He closed the door and turned toward his daughter, whose arms were crossed and whose eyes couldn’t be more scolding.
“I don’t want to hear it,” he said, latching the lock and heading back to the living room.
“Hear what?”
“I already know what you’re thinking.”
“What, that she’s like… twenty?”
“I’ll have you know she’s well out of college, peach.”
Drew followed her father, who rounded back into the kitchen to grab some diet soda from his fridge. It beat just sitting like a lame duck in his living room for his daughter to pick at. “What? Like a year?”
“Stop.”
“How old is she, Daddy?”
Sighing, he screwed the cap back on the two-liter and slapped both hands on the counter. “Twenty-five.”
“Twenty… oh, my God, does Mom know?”
“It is none of your mother’s business who I date at this point. You’re grown up.”
“Does Liam know?”
“What does… yes, actually, hedoesknow. What point is that even supposed to be, anyway?”
“Even he’s too old for her. I don’t want to hear that you’re grooming a girl, Dad.”
“Watch your mouth. Don’t even be flippant about that sort of thing.” He knew his daughter’s generation could be a bit prudish, but Jesus. “We met a couple of months ago. There’s no way in hell she’s not old enough to say she can’t date me.”
“I’msureshe’s nice.” Drew leaned against the counter, that judgmental look as insidious as her mother’s when Benson confessed a few things. “You really don’t strike me as the type of man to date someone so young. I thought you had more sense than that.”
“More sense? What does that mean?
“No twenty-something dates an old guy like you for any reason beyond money, Dad.”
“Old guy! Who are you to say either thing? You’ve been in your twenties for like three months!”
“Pfft. Whatever. I know a gold-digger when I see one. Did you see her nails?”
“What about her nails?” Benson took a swig of his soda before pointing to his own daughter’s nails. “You also have fancy nails.”
“Um, yeah, mine are classy. They say I will go to college and study abroad in Italy, going to museums and learning about art. Hers say… well, she has stripper nails, Daddy.”
He stood in front of his daughter, staring her down until Drew awkwardly looked away and considered her own nails.
“So, let me get this straight.” He didn’t even mean to sound so thuggish toward his daughter, but the annoyance – and offense on Eden’s behalf – was strong enough that he couldn’t help it. “You didn’t have a problem with me being with Liam a few years ago, but an adult woman well out of college is a five-alarm fire.”
“Those are two totally different things. Liam was…”
“A man.”
“Yeah? What’s wrong with that? Half my campus is queer, Dad.”
“He was also ten years younger than me.”
“But like… thirty, right?”
