amends, I didn’t want to let that opportunity slip me by either.
“Let’s get coffee in the lobby,” I wrote back. “I’ll meet you in the morning, before work.”
Dean wouldn’t yell at me in a public space, he was too polite for that, so this would ensure that even if he had something to say, he would say it in a hushed tone.
He sent a response within a couple seconds.
“See you then,” was all it said.
* * *
I had to drive Victoria to school the following morning before going into work, which made me a few minutes late to my meeting with Dean. He was sitting at one of the tables near the café in the lobby when I walked in. He flagged me down with a wave and I held up the one-minute signal and went to order myself some coffee. This conversation called for more caffeine.
Drink in hand a five minutes later, I walked over to the table and Dean motioned for me to sit down. He had a large cup of coffee himself, as well as a crumbly muffin that was making a mess of the table.
“Good morning,” I said as I took my seat.
“Morning.” He clapped his hands together to get some of the muffin crumbs off, then looked at me head on and smiled awkwardly. “Thank you for agreeing to see me. I realize the last time we spoke, things were… tense.”
“You were so mad, you couldn't seem to find the words to tell me how mad you were.” I laughed. “Which was honestly worse.”
“I was just shocked,” he said. “It’s not every day a father hears that his mentee and his daughter have been… romantically involved with one another. And for a month! Without me even knowing.” He shook his head, and for a moment, I worried he was beginning to get himself worked up again. But then he exhaled, and with it he seemed to let go of some of his frustration. “But you know, I’ve been thinking about it a lot and, well, Kat is an adult. Sometimes I forget, because she did most of her growing up abroad and I wasn’t around for much of it. I have a tendency to think of her as that little 17-year-old who was always getting in trouble and needing me to bail her out, but that’s not who she is anymore. She’s allowed to date whoever she wants, and I just have to be okay with that.”
“Right,” I said, speaking slowly. Cautiously. “But Dean, it’s also perfectly reasonable that you are upset. Just because Kat is allowed to date whoever she wants, doesn’t mean I am.”
He smirked. “What do you mean by that?”
“You have no idea how wracked with guilt I’ve been,” I explained. “I tried not to like her, I really,reallytried, because I care so much about our friendship. You’ve done so much for me, and the last thing I wanted to do was betray your trust. So—I appreciate that you’re trying to be mature about all of this, for Kat’s sake, and I think that’s great. She needs you now more than ever. But if you were still mad atme, well, I wouldn’t blame you.”
Dean took a beat. I sipped my coffee, then looked up at him and saw he was studying me. I waited for him to say something.
“Do you regret getting involved with my daughter?” he finally asked.
I paused.
“This feels like a trick question,” I said.
“Just answer honestly.”
I breathed in, then let it out, shaking my head definitively no. “I don’t regret anything,” I said. “I love Kat. I didn’t plan on falling in love with her, in fact, I did everything in my powernotto fall in love with her, and yet, it happened. So no, I don’t regret getting involved with her. Nor do I regret anything that has happened since.” As I said this last part, I paid close attention to Dean’s expression, trying to gauge how much he knew.