Escaping to Ireland

Vinessa

I had been punked by Liam. I hadn't decided how mad at him I was.

Eventually, after the first few awkward moments in the foyer, Liam leads us out back to his patio, where his cook had prepared dinner.

"I'll leave you two alone," he said, heading toward the door.

I wanted him to stay.

I grabbed his hand before he turned.

"There is too much food for just the two of us," I said, looking up at him, and I knew, just like when I asked him to stay and hold me for the night, that he would.

Liam took a seat next to me, and for the rest of the dinner, his hand was either in mine under the table or on my leg. He was taking every chance he got to have interaction with me. Even though it sometimes distracted me, it made me feel protective knowing that he was there for me.

As the dinner went on, it got better. My father looked rounder and had lost some hair since the last time I had seen him. And then it came to the point where I couldn't ask any longer.

"Why didn't you come to the funeral?"

My dad sat his fork down, giving me his full attention. "I didn't know she had passed away. The cancer in itself was a surprise."

"You didn't know about the cancer at all?" I asked him.

"I didn't. The only reason why I left..." he wasn't going to tell me.

I glared at him, my hand tightening on Liam's.

"She cheated on me with Matthew Roskuf."

"Benny's dad?" I asked, shocked. "No, she would have never done that."

"I didn't want to tell you it was easier to have you think that I was the horrible person. That your mother was the saint. I loved her so much, Vinessa. I would have stayed here through anything, but when I... I just couldn't. Asking you to pick her or me was horrible, and I regret having you do that. I should have stayed in Ireland, but I wanted to be as far away from here as I could. If I had known about the funeral, I would have come back for you."

I should have tried calling my dad myself, but I had left that up to Aunt Wanda. 

"And you are telling me the truth now why?" I asked him.

"If this relationship is going to work again, we need to be honest and open with one another." He was my dad, and he was sitting right there across from me. My only family member besides Aunt Wanda left.

Dessert had come out, and my dad must have been feeling comfortable enough. "I remarried," he said, showing me his wedding ring on his hand.

"I tried reaching out to you." Multiple times, I thought. "Her name is Jezebel, and she would love to meet you."

"I would like that. I would like that a lot."

My father had left when Liam turned to me. "What are you thinking?"

"I think you just met my father."

He looked over at me; he had wrapped his arm around me, bringing me into him. "You are taking this rather well. I was expecting shoe-throwing and tables being flipped over."

"Why would I throw my shoe at you?" I asked him, trying not to laugh.

He shrugged "that's what my mom used to do with my dad."

"I could see that...."

"I was nice to your dad. Don't you think you could be pleasant to my mother?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "My dad seemed to like you; your mother seems to hate me." Before he could respond, I stepped away and looked up at him. "The night of the Gala, you told me to ask you at the end of it what "The Jeremy Lesson" meant... So now I'm asking what did you mean you were giving me "The Jeremy Lesson."

Liam looked away, but I guided his chin to look at me; his eyes melted into mine as he said. "I was trying to show you like how Jeremy did with Wanda that it drove you crazy when I didn't come by, or stop to talk to you, that it made you insane to know I was in the room behind you and  I wasn't next to you. I wanted you to feel exactly like you have been making me feel for the last gazillion months I have known you."

And then his lips met mine before I could tell him that he was driving me just as insane, if not more.