Daddy Issues

83 - Old room

'Oh, look, this is one of my favorite photos of him. He was saying he wanted to be a clown for Halloween for months, but then Halloween finally came around and he hated it. Isn't he adorable?'

'Awww.'

I take the photo album from Nathalie and smile at the sad little clown staring up at me from the picture. Dan makes a sound that's somewhere between embarrassment and resignation from across the room.

We made it through dinner. After all the heavy stuff, we fortunately moved on to lighter topics. Though I'm sure that Nathalie and Bill will still need some time to get used to the idea of us, Dan's declaration of love made an impression and they focused more on getting to know me.

They're sweet. They remind me of Mel's parents a little. They're the kind of parents everyone should have. Caring, involved, maybe a little annoying sometimes. They clearly love Dan very much and he clearly loves them back.

After dinner, they insisted we stay for another glass of wine and Nathalie pulled out the photo albums, excited to show off her pride and joy.

'You were such a cute kid, Dan,' I tell him.

'I'm still cute.'

'Oh, of course,' I say, rolling my eyes as I grin at him.

'Save that for when you're alone, please,' Bill says.

'Okay, I should show you one of the books from when he was a teenager now,' Nathalie says, taking the photo album back. 'He had the worst haircuts.'

'No, mom, that's enough photo albums for one day,' Dan says, blocking the way to the cabinet where all the albums are stored with his long leg. Nathalie huffs in annoyance and smacks his leg out of the way with the album she's holding.

'No, I want to see more!' I call out.

'See!' Nathalie exclaims triumphantly.

'Why don't I show you my old room,' Dan says, getting up from his chair to offer me his hand. 'I mean, Mom turned it into a storage room as soon as I left home because she couldn't wait to be rid of me-'

'Now, that is so far from the truth-'

'Nat, he's messing with you.'

I laugh at the look of outrage on Nathalie's face and Bill's little shake of disapproval that he gives with a smile as I take Dan's hand and let him pull me up from the couch. All in all, this evening went better than I could have hoped for. Now that I've had a few glasses of wine, I'm actually kind of having fun with Dan's parents. But I'm thankful for a little break to let my guard down for a moment so I'm happy to follow Dan to his old room. And I'm curious to see it, of course.

'I'd love to see your room.'

I blush a little when Dan plants a short kiss on my fingers before pulling me out of the living room with him.

'Idiot,' I giggle when we're out of earshot and Dan's ushering me up the stairs. But his face makes me happy when I look at him. He's a lot more relaxed too now. Clearly happy about the way the evening's going.

He guides me to one of the doors on the second floor and opens it with a flourish. When he switches on the light, I can see that the room has indeed been turned into something of a storage room, boxes being stacked on one side of the room. But I can still see traces of a young Dan here and there. Mostly on one wall that's still covered with all kinds of stickers and band posters.

'Clearly, you've always had a nose for decorating,' I say, looking at the messy collection, leaving almost none of the dark green wallpaper underneath it exposed.