Gold (All that Glitters #2)(114)

Eric smiled at her and kissed her knuckles. “Look at you. All grown-up.”

She laughed. “Not entirely, I think, but I don’t want this hanging over my head. Hugh is a decent man. He deserved better.”

“There’s nothing you can do about the past. Do what you can to make yourself feel better now that you’ve moved on, and everything else will fall into place.”

“You’re right.”

Her phone buzzed in her purse, pulling her away from their conversation.

“It’s been buzzing on and off all morning,” Eric told her.

“Weird.” She picked up her phone and saw that her dad was calling. “Oh no.”

“What?”

“It’s my dad.”

“Is that bad?”

She bit her lip and steeled herself for this conversation. She needed to be hard to hear what he was about to say because she could almost guarantee he was going to cancel on her. There was no other reason for him to call her the weekend before homecoming.

“Hey, Daddy,” she said.

“Hey, sweetheart! How are you?”

Bryna took a deep breath. “Good. Just get it over with.”

“Get what over with?” he asked.

“You know, just go ahead and tell me you’re canceling.”

“Bryna,” her dad said softly, “I’m not canceling.”

“You’re not?” She couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

“No, and I’m sorry if you think the only reason I call you is with bad news.”

“We don’t exactly have the best track record.”

He sighed. “No, we don’t, but we’ll work on that. I actually called because I wanted to let you know that the whole family is going to come up on Thursday for homecoming. Celia, Lacey, Kacey, and baby Zoe, of course, are all going to come up with me. We thought that we could meet you and Pace at the condo and have a dinner with just us family.”

“Really?” she asked.

She wasn’t sure if she could quite process this. Her dad wanted to have dinner with the whole family, and he was coming to homecoming to see her.

“Yes, I think it would be fun. I haven’t seen you or Pace since school started, and I thought we could spend time together.”

“Can my boyfriend come?” she asked without thinking.

Eric’s head popped up, and their eyes met across the table. Maybe proper etiquette would have been to ask Eric first if he wanted to come and meet her dad, but it was too late now.

“Boyfriend? I didn’t know you had a boyfriend. You haven’t mentioned anyone since Gates—”

“Yep, new guy. His name is Eric.”

“Well, sure. Tell Eric he’s invited. I’d like to meet the guy who is dating my daughter.”

She laughed. “Sounds good, Daddy. See you on Thursday.”

She hung up the phone and shrugged. “I guess you’re meeting the fam this week.”

“WHY ARE YOU FIDGETING?” Bryna asked.

She brushed her hand down the front of Eric’s button-down shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he had on a pair of dark wash jeans. He looked down at her with his hazel eyes, trying to conceal his worry.

“Seriously, I never guessed you would be afraid of meeting the rest of my family.”

“It’s more your dad.”

“My dad?” She raised her eyebrows. “What about him?”

“Between football and his movies, he’s a legend!”

Bryna laughed and pushed him away. “He’s just my dad. Football was a long time ago. You of all people should know that football doesn’t define who you are.”

“What about the movies?”

“He’s good at what he does,” she acknowledged, “but he’s still just my dad. You should be more afraid that I’m introducing you as my boyfriend to my dad.”

“Okay. Now, I’m more nervous.”

She shook her head and dragged him out of his house. Her heels clicked against the tile, and she tucked her dark pink skirt underneath her as she slid into the passenger seat of his Jeep.

Bryna and Eric arrived at the condo early. Her dad was still a good fifteen minutes away as they walked up to the front door. Bryna felt weird about knocking on the door to the place where she used to live, but this was Pace’s place now. Just another reason she didn’t want to walk inside.

Eric knocked for her, realizing she was just going to stand there, staring. He kissed the top of her head while they waited. Pace opened the door a minute later. He looked between them, grunted, and then turned away.

They followed him inside. It was crazy to see the transformation of her condo. He had certainly made it into a bachelor’s pad. She shuddered to think how many women had probably wandered in and out of here.

They all stood around in silence. Eric and Pace were still on unsteady ground after Eric had punched him after the Colorado game. Bryna was the last one who wanted to break the tension anyway. It was nice to have someone on her side about the whole Pace situation.

Finally, Pace broke the silence, “Have you heard from Stacia?”

“I live with her.”

“Yeah, I know. I mean…has she asked about me?”

Bryna made a face. Even if Stacia had, she wasn’t about to tell Pace that. “No.”