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The four of us sit like this for a while, me reading to a family that understands what it means to be together in sickness and in health. A family who embodies everything I’ve missed out on over the last eight years.

I’m comfortable, more at home than I thought I’d be after meeting my girlfriend’s parents, and it feels nice. I start to wonder when I should stop reading when a faint voice speaks up.

“Darcy,” Mrs. Doyle says with her eyes closed.

We all look up at her. Harper lets out a laugh-like cry, and Mr. Doyle grins into his mug.

I kiss the top of Harper’s head and continue reading, enjoying the best Saturday I’ve had in a really long time.

* * *

Mrs. Doyle fell asleep somewhere around chapter fifty-two. We took that as our cue to get up and leave her to rest.

We enter the kitchen, and I take a seat at the breakfast table. The wallpaper is ivory with yellow daffodils. It’s charming and homey. Even their refrigerator is a gathering place of photos, invitations, and birth announcements. Mr. Doyle has a calendar on the wall that is filled with doctor appointments and physical therapy sessions.

This house reminds me of the home I grew up in. Not in looks, as we had a ranch in Northern California. It’s the feeling. When I was ten, we moved into the city. It still had a homelike vibe because my mother made it that way. When Missy moved in, that feeling began to slip away. It was probably when she replaced the home photos with her old pageant portraits.

I could have kissed Bryce when he purchased the Tahoe house from Dad. That was our last place that was all mom. Bryce doesn’t know it, but I’ve gone there a few times over the years, sat on the back deck, and read.

Mr. Doyle hands me a beer, and I love the relaxed way he popped the top off, throwing the cap in the trash a few feet away. The thought of my father doing anything anywhere near that makes me laugh. He’s way too stuck up these days to drink beer, let alone out of a bottle.

Harper leans against the cabinets, putting her hands behind her before jumping up to sit on the countertop. She reaches over to a bowl of fruit and pops a grape into her mouth as they talk about the shop.

“Did you get the new engine analyzer this week?”

“Came in Thursday. I had someone come in and give a tutorial on the equipment. I don’t know how we used to do this with our good old-fashioned eyes and ears. That’s the difference between a good mechanic and a great mechanic.”

The level of comfort between Harper and her father as they discuss the business is something I’ve only dreamed of. Whenever I’m with my dad, I’m constantly on edge. I’ve always gotten the feeling that my brothers and I are more of a nuisance than a blessing. Especially me since I was the youngest and the only one he had to raise on his own after Mom passed.

“So, Tanner, I hear you’re a student.” He leans in, holding a hand to the side of his mouth, jokingly trying to hide what he’s saying from Harper. “And, yes, I was glad to hear you at least weren’t her student.”

“Daddy,” Harper says, throwing a grape at him.

We both laugh.

“I’m in my last semester at Columbia.”

“What are your plans after graduation?” he asks.

I look to Harper and shrug. “Still trying to work out the details, sir.”

He grimaces. “Mr. Doyle … sir. You’re very formal for a guy who looks like he could fight me. You can’t, in case you were wondering, but you look like you could. Call me Kevin. Mr. Doyle was my father.”

I concede, “Sure. Kevin. I was just trying to be respectful.”

“I understand. My father-in-law still makes me call him Mr. Sabella. Better than calling him Dad. I like the guy, but I had a father of my own. God bless him.” He sits down in the chair across from me. “Harper said your family owns a business, and you’ll be moving back to San Francisco.”

I nod my head before wavering back and forth. “That’s the plan.”

There’s a twinkle in his eye. “I started my business right before Harper was born. We were having a baby, and I had to get my shit together. My wife, she was the force behind it, and I thank my stars every day she chose me. She, Harper, and that business are my life. I’ve been able to buy homes and pay for my baby to go to college with that business. If she had any desire to run it, I’d give it to her.”

I laugh. “Harper as a mechanic?”

She throws a grape at my head. “Don’t laugh. I know more about cars than you do.”

There are many things that have surprised me. This is most definitely ranking as number one.

“When you say you know about cars, you mean, you know how to change a tire and do an oil change.” Another grape gets lobbed at my head. “Baby, don’t look at me like that. You’re the girl who freaked out when I brought you on my motorcycle. You don’t like when things get messy.”