the subject since Mom passed.
The knock at the door sends my stomach into my throat. I take a sip of water and walk to the door, my heartbeat thudding in my ears. I paste a smile on my face and open the door, but my smile falters when I see my dad on the stoop with a woman by his side.
There’s a beat of awkwardness and I shake it off. “Dad!” I give him a one-armed hug. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Livvie-Lou, you look beautiful, as usual.” He smiles and turns to the woman. “This is Melissa. She’s just been dying to meet you.”
As Melissa and I exchange pleasantries and I invite them in to the dining room, I try to cover up my shock. Not that Melissa isn’t a good-looking woman, in fact, she seems almost familiar. She looks to be mid-fifties with coarse black hair and friendly brown eyes. I just can’t get around the fact that my father must be dating again.
I guess we both have big news to share tonight.
Dad and Melissa settle at the dining room table and I thank my lucky stars I at least got the dining room renovations done. I serve bowls of steaming hot pot roast complete with potatoes, baby carrots and a side roll.
“Anything to drink?” I ask them, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“Water’s fine for me,” Melissa says with a kind smile.
“Come sit down, girl. You look famished.” Dad takes a big bite of the pot roast and groans. “Delicious, as always.”
I do as he asks, but I can’t stomach a bite and instead sift through the pot roast as they eat and make small talk. I learn that Melissa is a secretary at the Marin County School Board, which is probably why she looks familiar. She has an easy smile and my dad clearly adores her, so I choose to be happy for them.
“How did you two meet?” I ask. I manage to nibble on my roll, which is just about the only thing I can stomach these days.
“Melissa bought the cabin next to mine a few weeks ago.”
“He came over to help fix my front stoop when the boards started rotting out.”
They share a smile.
As we clean up the dinner dishes I pull my dad aside. He smiles, his weather-worn cheeks dimpling and the corners of his eyes wrinkling. “What’s going on, Livvie-Lou? You’ve been twitchy as a lighting bug all night. I hope you didn’t mind that I brought Melissa over.”
I shake my head. “No, no of course not. I’m glad you’ve started seeing someone. Mom wouldn’t have wanted you to be lonely.”
Melissa excuses herself under the guise of freshening up and I send her a grateful smile. Dad guides me to the porch swing he’d installed for me a few months earlier.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he says, his voice firm and implacable. He throws a reassuring arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to his side.
I sigh, content. After I was adopted it took me a long time to warm up to my new family, my new house…my new life. Dad would always take me on the front porch and talk to me—about nothing really. Life, the stars, the bats that swoop down catching bugs. After a while, I started talking back. Some of my favorite memories take place at night on a porch swing.
“I don’t exactly know how to tell you,” I start.
He doesn’t push or prod, just rubs my arm and gently rocks the swing with one booted foot.
“I’m going to have a baby,” I blurt. “You’re going to be a grandpa.”
His arm stills and tightens on my shoulder for one significant pause before the swing rocks unsteadily as his feet thump to a stop. He throws his burly arms around my neck and squeezes the breath out of me.
His breath catches in his throat and I hear the soft rumble of his voice in my ear. “That’s good news, honey. That’s good news.”
Tears spring to my eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. If adopting you taught us anything it’s that children are always a blessing.” He pulls back and cups my chin in one hand. “When your mother learned she couldn’t have any more children she was heartbroken. The day you came into our lives proved to her—and to me—that even when it seems like there isn’t any hope, there will always be something to prove you wrong. So yes, it’s good news. Do I get to know the