Joey looks crestfallen next to me, but I have no idea what I’m supposed to say.
“You didn’t mean to sleep with my daughter?” He crosses his arms, and the look he gives me would strike down a lesser man.
“No, it’s just…”
“It’s just what?” He takes a step closer to the both of us. “What the fuck is going on here?”
“Dad, if you would just let us explain.” Joey tries to intervene with no luck.
“Unbelievable. You’re supposed to be my best friend, Sam.” He shakes his head. “Is this why we never see you anymore?”
“No. It’s not like that.”
“It’s not like what?” he repeats.
I have a feeling no matter what we say, he’s not going to be happy. At this point, I should cut my losses and just stop talking, but my mouth doesn’t get the message from my brain.
“It just sort of…happened. And while we care about each other?—”
“You care about each other? How are you supposed to care for someone who is young enough to be your daughter?”
“Which means I can make my own decisions, Dad,” Joey spits out. “You don’t get to have a say in my love life.”
Greg turns his ire on Joey. “When you’re screwing around with my best friend, I do. Really, Josephine. I thought you had better judgment than this.”
Ouch.
That shouldn’t hurt as much as it does. I shouldn’t get hung up on the fact that he thinks I’m not good enough for his daughter, but it still stings.
“How can he be your friend and you say he’s not good enough for me?” Joey throws back at him, as she turns to look at me, a warm look washing over her face.
Greg is spitting fire when he looks at me.
“Absolutely not. You will not see him. My best friend. He is not suitable for you.”
“How do you know that?” Joey crosses her arms.
“I can explain,” I interject before these two start going at it.
From what I remember, Greg always said Joey would get into huge fights with her mom in high school.
Another painful reminder about the age difference between the two of us because it wasn’t that long ago.
“You don’t get to have a say in this.” He points a finger at me. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
“What, so that’s it?”
“I asked you to look out for my daughter and this is how you repay me? You throw our friendship down the drain for what? For whatever…whatever the hell this is?
“Dad!” Joey exclaims.
“I’m sorry, Joey, but I know Sam better than you do. This is the sort of thing he would do. Have an affair with someone and throw them away the first time things get hard.”
“That’s not fair,” I say, hurt lacing my voice.
“Someone has to look out for my daughter.” He turns his attention back to Joey. “You deserve someone better than this. You both do.”
“This isn’t you looking out for me, Dad. I know what I want.”
