“I was telling him on the ride over how much I love food.”
Duh. That was easy. I was bad at this. Maybe we should have discussed exactly when we planned on telling them this weekend.
Cherise stood and patted my shoulder. Mom, Dad, and Will were ahead of us, walking toward the house. “Smooth move.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to look at her because I didn’t trust what I might say if I did.
“Sure you don’t.”
We had cold sandwiches and my mom’s homemade potato salad, taking it to eat at the table outside, under the shade of the patio cover.
I relaxed a bit as well. Cherise and I nitpicked at each other, and Mom and Dad were a live reminder of what it meant to love someone completely.
When “I Want to Be Your Man” by Zapp & Roger came on, Dad tugged her to her feet, and the two of them started dancing right there. Dad sang to her in his shitty singing voice, but she loved it, you could tell. She dropped her head back and laughed, before he spun her and pulled her back to him.
“Dad played this song for Mom when they were younger. He swears it’s how he got her to fall in love with him,” I told Will.
“I got skills,” Dad told us. “I know a good thing when I see it, and I wasn’t letting this one go. Didn’t have shit to offer her back then but a promise that one day I would. I worked every day to make that happen.”
Mom smiled at him. “All I needed was you.”
My chest tightened. My fingers shook with the urge to reach over and grab Will’s hand. As if he could read my thoughts, he glanced my way and winked.
We finished eating and cleaned up our mess.
“Why don’t you show Will to his room,” Mom said. “Then we can get ready to go to the beach.”
I nodded, thankful for the chance to be just us. We grabbed our bags and went upstairs. Mom and Dad’s room was downstairs. The upstairs was massive, with two large rooms toward the back, one mine and the other Cherise’s. The other two were along the side, so they looked out with the water to the left or right instead of facing it like our rooms did.
“That’s my room,” I said, pointing. “That’s Cherise’s. You can have the one on the other side of mine.” He agreed and looked toward the stairs before grabbing my hand and tugging me into his room. “What are you doing? Cherise might come up.”
“I’m pretty sure Cherise knows,” he replied, and yeah, I thought she did too. Will pulled me close. “I love your family. I hope…I hope it all works out.”
Like always, he turned my heart to mush. “It will. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Not something you can promise. Your dad is big on family. I’ve been lying to him.”
“Yeah, but he also wants me to be happy, and you…make me happy. I didn’t think I’d ever have this.”
“You’re stuck with me now.” He kissed me. “I hope we have stories like that…like your parents. Do you think we can wait until tomorrow to tell them? I just…want this day to go well.”
“Will, they won’t be unfair.” That part I knew. Dad didn’t make rash decisions, and even if he was upset with Will, he wouldn’t kick him out or anything. He would think on it, and then make the decision later about what he thought was best. “But yeah, we can wait until tomorrow.”
We grabbed towels and such before heading down to the beach. My family was already there, setting up the umbrellas and chairs. We rushed over to help. When we were done, Cherise said, “You two come swimming with me.”
I nodded, and we followed her out. We got about up to midthigh when Will stopped. “Sorry to be a party pooper, but this is it for me.”
“You don’t like the ocean?” I asked.
“Oh, no. I love the ocean. It’s beautiful, and it’s one of my favorite places to come. But I also know how powerful it is and don’t want to drown.”
“Aw, Jameson will protect you. He’s a strong swimmer,” Cherise said.
“Yeah, I’ll protect you,” I replied. “Wait. Goddamn it, CC!”
“I knew it!” she shrieked, then lowered her voice. “Holy fuck, how did this happen? You’re really getting it on with Dad’s PA?”
I rolled my eyes. “Great way to say it,” I replied just as Will, of course, laughed.
“Oh my God. You’re great,” he told her.
“Well, yeah, obviously,” she replied.
“Um, seriously, you two?” I knew they would get along. It didn’t come as a surprise. Cherise had always been much more outgoing than me.
“Yes. You know me, and apparently you know him too. Go Jameson, by the way.”