no baby. I’m the same age as you and you’re not getting any younger.” Em poked at her.
Harper rolled her eyes, but looked over at Ky. He was devouring his ribs, effectively ignoring the conversation. Harper’s look wasn’t lost on me though. Em caught it as well.
The rest of the dinner went well. Kyler wised up and kept any smart ass comments to himself, Harper joked with Em’s Dad, Tessa couldn’t keep her hands off Em’s belly, and my stomach was puffed out and stuffed.
As we were all getting up from the table to start clearing our plates, my cell phone started ringing. The Black Eyed Peas were singing ‘My Humps’. What the fuck? Looking over at Ky, I could see he was almost on the floor laughing. Emilyn’s parents stopped what they were doing and looked at me questioningly. Yeah… a song about my lovely lady lumps wasn’t embarrassing me at all!
Pulling my phone out of my pocket I asked Ky, “How in the hell did you get a hold of my phone again?”
“Oh wise one, I will never tell you of my secrets. I’m stealth… like a ninja.” And with that, he continued to laugh.
Jesus Christ I was going to have to put a password on my phone. Looking down at the screen I saw Val’s name. Shit! I cleared the called and hoped Em hadn’t seen who it was calling me. She looked over as I put my phone back in my pocket.
“Didn’t you need to get that?” She clearly didn’t get a look at the name—much to my relief.
“Nah. It was just a telemarketer.” I hated lying to her but I wasn’t going to let Val ruin my night with Em and her family, especially when everything was going so well. Her parents hadn’t even brought up the time I left. They were just interested in talking to me about my music and how it felt to own a house at home. I thought I’d dealt with the Val issue when she was texting me this morning, but I obviously hadn’t been clear enough. She’d wanted to know where I’d been and why I wasn’t in LA. I explained to her that I had moved back home and that I was trying to fix things with Em. She needed to know that things with her had never been serious for me. So I had no idea why the hell she was still bothering me.
“Are you about ready to head home? I’m tired and I have to work early in the morning.” She said, accepting my lie too easily.
“If you’re ready to go, then let’s get you in the car.”
“Finn, would you mind stepping in to the living room so we can talk for a second?” Em’s Dad quietly asked me.
I nodded, feeling my heart thundering in my chest. Shit, here we go. He was going to tell me that I was the world’s biggest douchebag, and to stay away from his daughter. Em was talking to her mom, but glanced over at me before I walked out of the room with her dad. She didn’t seem worried at all.
He stopped short just inside the living room, turning to look at me.
“Thank you for taking care of my daughter Finn. She looks happier than I’ve seen her in years.”
This was definitely not what I had expected from him. Shocked, I tentatively said, “You’re welcome?” Richard heard the question in my voice and grinned.
“I figured you’d be a bit uncomfortable around Tessa and me, but don’t. Let me lay it all out there so you know where we stand.” This was good I thought to myself. “We knew you had to have had your reasons for leaving all of those years ago. We didn’t like what it did to our daughter, but we respected your choices. Tessa and I always thought you were a good kid Finn, and we still do. I should have never pushed her to be with West like I did. For the past ten years we’ve had to sit back and watch the light in her eyes fade...” He stopped and looked down, then glanced back up at me. He seemed to be collecting himself. “Today is the first day I’ve seen my daughter truly happy in almost a decade, and it’s all because of you son.”
The emotion in the room was nearly choking me. Richard had tears in his eyes, and I was not far off either. “Wow, Richard I don’t know what