“She knows I like her,” I hedge. “I don’t want to scare her off.”
“Where’s she going?” he asks. “She came here and braved our family. She obviously gets how awesome Meg is. And she’s invested in the town. If you don’t move on her, someone else will.”
“Leave her alone, Buck,” I say, my blood pressure suddenly soaring.
“Notme,man,” he laughs. “But someone. What’s your plan?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “I wanted to let it happen organically.”
“Organically?”he echoes, rolling his eyes. “Love isn’t a farm, Roan. Being patient won’t help you here. And if you mess this up, your daughter will never forgive you. Is that the issue?”
“That’s part of it,” I say, sighing and setting my bowl and spoon in the sink. “I don’t know if Meg is ready for me to date.”
“Oh no?” my brother asks. “She told me yourgirlfriendwas coming for breakfast this morning. Looked super jazzed about it too, for the record.”
“Wow,” I say, honestly floored.
“Wow is right,” Buck says. “Make a plan. Tonight.”
“Dad?”a sleepy voice says from the hallway before I have a chance to respond.
“Hey, baby,” I say, smiling at the sight of Meg in a pair of flannel pajamas, her hair messy and her eyes so sleepy. I always think she’s growing up too fast, and seeing her like this is reassuring.
“Do I have to go home with you?” she asks.
“You can if you want,” I tell her. “Or you can stay here. I was just about to go.”
“You ate all the leftovers,” she says sadly.
“Notallof them,” Buck tells her. “You can still have cornbread for breakfast, Meg-a-tron.”
“I want to stay over,” she says. “Grandma said we can wrap presents.”
“Okay,” I tell her. “Hey, listen, can we talk for a sec?”
“Okay,” she says, collapsing onto a kitchen chair.
“Catch you guys tomorrow,” Buck says, heading down the hall to give us space.
“Is this about Taylor?” Meg guesses.
“How would you feel about me dating her?” I blurt out too loudly.
“I thought you already were,” she says, blinking at me.
“Well then, how do you feel about it?” I ask her.
“I like her,” she says, smiling. “She doesn’t give you those weird eyes.”
“What weird eyes?” I ask.
“You know,” Meg says. “Like the other ladies.”
She smiles and blinks at me in an exaggerated way, then makes a show out of looking down and tossing her messy hair over her shoulder.
I can’t help cracking up. It’s honestly pretty accurate. Not that every woman in town looks at me like that. But plenty of them used to, before they figured out that I wasn’t going to be dating anyone.
“No,” I agree. “She definitely doesn’t do that.”
