Love & Other Disasters(88)

“So you admit she’s your girlfriend, then,” Julie said, a satisfied smirk on her face.

“I hate you,” London said.

“My, how I have missed you two squabbling every second of the day,” their mom said, lifting a wineglass to her mouth. Which was curved up in a smile.

London’s own mouth couldn’t help but mirror hers. They had missed it, too.

Even if they had no idea if Dahlia Woodson was actually their girlfriend or not.

God, they wanted to talk to her. They wanted to kiss her, and talk about all the things they should have talked about before she left.

But first, selfishly, they wanted to go over their menu with her, for tomorrow. London had already gone over it in depth with Sai and Tanner and Audra; they knew they had done all they could at this point. But talking with Dahlia about food calmed their nerves. She would assure them they had made the right choices, that they could do this, that they’d be better than Lizzie, that—

“Okay, listen. I’ve tried to keep my mouth shut here, but I have a question now.”

London’s smile fell, whisked away by the gale force wind that was their dad, lumbering forward to rest his elbows on the white tablecloth.

Since their family had arrived at LAX that morning, London and their father had barely exchanged ten words. Tom Parker had simply sulked into the background all day, as moody and detached as a teenager. It felt . . . weird, and not like their dad, and there had been an underlying tension in their mother’s face all day that London was trying to ignore. Their sisters had helped. Julie, Sara, and Jackie had been babbling all day, clearly overcompensating for whatever the hell was happening with their family, and London had gone with it. The note in London’s back pocket had been helping, too, a silent comfort.

They just had to get through the finale, they told themself. And then they would summon the mental capacity to deal with whatever this Parker family cloud was.

But Tom Parker had been drinking tonight. Heavily. And apparently, he was ready for the thunder now.

“All right, Dad.” London sighed, leaning back in their chair. “Let’s do this.”

His dad’s eyes lasered onto theirs.

“Are you a lesbian now, or something?”

“Dad,” Julie said, but their dad held up a dismissive hand, silencing her.

London’s jaw clenched, but they didn’t move.

“I’m pansexual, Dad, like I told you in college. And—”

“You just always brought home boys, in high school,” their dad continued, waving another hand as he interrupted them. “But now, apparently you have a girlfriend.”

London had brought home exactly two boys in high school. One, they dated for five months. The other lasted two weeks.

London never knew their father had become so attached.

“I dated other people in college, Dad.” London took a sip of their water, in an attempt to show that they were calm and collected. “I just didn’t bring them home to meet you. I wonder why.”

London’s mother cleared her throat. London glanced at her, their heart dropping at the tortured look on her face as she folded and refolded the napkin in her lap.

“Tom,” she said, in a lethally quiet way.

But her husband ignored her.

“So you and this Dahlia person,” London’s dad said now. “You’re dating.”

“I . . .” London’s face flushed. I’d love to know the answer to that question, Dad. I’ll let you know if I figure it out.

But London’s dad didn’t seem too concerned with the actual answer here; he barreled on over London’s hesitation.

“And you’re comfortable calling her your girlfriend. But what, pray tell, does Dahlia call you?”

London’s heart started to thump, insistent, pounding against their rib cage.

“What do you mean?”

“If you’re not Dahlia’s girlfriend? Are you her partner ?”

“Dad, stop it,” Julie said.

London glanced over and, with horror, saw that Julie was crying.

“Hey.” They took her hand and squeezed. “It’s okay, Jules.”

Even though it wasn’t.

They looked back at their dad.

“I don’t fucking know, Dad. Okay?” Out of the corner of their eye, they saw their mom flinch. They swallowed and kept moving. “We haven’t talked about it yet. But yes, I would be damn grateful to be Dahlia Woodson’s partner. I think being partners with the person you love is a pretty reasonable goal to strive for.”

Julie released a small gasp, her fingers still clenched in theirs.

“London,” she breathed, and London ripped their eyes away from their dad’s to look at her. “You love her.”

“Yeah,” London said, blood rushing in their ears, making them light-headed. “I do.”

Julie’s eyes were still wet, but she grinned. “Good.”

“Are you quite done now, Tom?” London’s mother asked, and when London looked up, they saw her eyes were like daggers, pointed at their dad’s throat. “It had been such a nice evening until you decided to open your mouth.”

And it had been, was the thing. Even with the weirdness clearly surrounding their family, being around them had still been grounding today. Familiar.