Always (Bold As Love 4)

“You better be there, Emily.”

“Fine.” I hang up and throw my phone onto my bed. This is ridiculous. Why tonight? Why not tomorrow? Stomping, I snatch my phone off the bed and call Jake.

“Hey, Sweetness. What's up?”

“Dad! He wants me to eat dinner with him tonight. Tonight! I won't be over until later.”

“Alright. No problem. I'll just see you then.”

“Yeah,” I say flatly.

“I love you.”

“Love you too,” I gloom.

Ugh! Part of me just wants to skip dinner, but I can't stand the image of my dad sitting at a table my himself, a glass of Dr. Pepper already waiting for me. It wouldn't be right to stand my own father up. With a long, drawn out sigh, I leave for the only Carrabba's he could be talking about. The one in Wilmington, a whole forty minutes away. By the time I get to Jake's, 110 minutes will pass at the minimum. 6,600 seconds. That sounds completely depressing when I get down to the nitty gritty second.

And depressed is exactly how I feel when I reach my destination. Dad texted me to let me know that I just had to inform the hostess who I was and she would lead me to the table.

“Name?” the short blonde asks without even looking up at me.

“Johnson.”

“Right this way,” she finally looks up at me with a plastered, fake smile. Someone doesn't want to be here tonight. That makes two of us. I catch sight of Dad and skid to a stop. What the hell? Who are those people? A woman about my dad's age is sitting beside him, laughing with a hand on his arm. She's wearing bright red lipstick and a shirt with pastel flowers all over it. Sitting to my dad's left are two guys, in their twenties, I'd say. They resemble the woman as they have the same dark hair and long noses.

Dad looks at me and gives me one weak ass smile. Now that he's seen me, I have no choice but to go over and sit between one of the guys and this woman.

“Hi, Daddy,” I say sweetly, completely bullshitting it. I can't be bombarded like this!

“Hey, honey. I want you to meet Cherish and her sons, Blake and Chris.”

“Nice to meet y'all,” I greet, taking my seat.

My eyes zoom in on this Cherish woman and how her hand is over Dad's on the table. Oh, no. He's dating this woman! He dragged me away from Jake so I could meet his girlfriend. What about that screams that it can't wait until tomorrow?

“It's so good to finally meet you,” Cherish speaks in an almost squeaky voice. “Your father has told me so many things about you.”

At that, I glare at him. It's going to be tough to tamper down on the bitch rising within and be polite. I want to say, “I wish I could say the same about you, but I didn't even know you existed before today.” Instead, I tell her, “It's great to meet you too.”

As expected, a Dr. Pepper was waiting for me. I grab my glass and take a sip.

“You're married? How old are you?” one of the boys asks like I'm twelve. I can't remember which is which.

“I'm nineteen and engaged. How old are you?” I counter and okay, I don't turn nineteen for a few more months, but this ass doesn't know that.

“Twenty-three.”

With a look to my dad, he decides it's time to intervene. “She's not getting married any time soon, though.”

Oh, and that just sounds so much better. Thanks for the support, Dad. “We're waiting for our life to settle down a bit before we try to plan a wedding. My fiancé is going to be playing in the NHL. Between that and trying to move, go to school, and take care of his nine year old brother, we're a little busy at the moment.”

Mentioning hockey caught their attention. “Really? That's awesome.” Thing 2 says. He's the one closer to me.

“Damn. That's great,” Thing 1 whistles.

I redirect my attention to the woman. “How long have you two been dating?”

Cherish looks at my dad likes it's a trick question. “About five months,” she squeaks.