He paused to take a sip of his beer.To think of what to say next,I assumed. I wasn’t sure if he had memorized all of this ahead of time, or if he was making it up on the fly.
“The woman I saw in that chair, with a needle stuck in her arm, wasn’t the same woman I hated,” he said in a vulnerable voice. “That person was gone. The woman I saw was small, and weak, and afraid.”
Kai shrugged his shoulders. “Now we’re mending the relationship. Or at least, we’re trying to. We play cards while she gets her treatments every Thursday. It’s actually kind of nice.”
“That’s real big of you, son,” Dad said. “Holding a grudge does nothing but poison the soul. I’m proud that my daughter is dating someone who can forgive.”
Mom quickly changed the subject and asked Kai about his job in construction, and he smoothly answered her questions. I breathed a sigh of relief as we never delved back into heavy subjects again.
We had coffee and dessert, and then Kai and I were saying our goodbyes. Our cover story was that we were going out to see a movie—some horror film about a computerized doll that reminded me of an AI version of Chucky from theChild’s Playmovies. On the way out, while dad was talking to Kai about baseball, my mom pulled me aside.
“There’s something you need to know,” she whispered. “About Kai.”
I tried to put on my best poker face. Did she know that Kai did sex work? That seemed unlikely—and the mere thought ofhowmy mom would know that made me want to gag. Or maybe she recognized him from real life, and knew he didn’t work in construction.
“His pound cake…” she said with grave severity. “He didn’t make it himself. It’sstore bought.”
I gasped. “No.”
She nodded. “I recognize the Walmart bakery section when I see it. I just thought you should know.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“It’s a good thing he’s beautiful,” Mom said, glancing at him over in the doorway and sighing wistfully. “He could be a terrible cook and I would still beg him to give me redheaded grandchildren.”
“Mom!”
She kissed me on the cheek. “You two have fun tonight. But nottoomuch fun.”
Oh, Mom, if only you knew.
34
Kai
Honestly, as far as meeting the parents went, tonight wasn’t so bad. I’d definitely had more awkward dinners before with people whodidn’twant me dating their daughter. It probably helped that I was allowed to make up everything about myself tonight.
Well. Almost everything.
“You did an amazing job tonight,” Ginny said as we drove back to her place. “Great backstory. You even had me believing you worked in construction.”
“What can I say? I’m a good actor, whether there’s a camera pointed at me or not. But my real secret is that my brother works in construction. I’ve heard him talk about it so much that I knew I would be able to pass myself.”
“And that cancer story…” She shook her head. “That wasgood. At first I was wondering why you would go to such a dark place, but when I realized it shut down my mom’s questions? I realized you knew exactly what you were doing.”
“Thanks.”
Ginny was bubbly all the way home. I could see why, thinking that her parents would leave her alone now. After the interrogation I got from them—and from her mom, especially—I sympathized with her plight a little bit more.
But when we got to her apartment, and Ginny threw herself into my arms and kissed me, I had to push her away. “Mind if I get a drink first?” I asked. “I need a little more time to get in the mood.”
I was afraid of how she would take that. Some women assumed that men were always ready for sex at the drop of a hat. For me, that wasusuallytrue. But tonight I was still feeling out of it. And I knew that would make for a bad show when we got in front of the camera.
“Of course,” she said, letting her hand linger on my cheek for a second. “It’s not related to the dinner, is it?”
“I swear it’s not,” I said with a smile. “Just give me a few minutes to collect myself for our evening together.”
“I know something that will work better than a drink.” She took my hand and led me into the bedroom.