“Something wrong, buddy?” Jake asked, with a worried look.
“No, nothing’s wrong, it’s just…” I trailed off, trying to think of how to tell them I wasn’t interested anymore. “I met someone over the holiday.”
“Ah, I see,” Jake nodded. “Well, that’s great! Bring her along and we’ll finally have a foursome!”
“I don’t know that she would be into that,” I nodded, bending down to scoop another shovelful of snow so that I could avoid having to look at either of them.
“Are you sure, Blake?” Kathy asked, as she moved closer and unzipped her jacket enough to show me she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it. “Why don’t you ask her?”
“Um, I’m not sure we know each other well enough to go down that road yet,” I said, looking away uncomfortably. I was pissed at myself for not just saying no, but there was something about keeping my options open that appealed to me. I wasn’t ready to close the door.
“Okay, well, when you find out, you know where we live,” Kathy said, as she patted my butt before turning and walking away.
“Remember, every answer is a no if you never ask!” Jake called, as he followed his wife back to the house.
I finished up the shoveling and headed back inside to find Nina sitting at the table staring at her stone cold breakfast. I shook my head as I shed my winter gear and waited for her to say something.
“Dad, this stuff is cold,” she said, looking at her plate and up at me.
“I know, I fixed breakfast an hour ago, but you decided to sleep rather than eat,” I said, pouring myself another cup of coffee. “Put it in the microwave and warm it up.”
“That’s disgusting!” she protested.
“Then you can make yourself a substitute breakfast,” I said, as I searched the counter for my phone. I found it under a stack of unopened mail.
“Dad, that’s so mean!” she cried.
“Yep, that’s me. Mean dad of the year,” I said, as I took my phone and my coffee cup out into the living room. “Buck up, buttercup! I’ll take you to lunch if you get ready quickly!”
Nina ran out of the kitchen and down the hall as soon as the words left my mouth. I shook my head as I checked the screen of my phone and found a message from Emily, “Had a great time last night! Do it again soon?”
I quickly typed, “Won’t be soon enough!” and hit Send. I waited, but when there was no immediate reply, I assumed she was busy and went to get ready to take Nina to lunch.
We headed to Nina’s favorite hamburger joint near the mall for lunch. When the server brought our burgers, Nina stuffed several fries in her mouth and then bit into the burger as if she were starving.
“You know, if you’d get up at a decent hour, you could have breakfast with me, and then you wouldn’t need to eat like a wild animal,” I commented, as she wiped catsup from her chin.
“Dad, don’t you know you’re not supposed to criticize the way your child eats,” she said, after she’d chewed and swallowed. “It’s not good for my self-esteem or my body image.”
“What in the hell?” I said, as I stared at my daughter. “Where on earth did you get that bullshit from?”
“Dad!” Nina protested. “We’re in public! Watch your language!”
“I never thought I’d see the day that I’d be lectured by my own daughter,” I chuckled, as I bit into my burger and chewed thoughtfully. Nina smirked at me as she polished off her meal, and then leaned over to grab a few of my fries off my plate.
“So, how're things with Ms. Fowler?” she asked with a knowing grin.
“Fine,” I said, trying to cut off the conversation. I had no idea where things were headed with Emily, but I knew where I wanted them to head and that talking about it with my daughter wasn’t yet in the cards.
“Good date last night?” she pressed.
“Yep, it was nice,” I nodded. “Dinner was really good.”
“Uh huh,” Nina smirked. “You go back to her place for dessert?”
“Nina Marie Gaston, that is enough from you,” I warned.