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“Every night, I get up from bed to go potty, and you and Sophie are usually on the couch kissing.” She shrugs her shoulders innocently.

Sophie’s hands come up to cover her face. Brooks looks between us with a very amused twinkle in his eyes. David is wearing a satisfied expression, which isn’t what I would’ve expected. But Ted’s face is turning redder by the second. I can practically see the steam coming out of his ears. And there’s that terrifying vein in his forehead again … Diane just sits there with her mouth slightly agape.

Bradley Vanderven leans over so he can make direct eye contact with me. “So, if Ted and Diane adopted you into their family, wouldn’t that be like kissing your sister, Drew?” He smiles, obviously enjoying my discomfort way too much.

“Drew. Sophie. Kitchen. Now,” Ted says as he rises from his seat and walks through the French doors into the house. Diane follows him.

I feel like a kid about to be grounded for eating cookies before dinner. It’s been a long time since a parent has been angry with me, and it feels even worse than I can remember.

Sophie and I stand and follow them inside. I take her hand in mine and give it a squeeze. I’m hoping it will ease her mind and let her know we’re in this together.

We walk into the kitchen and stand opposite of Ted and Diane in the center of the large open space.

“Does one of you care to explain what is going on here?” He looks at our entwined hands and crosses his arms.

“Calm down, Ted. Did you really not see this coming?” Diane shakes her head.

Sophie releases my hand and absently rubs the side of her arm. “Me and Drew started seeing each other officially a few weeks ago. We were going to tell you, but we’ve barely been on two dates. We weren’t in a hurry to announce it to the world.”

Ted is now looking at his feet. He shakes his head. “Drew, I trusted you.”

Diane smacks his arm. “Would you stop!” Her fists rest on her hips as she looks at him. “Have you really not noticed the way they look at each other? Or how Drew always jumps in to help her with Samantha? Or how about how he was buying all of her favorite grocery items at Whole Foods?”

“Or how about how happy Sophie has been lately?” David’s voice comes from behind us, making us jump.

Ted rubs his temples with his thumb and index fingers.

“They’re obviously smitten with each other. They would’ve told us when they were ready,” Diane adds, seeming perfectly at ease with the prospect.

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice.” Ted looks between us. “Yeah, I guess you have seemed happier, Soph.” One side of his mouth pulls up into a hesitant smile.

“I never meant to make you feel deceived, but I wanted to wait to say anything until Sophie was ready. Sophie’s feelings are really my only concern here, and our girls, of course,” I say as I rub my hand down her spine, trying to help her relax.

She smiles up at me.

“I can respect that.” Ted takes a deep breath. “I guess it’s all out now, though. You can’t hide much from children.” He smirks.

David walks forward to stand next to his father. “And, of course, if you hurt Sophie for any reason …”

“Yeah, I know. You’ll kick my ass.”

“Language!” Diane yells.

I stand up straight under her glare. “Sorry, ma’am.”