“That’s too bad,” Ronnie sympathized.
“Yeah, but it taught me that I should probably read all the directions next time.”
“Did you crash it?”
“No, it ran out of gas.” He glanced at her. “Do you want to try?”
“I’d better not,” Ronnie demurred. “I’m not good at things like that.”
“It’s not too hard,” Tom assured her. “This is one of the beginner planes. It’s supposed to be idiot-proof. Of course, the last one was, too, so what does that tell you?”
“That maybe you should have read the directions?”
“Right,” he said. There was something about the way he said it that made him sound just like Will.
“Did you and Susan talk about the wedding?” he asked.
Ronnie shook her head. “No. Will mentioned something about it, though.”
“I had to spend two hours today at the florist’s looking at flower arrangements. Have you ever spent two hours looking at flower arrangements?”
“No.”
“Consider yourself lucky.”
Ronnie giggled, relieved to be out here with him. Just then Will came up behind her, freshly showered and dressed neatly in a polo shirt and shorts. Both name brand, but she supposed she should have expected that.
“You’ll have to forgive my dad. He sometimes forgets he’s an adult,” Will quipped.
“At least I’m honest. And I didn’t see you racing home to help.”
“I had a volleyball game.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that was the reason. And I gotta tell you, Ronnie here is a whole lot prettier than you let on.”
Though Ronnie smiled with pleasure, Will cringed. “Dad…”
“It’s true,” Tom added quickly. “Don’t be embarrassed.” After making sure the plane was flying straight again, he glanced at Ronnie. “He gets embarrassed a lot. He used to be the shyest kid in the world. He couldn’t even sit near a pretty girl without his cheeks turning bright red.”
Will, meanwhile, was shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you’re saying this, Dad. Right in front of her.”
“What’s the problem?” Tom looked at Ronnie. “Does that bother you?”
“Not at all.”
“See?” He tapped Will’s chest, as if he’d proved his point. “She doesn’t care.”
“Thanks for that.” He grimaced.
“What are dads for? Hey, you want to give this thing a whirl?”
“I really can’t. I’m supposed to bring Ronnie home so we can have dinner.”
“Listen to me. Even if they serve you eggplant on rutabaga with tofu, I want you to eat what they put in front of you and then make sure you compliment them on the meal,” Tom admonished.
“It’ll be probably just be pasta,” Ronnie said, grinning.
“Really?” Tom seemed disappointed. “He’ll eat that.”
“What? You don’t want me to eat?”
“It’s always good to experience new things. How’d it go at the shop today?”
“That’s what I needed to talk to you about. Jay said there’s a problem with the computer or the software-everything keeps double printing.”
“Just at the flagship or everywhere?”
“I don’t know.”
Tom sighed. “I suppose I’d better check it out, then. Assuming, of course, I can land this thing. And you two have a good time, okay?”
A few minutes later, after getting into the truck, Will jingled his keys before starting his engine.
“Sorry about all that. My dad sometimes says the craziest things.”
“Don’t be sorry. I like him.”
“And I wasn’t that shy, by the way. My cheeks never turned bright red.”
“Of course they didn’t.”
“I’m serious. I was always smooth.”
“I’m sure you were,” she said, reaching over to pat his knee. “But listen. About tonight. My family has this weird tradition.”
“You’re lying!” Will shouted. “You’ve been lying all night and I’m sick and tired of it.”
“Don’t even go there!” Ronnie shouted back. “You’re the one who’s lying!”
The dishes from dinner had long ago been cleared-Dad had served spaghetti and marinara sauce, as predicted, with Will making sure to clean his plate-and they were now sitting at the kitchen table holding playing cards to their foreheads in a game of liar’s poker. Will was holding an eight of hearts, Steve a three of hearts, and Jonah a nine of spades. Piles of change were stacked in front of each of them, and the pot in the middle overflowed with nickels and dimes.
“You’re both lying,” Jonah added. “Neither of you knows how to tell the truth.”
Will offered Jonah his game face and reached into his pile of change. “A quarter says you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her dad started shaking his head. “Bad move, young man. It’s over. I’m going to have to raise you fifty cents.”
“I’ll see that!” Ronnie cried. Both Jonah and Will immediately followed suit.
They paused, all of them eying one another before slapping their cards down on the table. Ronnie, seeing that she’d been holding an eight, surmised that they’d all lost to Jonah. Again.
“You’re all liars!” he said. His winnings, she noticed, were twice as much as anyone else’s, and as she watched her brother drag the change pile toward him, she observed that at least to this point, the evening had gone pretty well. She hadn’t known what to expect when she’d brought Will over, since it was the first time she’d ever brought a boy to meet her father. Would he try to give them space by hiding out in the kitchen? Would he try to become buddies with Will? Would he do or say something that embarrassed her? On the drive to her house, she’d already begun thinking of escape plans she could use as soon as they finished dinner.
As soon as they stepped inside, however, she had a good feeling. For starters, the house was picked up, Jonah was obviously under orders not to cling to their sides or question Will like a prosecutor, and her dad met Will with a simple handshake and an easygoing, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Will was on his best behavior, of course, answering questions with “Yes, sir” and “No, sir,” which struck her as endearing in a southern kind of way. The dinner conversation was easy; her dad asked some questions about the work Will did at the garage and at the aquarium, and Jonah went so far as to put his napkin in his lap. Best of all, her father didn’t say anything embarrassing, and though he brought up the fact that he used to teach at Juilliard, he didn’t volunteer that he’d been her teacher or that she’d once played at Carnegie Hall or that they’d written songs together, nor had he mentioned the fact that until a few days ago, he and Ronnie had been completely estranged. When Jonah asked for cookies after he’d finished, both Ronnie and her dad burst out laughing, making Will wonder what was so funny. Together, the four of them pitched in to clean up the table, and when Jonah suggested that they play liar’s poker, Will had agreed enthusiastically.
As for Will, he was just the kind of guy her mom wanted Ronnie to date: polite, respectful, intelligent, and best of all, sans tattoos… It might have been nice to have her mom there, if only to assure her that her daughter hadn’t gone completely off the deep end. On the other hand, her mom probably would have been so excited about the whole thing that she would have either tried to adopt Will on the spot or gushed to Ronnie a million times after he was gone about what a nice young man he was, which only would have made Ronnie want to end the whole thing before her mom got too carried away. Her dad would do none of those things-he seemed to trust Ronnie’s judgment and was content to let her make her own decisions without inserting his own opinions.
Which was really weird, considering he was only just starting to get to know her again, and also kind of sad at the same time, because she was beginning to think she’d made a big mistake by avoiding him for the past three years. It might have been nice to talk to him when her mom was driving her crazy.