Dad nods. “Ugly, but true.”
“Not interested,” I tell them both. “But thank you.”
“They’re gonna hold a lot against you, son,” Dad says. “Different world. Different rules.”
Fuck.
Even if Laney will listen and hear me out when I tell her about my GrippaPeen channel, will her parents?
Will they cut her loose from the company if she picks me over them?
Shelovesher job. Works hard at it.Dreamsabout it.
“You two mind finishing this up?” I ask. “I gotta make sure the minister’s on the way.”
“We’re trying to help,” Uncle Owen says as I head off the lanai.
“Don’t want you at a disadvantage,” Dad chimes in.
It grates on me when they don’t give me credit for turning my life around the past ten years.
But they usually do.
Which means—I turn back around. “You two have something more direct you want to say?”
“We were pretty direct,” Uncle Owen says.
“Not what he’s talking about, Owen,” Dad mutters.
“Oh. He means the…other thing.”
“Yes.”
“The…nakedthing.”
Dad sighs.
“How—who—never mind.”
“Emma was a little tipsy last night,” Dad says.
“She didn’t mean to slip,” Uncle Owen adds. “And we’re more tight-lipped than Sabrina.”
“We just know that there are certain expectations of people in the business world that are different than—”
“I’m not going into the business world.”
They share a look.
Then look back at me.
I know they mean well.
I know they do.
But right now, I feel like a teenage disappointment again.
“We’ve got your back, son,” Dad says.
