When I Taste Tequila [h.s] ✓

5. Then

Texas, May 2018

Skye's childhood home was on the smaller side, but more quaint than lacking. Sweat had pooled under my shirt at my lower back. Damn the Texas heat striking again. That and my nerves were to blame.

Meeting the parents of the girl you are in love with was about as easy as it sounded. The jitters I was feeling were even rubbing off on Skye on the drive to her small town. She had to reach over and sit a calming hand on my knee to get my legs to stop bouncing.

When I shook her father's hand and told him it was nice to meet him, he had nodded his head and looked me up and down while switching the wooden toothpick to the other side of his mouth to chew on all the while I fidgeted. His wife had nudged him and he'd finally spoken a simple "You too."

I wasn't getting the best vibes from her father, but her mother was so kind and her warm smile reminded me a lot of my girl's. She favored her mother. Same heart shaped face. Same long brown hair. But her hazel eyes I lost myself in, the exact replica of them were glaring at me from the head of the dinner table in her father's head.

"The chicken was wonderful, Mrs. Carter," I complimented.

"Please, call me Abigail, Harry," she sweetly said as she rose and started gathering our plates to take to the sink before any of us could even think to take them ourselves.

"You head back to London soon, is that right?" Her father asked with little interest.

"Daddy," Skye whined, giving him a look. "Be nice."

"I am. Hell, I'm asking the boy about his life, ain't I?"

I squeezed Skye's knee under the table to let her know I appreciated her trying to stick up for me. "Yes, sir. The Saturday after finals."

"What about you and Skye then?" He continued to dig.

My mouth was dry and I glanced to Skye, before looking back to her father. We hadn't discussed what happened then because we weren't discussing my move at all. If we didn't mention it, it wasn't happening. "We're going to figure that out. I love her."

"Love?" he said in disbelief. "What do you know about love?"

"Jack." Skye's mother cut in in a disapproving tone.

"Nothing until I met your daughter." I spoke up. That quieted her father, but I wasn't sure it was in a good way. "If you'll excuse me." I rose to my feet and made my way towards the loo. I needed a moment to myself.

Once in the bathroom, I splashed my face with water, taking a few deep breaths. This wasn't going as well as I had hoped and I wasn't sure where to go from here. Not only that, but Jack now had me slightly worried about what would become of Skye and I after I flew back home. Could we honestly work with over five thousand miles between us? During our final and possibly most stressful year of uni on top of that? Doubts were starting to prickle in my mind and I hated the feeling.

I headed out of the bathroom, starting back towards the kitchen but freeze in the hallway when I hear Skye's tearfully yelling.

"I love him!"

"Where the hell is love going to get you? Baby girl, I want the best for you, and this just ain't it," I heard her father respond. "You need more than love. An accounting major with tattoos covering his body like that? He doesn't look like the kind of person you should be hanging around. He looks like nothing but trouble."

I wished that the weather had been cool enough to wear long sleeves to cover my arms now hearing the trouble he was giving Skye over it.

"Find a future doctor, a lawyer. Someone who's going to give you things you've never had. This is your life you're building and you deserve more than this." Her father's words were like a stab in my gut.