Page 40 of The Daddy’s Girl

There are two long messages from Jacob I haven’t read yet.

Jacob: I desperately hope I’m not about to ruin my chances, but there’s a slight catch to our date tomorrow. I’m traveling for the summer with my older sister, and I don’t want to just leave her for a whole night. I hope this isn’t too forward of me to ask…but I really like you, so I’m just gonna go for it.

Jacob: Do you by any chance have a brother or a single guy friend that wouldn’t mind double-dating with us? I promise she’s perfectly normal and (according to her) attractive. She’s thirty-one and doesn’t mind younger guys.

“What is it?” Freya asks.

“He’s asking me to set his sister up…”

I’m not sure how to respond to this. My mind races, trying to think of who I could set his sister up with who is (a) single, and (b) wouldn’t mind going on a blind double date with me.

“Set his sister up? With who?” Weston asks.

“I don’t know. She’s tagging along so I need someone to double-date with us. Do we know any straight single guys?”

Weston pops a cheese-covered potato into his mouth. “Don’t look at me.”

“That’s a strange request,” Freya says with a grimace.

“They’re visiting Europe for the summer so they’re staying in a rental. And he doesn’t feel comfortable leaving her for the night.”

“If this guy is only here for the summer, then why do you even care to date him?” Freya asks.

Weston wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Amelia’s just trying to get a little of what you had all afternoon.”

Laughing, I shake my head. “No. I want more than that. I really like this guy. Maybe if we hit it off…he could stay?”

Neither of them seems very convinced, but it’s not quite compelling enough to make me want to call this whole thing off. I want this date. I need it to override this terrible week I’ve had.

“What about Matis?” Weston asks.

Freya tenses, her eyes dancing back and forth between me and him.

I’d be stupid to take him on a double date, especially after his last date and how I couldn’t even be in the same building as him and that brunette lady. Now I would have to sit at a table with them and watch him flirt with her and try to seduce her in all his charming Matis ways.

“Maybe…” I mumble to myself.

“No,” Freya barks.

“What’s wrong with Matis?” Weston asks.

Neither of us respond as he stares blankly, waiting for an answer. Finally, I give in with a sigh.

“I have a crush on Matis.”

“No,” Freya interjects. “A crush is drawing hearts around their picture and signing your name with theirs for fun. This is more than a crush, Amelia.”

“Fine,” I relent. “It’s more than a crush. I’m…in love with him.”

Weston only blinks for a while, and I take it to mean this news is not what he was expecting to hear. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah…” I exhale.

“He’s your godfather.”

“I’m aware.”

“Do not take him on that double date,” he adds flatly.