“How did this happen?” Colin asks.
“Are the details really important?” I want to shake him or tell him to butt out of this conversation, but it’d do me no good. “Whether I love him or not, you’re not going to approve.”
“You’ve got that right,” Dad huffs out. Everything about his posture is angry. Angry at me. Angry at Troy. Angry at Harper for dropping the “l” bomb.
“I don’t know why I bothered coming tonight.” I pass Harper my half-empty glass of champagne. I don’t need it anymore. It’s turning to cement in my stomach.
“You’re a part of the family and we’re celebrating.”
“Oh, now I’m part of the family when it suits you?”
“Angela—”
I hold up a hand. “Save it, Dad. I came tonight because Grandma asked me to, but it was a mistake. It seems you can’t talk about this rationally, so I’m going to go.”
“You can’t leave before the toast.”
I throw my hands up in the air. “What’s the point in celebrating their love when I won’t get a chance at my own love story? You’ve ruined that.”
“Angie—” he tries again.
“No, Dad. You’re the one in the wrong here. I love Troy. He is kind, and caring, and sweet, and protects me. He is just like his dad. You have some antiquated notion of who he is based on the person he was twenty years ago. You’re wrong. And until you can see that, I can’t talk to you.”
“So you’re choosing him over your family?” Colin asks.
“No. Because Troy won’t let me choose him over my family. As much as he loves me, he doesn’t want to come between us.”
“It’s time for the toast,” Pops says in a loud whisper as he steps over to us. I look behind him, seeing almost every eye turned in our direction.
Great.
“I’ll see myself out.” I grab Harper’s hand and drag her past the curious onlookers.
“Sweetheart.” Grandma is there, waiting for me. “You don’t have to leave.”
“Yes I do.” I turn back to look at my dads. Neither of them are looking at me, but at the ground. Pops is clearly trying to talk to Dad, but I can’t hear what they’re saying from here. “Until they can realize I can make my own choices on who I love, I can’t be here. I don’t want to take away from your night.”
And celebrating their love when I just lost mine?
I can’t do it.
It cracks my heart a little more.
If only Troy were here to pick up the pieces.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
TROY
“Where were you all night?” I grumble at Marcus as he rolls into our room. “We have to leave for practice in like five minutes.”
“What crawled up your ass this morning?” He brushes by, doing his best to ignore me.
“Maybe it’s the fact that we have playoffs coming up and need to be in top shape.”
Marcus shakes his head, grabbing his practice bag and throwing in a few things. “I’m here, aren’t I? My game isn’t suffering.”
“If you have a couple more late nights it might. It’s my job as captain to keep the team together.”
