“Close your mouth,” Nana whispered in my ear. “You’re about to start drooling, and no one finds that attractive, Paul.”
My teeth clacked together as I snapped my mouth shut.
“Not that we don’t love having you here,” Dad said, watching Mom and Vince dance, “but shouldn’t you guys be going to the club tonight for Helena’s show? You usually don’t come over for dinner on Wednesday.”
Even though I had no reason to be, I was still somewhat nervous. Of course my parents were going to agree to walk us down the aisle, however unorthodox it would be. I didn’t even think it was something we needed to make a big deal about. I was going to call them on the phone to ask them, but Vince had looked rather horrified at the idea, telling me that of course it was a big deal, that we had to do it face-to-face. Maybe I was nervous because he was nervous. Again, he had no reason to be, and I tried valiantly to reassure him of such. Mom and Dad loved him almost as much as they loved me. He was already theirs just like Sandy and Kori were. I didn’t think he quite believed me. But this was Matty and Larry Auster we were dealing with; they’d make sure he knew it before the night was over.
I shrugged. “Her show doesn’t start until nine. Darren and Kori can help her get ready tonight, and we’ll stop by when we’re done.”
Dad watched me curiously. “Everything all right?”
Uh-oh. He knew something was up. Which meant his dad alert was pinging in his head, probably leaping to some foregone conclusion that had no bearing on what we wanted to talk about tonight. It probably didn’t help that every time he looked at me like that, I felt like a little kid who’d done something wrong and was trying to keep him from finding out. This wasn’t going to end well. “Everything’s fine,” I said.
“Paul. Look at me.”
Ugh. I didn’t want to do that at all. But I wasn’t going to let him win. So I forced a smile on my face and met his gaze straight on. “Yeah, Dad?”
He stared at me.
I started to sweat.
“Matty,” he said without looking away. “Your son did something or is about to do something, and he’s trying to keep it from me like that time when he was thirteen and decided to drink a beer from the fridge when no one was home and we found him passed out in the backyard in only his underwear because he’s a lightweight.”
Goddammit.
“Paul did what?” Vince said.
“Nothing,” I said. “It wasn’t a thing. We don’t have to make this a thing.”
“Paul,” Mom said, coming to stand next to Dad, and now I really felt like a kid about to get into trouble. “What are you hiding from your father?”
“I’m not hiding anything,” I said.
“Oh,” Nana said, coming up beside me and leaning in close until her face was inches from my own. “He’s doing that thing where he bites his lip and sweats on his neck. He’s hiding something.”
Vince leaned in too. “Yeah, I see it. What are you hiding, Paul?”
I glared at him.
He smiled at me.
I glared harder.
His eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, that’s right. Shit, I’m hiding something too—I mean, we’re not hiding anything.”
“Language,” Dad chided gently. “And now you’re both hiding something?”
“Absolutely not,” I said, standing up and pushing
past them. I needed to get away from their knowing gazes. “It’s nothing. Mom, this lasagna smells delicious. I see there’s salad. I won’t be having any of that because I’ve decided to just accept that this is how I’ll look at the wedding. There had better be garlic bread.”
“There’s nothing wrong with how you look,” Mom said, heading back toward the oven. I felt Dad staring at me, but I resolutely ignored him. “Vince, tell Paul there’s nothing wrong with the way he looks.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the way you look,” Vince said dutifully.
“Thanks. That was heartfelt, all of you.”
“I’m onto you,” Dad said, pointing two fingers at his eyes, then directing them at me. “You think you can trick dear old Dad? Oh, son. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”