“It’s true,” Gavin says from behind me.
There he is. He must have taken the ferry around the Statue of Liberty to get from the bathroom to the dining room, but he’s here.
I grab his arm and pull him closer to me, throwing my arm around him and angling our bodies so he has to deal with the brunt of the questions the dads are throwing at us.
At least their reactions are predictable.
“When did this happen?” William asks.
“How could you betray the family like this?” my drama king dad asks.
“How would this work?” William follows up.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take another look at Peter? Anyone else? I can try to call Chris Hemsworth’s people if you want?” Dad offers.
“Wait, hold on now.” I move away from Gavin. “Do you have Chris Hemsworth’s number?”
Gavin pinches me in the side.
“Just asking for science,” I mumble to him.
“I doubt that there’s anything academic about your interest in Hemsworth,” he whispers back.
“Hello, when can Chris come out to New York?” Dad says into his phone.
“Dad, stop it right now.” I lunge across the table and snatch the phone out of his hand.
“Hi, sorry. Kabir dialed the wrong number. Have a good day,” I say into the phone before I end the call.
“I’m keeping this.” I put the phone in my pocket. “Mom, can you help?” I want her to order the dads to get over it so we can all move on with our lives.
“You look like you have everything in hand,” she says, taking a sip of wine and enjoying the show.
“Okay then. Dad, this is happening. You aren’t going to do anything to stop it, or I’ll make Mom fire you. William, I look forward to getting to know you better the longer I date your son.”
“Seriously, Dad, I love Priya so we all need to get used to Sunday dinners together. And holidays. We aren’t asking your permission.”
“You love her?” Both dads say in unison. They look at each other in horror, probably imagining all the times they’re going to have to get along for the rest of our lives. Or however long this lasts.
“That’s right. Christmases, birthdays, Easters, Diwalis...we’ll probably do our own thing on New Years’, but Thanksgivings are going to be family oriented,” Gavin says.
They look more and more concerned.
“And your opinions aren’t requested or welcome. Unless they’re positive,” I say.
We hold our breaths as the dads process the new information. The moment lasts so long I have to fight the desire to take it all back, but then Dad turns to William.
“You know, if our companies merge because of these two, we’ll be in a much stronger position to compete with Christie’s and Sotheby’s.”
Now William turns calculating. “This could work well for everyone.”
Agape, I turn to Gavin. Are they trying to profit from our relationship? We should be the only ones to benefit from this relationship.
Laura gets up from the table and gives us a hug. “I for one am happy for you two regardless of how much you’ll contribute to our profits for the next year.”
“Imagine if we did a combined Christmas show? High profile. A lot of people in the city already.” William starts brainstorming.
“Yes.” Dad pulls out an iPad mini from his jacket pocket that I didn’t even notice was there and starts typing. “We can do it in the outdoor plaza at 30 Rock...right in front of Christie’s.” He laughs like a toddler in delight at sticking it to the monolith.
