“How do you feel about it?” Avalon ventured. “You’re not going to, um... and what about Ga...” She trailed off at a warning glare from Eden.
“Jasper’s not husband material, if that’s what any of you are thinking,” Eden said hurriedly. “And he’s not even boyfriend material. I’m not thinking along those lines at all, and neither is he. His life is kind of a circus, and I really want to keep this news on the down-low and so does he. But it’s been pretty clear to me for a while that Annelise has been curious about her dad, and I would need to do something about it. And when he showed up, well...”
“We were so worried, sweetie, that you were nursing a broken heart all these years and being very noble and, you know, Elinor Dashwooding it,” her mom said soothingly.
“Did you just turn the heroine of my favorite book and movie into averb?”Sense and Sensibilitywas a big family favorite.
“And you’re so very fond of your dignity and privacy... you were so very adamant than no one should know,” her mom added.
“Quite the tight-ass,” Jude said wickedly.
Which was a grave injustice, as this was very much the pot calling the kettle black.
“I’m notfondof my... it’s who I... tight?Argh!”
This was excruciating. The part of her that kept her emotions so under wraps did not enjoy the fact that her family had been peeking under those wraps all these years and coming away with fairly accurate perceptions, or at least interpretations based on their own understanding of the world.
Only Gabe trulygother. She knew that with a resounding, punishing clarity as she stood in a room full of people she loved.
“Why the hell hasn’t he—” Her dad stopped abruptly.
Everyone swiveled toward him.
She realized, then, that these were the first words her dad had said since her announcement.
Which made everyone eye him a little uneasily.
It was pretty clear that he wasn’t taking this particularly well. His eyes were burning in a rather portentous way above his magnificent silver mustache, and she was pretty sure his spine wasn’t touching the sofa back.
“I tried to get in touch with him, Dad, when I first found out about Annelise, but he says he never got the messages from his management. And you know what? I think I believe him. It was a crazy time in his career. He came to me about it Saturday, and he didn’t have to do that. And because Annelise has been wondering about her dad for a while, I decided it was now or never. I needed you guys to know in case she brings it up or asks you questions.”
Her dad wasn’t mollified. “I mean, The Baby Owls came through here and wanted Glenlivet, and I thoughtthatwas unreasonable. Shtupping mydaughteris beyond the pale.”
“It’s what they do,” her mom said, with a certain amount of philosophical resignation, patting his knee. “Rock stars. And she was a grown woman even then.”
Her dad darted her mom a look that warned her mom not to get too explicit.
A rogue impulse to shock both of them rose in Eden.
“I was delighted he was here, Dad. It was thrilling for me. We flirted, we drank. It was quite mutual, only a little drunken, and I had agreat—”
Her dad launched to his feet, clapped his hands over his ears, and staggered from the room as if suddenly assaulted by squealing guitar feedback.
They all watched him go.
“Give him a second,” her mom said, more or less peacefully, in a stage whisper.
Her poor dad had a much lower embarrassment threshold than her mother’s. Her mother didn’t so much have a threshold as a sieve. “Edie, honey, isn’t it time for areal bra?” she’d once bellowed to her clear across a crowded Macy’s department store when she was a teenager. “They have these adorable teeny tiny A cups on sale!”
“So what happens now?” Jude wanted to know. He was probably figuring someone ought to be practical. Like Eden, Jude liked to know what the plan was.
Her dad returned to the room and sat down as though he’d never left.
“Well, I’m going to have him over to my place this evening and... he and I are going to tell her. And I’d like him to meet all of you, and you him, so you can get a sense of him... so if we can have dinner together tomorrow? Would that work? Have him over to this house?”
“Yeah...” her dad mused. “Let’shave him for dinner.”
His tone suggested her dad was picturing Jasper trussed and browned like a roasted chicken while he stood over him scraping two big carving knives together.