Capturing You

Chapter 21: Melt

     I said yes. That night, when we walked back inside the farmhouse, we'd danced around the subject a bit over the dinner table sharing another one of my Aunt Martha's delicious feasts. I had let Joe share the news, since he was the one who asked, and everyone rejoiced.

    "We're boyfriend and girlfriend now," he said.

My dad — the one who I thought would bounce off the walls from the news — gave us a calm, warm smile and simply said, "Good. You'd better be."

      After dinner, as I was helping clean up dishes and whatnot, I saw in the corner of my eye that my dad had pushed Joe aside. Oh, to hear what they were saying to each other would have been the perfect antidote to my nerves, but I had to ward off that tendency to want to control everything. I was dating Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals now — I said goodbye to my hands on the strings the moment I decided to kiss him at the gala. From afar, I'd watched them share a quick conversation, and my dad giving Joe pats on the back before breaking away. I retreated my eyes back to what I'd been doing. When Joe came back to me, I finished rinsing off the last dish and loading them in the dishwasher before looking up at him. I smiled.

"That wasn't so bad, huh?" I asked him.

"No, not at all. I think it went really well, actually." He glanced at his watch: it was 8:30 p.m.

"I'm sorry we kept you so late. Gonna make it back to your hotel okay?" I asked, leaning back against the counter.

"Actually, I didn't have time to book one or check into one before I came here to see you," he said, chuckling.

My brows lifted in surprise. "Oh."

     My Uncle Hank butted into our conversation. "It's gonna be too dark out there for you to try to find your way to a hotel. GPS gets spotty when you're trying to get outta the farm. Why don't you stay here for the night?" He gave me a quick wink.

     I cleared my throat. "Oh, yeah, I mean... if Uncle Hank says it's okay, I obviously don't have a problem with it. If you want to stay here."

Joe smiled. "Yeah, that would be great." He shook my uncle's hand. "Thank you, sir."

     "Don't mention it. You're Louisiana's son after all. I'm sure you could knock on anyone's door and get a free meal and a place to sleep for the rest'a your life," Uncle Hank said with a snicker.

     I saw my dad waiting at the entryway of the house to say his goodbye. He was lingering on purpose, probably to hear the end of that conversation between the three of us. Was it his worst nightmare to hear that a boy would be sleeping in the same room as his little girl? Did it soften the blow, or make it worse, that the boy was an NFL superstar?

I looked at Joe. "Hunter'll help you bring your stuff up if you want. I'm gonna go say goodnight to my dad."

     He nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead before he and Hunter head out toward the back door.
I gave my dad an awkward smile as I walked toward him. We never really had the "birds and the bees" conversation all too proper; the most I'd gotten from him was a noogie to the head and a gruff, "You're not gonna date until you're 60 years old." Clearly, it didn't pan out that way.

"Hi, dad," I said, sighing.

     "Oh, c'mere, you sap." He pulled me into an overbearing hug as per usual and yet for once I actually sought comfort in his familiar presence, needing guidance in this scary moment of my life. I'd never had a boyfriend before... and of course, my first one had to have all these stakes.

I closed my eyes and hugged him back, taking another deep breath. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"Are you kidding me? Avery, you're a big girl. You don't have to ask for my permission."