I just nodded, not really willing to discuss my mother’s weird ability to predict shit, and I thought Da understood that. It wasn’t like Phil didn’t know about her. It was just…not out at lunch while in broad daylight. It wasn’t something she herself had advertised, so I’d rather not discuss her like this.
“Who knew what?” asked Phil, looking between Da and me.
I felt something rising inside him, like irritation and…disappointment. He was upset because I was hiding something from him.
My father gave me a look, and after a few seconds, I shrugged.
“Kenna’s mother, Laurie, knew tha’ th’ two o’ ye were meant fer each other,” Da said quietly.
I thought he was waiting for Phil to scoff or make some sort of stink.
Phil said, “So did I.”
“No shit,” breathed Da.
“Da? You sure you’re feeling okay?” Two curse words in one day? Who is this man?
“I was even more devastated the night I found her again and lost her after a couple of hours. I’d been searchin’ for her ever since.”
“Well, ye’ve found each other now,” said Da.
Phil smiled. “And I ain’t ever lettin’ go,” he told me softly.
Lunch turned out to be pretty great. Phil relaxed completely and was happily answering any questions Da felt the need to grill him with. Da ended up calling him son a few more times, so I guessed Phil had totally won him over.
“So, ye’re headin’ out o’ town tonight, too?” Da asked him.
“Me and Jason have a radio interview in Lafayette. The Mad for Metal weekly spot from ten to midnight.”
Da asked which station, and Phil told him.
“I’ll tune in then. Might no’ be able to listen tae some o’ tha’ stuff tha’s played. I’m old, grew up wi’ th’ classics.”
“Our biggest influence is Led Zeppelin,” Phil told him with a grin.
Da sat back and rubbed his full belly, digging at his teeth with a toothpick. He looked alarmed when Phil ordered a piece of coconut-key-lime pie for dessert.
“This is nothing,” I informed him as Phil made one more trip to the bathroom before the pie showed up.
“He ate half o’ yer food, too!”
“Yeah, but he always waits until I’m full before having at it.”
Da let loose a hearty guffaw. “I guess he needs the calories. Jaysus, ye found the biggest mon on th’ planet, Kenna. An’ he pees a lot.”
“Nah, not really. I think he was really nervous, and he drank a lot of tea on top of it.”
Dorothy brought the pie and three forks.
“Think he’ll share tha’?”
“I think he’d be happy to.”
Da and I stole a bite each before Phil came back. If he noticed a third of his pie gone, he said nothing about it, and he finished it in four bites.
“I’ll go get Dorothy then,” said Da. “No need tae make the puir dinosaur hobble back o’er here—”
“Oh, um…I already took care of the check, sir,” Phil said.
I wasn’t surprised, but Da’s eyebrows were trying to crawl into his graying hair.
“Ye did wha’ noo?”
“I paid the check,” repeated Phil, blushing slightly.
“But…I invited y’all.”
“Don’t make a big deal about it, Da. If he’s here, he always pays. Get used to it.”
Phil grinned and winked at me.
“Well, thanks, son.”
“My pleasure, sir.”
“Oh, fer the love o’ all tha’ is holy! Enough wi’ th’ sirs. I dinna need tae be reminded tha’ I’m bluidy old! Call me Sig.”
“Or Da,” I stated with a grin.
“Aye, that’ll do,” said Da.
Phil swelled up next to me with pure joy.
Out in the lot, Da just had to get a closer look at the Black Beauty before he let us leave. He and Phil talked about classic cars for a few minutes before I got another great Papa Bear hug, and Da clapped Phil between the shoulder blades.
“Ye take good care of m’ sweet lass, or ye’ll be answerin’ tae me.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Phil.
Looking at me, Da rubbed his knuckles over my cheek. “I’ll call ye when I’m back.”
“That went really well,” said Phil happily.
“I told you.”
“His accent ain’t as heavy as I thought it’d be.”
“You should hear my grandparents. I don’t even think they speak English. But he’s been here for nearly thirty years, so it’s mellowed. It was really thick when I was a kid.”
Heading back home, Phil kept his hand on my thigh, and he had a huge grin on his face the whole drive.
“So, where are you and Jason sleeping tonight? A hotel?”