“Honey. We just don’t want you to get hurt,” his mom said quietly, trying to calm them both down.
“Llew would never hurt me. Ever. He’s never hurt anyone.”
“You don’t know that,” his father barked. “He’s only been in town a few weeks.”
“So what? I do know him, and I believe him.”
“Son, I swear you’re bout as sharp as a cue ball sometimes,” his father said, shaking his head sadly.
Shane got up, throwing his napkin down on the table. He hated when his father insinuated that he wasn’t intelligent or knowledgeable. It drove him crazy. He never should’ve listened to him about not going to college. Now he had this fucked up complex anytime someone called him stupid; corrected a word he misused, or figured something out before he could, making him feel like he was just some hick contractor.
“Shane honey, don’t go. Sit down. Big Daddy don’t mean nothing by that.”
His father sat there looking unfazed. “Let him go Meredith. If all he knows to do is tuck tail and bolt, then go on; cover your balls, and skirt on out of here. Or, if this man’s so important to you already, then sit your sensitive ass down and defend him.”
Shane stood there seething, looking down at his father. His father stood, slowly coming to his full six foot two height. Although he was almost sixty, he was still strong and well-built from his years of hard physical work. His skin was sun-worn and he had more than a few wrinkles from years of yelling and barking orders, but he was still handsome and the older ladies of their town often flirted with him.
“Stop standing over me, boy. Sit. Down,” his father said through clenched teeth. “And apologize to your mother for disrespecting her at her own dinner table.”
Shane took a couple of deep breaths and pushed his chair back. He walked over to his mother’s side of the table and lightly kissed her cheek, taking her small hand in his. “Momma I apologize for raising my voice. I didn’t mean to ruin dinner.”
She patted his hand where it held hers. “Nonsense. It’s okay, darlin’. Go on now and sit back at your plate, and let’s have an easy conversation about this new fella. We want to hear all about him. Don’t we, Big Daddy?” His mom glared across the table at his father and that was his cue to sit down and stop his part in ruining dinner as well. He may have been the head of the house but they both new who the real boss was, so unless his father wanted to be sleeping in the dog house he knew to tone it down and not run her only son off.
His dad grunted and picked his fork back up. They ate the rest of their dinner while his mom talked about what she looked forward to on their latest cruise, coming up next week. His father had bought a new forty-five foot sailing yacht to explore the east coast. It was a dream they’d had since they were newlyweds, and his mom beamed when she talked about it. They were taking the yacht down to Florida at the end of the week. Shane remembered all the fishing trips he took with his father as a kid, and how he talked and laughed about building a boat big enough to live on. His father’s dreams had come true for him and his spouse, why didn’t he want the same for his son?
Shane waited until Queen brought out their desert. He told their long-time maid and cook how wonderful everything was, and asked her a few questions about her family before letting her go back to the kitchen. Queen was like a grandmother to him. His mother’s mom had lived in Wisconsin his whole life, he had only seen her three times, and his father’s parents passed when he was still in grade school.
“Big Daddy. Llewellyn Gardner is a fine man. He’s accepted every challenge life threw at him, got back up, and kept fighting. You taught me to respect men like that.” His father nodded his head as Shane told them about what happened to Llew at such a young age. His mother was almost in tears by the time he finished. He hoped Llew wouldn’t mind him telling his parents his story, but he wouldn’t let those slack-mouth nosy hounds of Henderson taint Llew’s image, not for his parents. They needed to know why Shane was already in love with him.
“He’s a brilliant architect. He lost his scholarships when he went to prison but he didn’t let that stop him from continuing to teach himself for eight years. That’s more education than architects have that get to earn a degree.” Shane left out the information on how Llew had access to all the latest technology. His parents didn’t need to know about Ace and Big Waldo. “Hell, yesterday the architect kept coming back to Llew to amend the blueprints, saving us from having to stall for production of new prints.”