Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Giggling, Leander couldn’t seem to find his words for a few seconds. “God, Terrence.”
He said that a lot.
“I made him muffins this morning and got some work done and then the rest of the guys came over. The cousins guys. They had muffins. Then they tattled on themselves. Then I came down to complain about the water problem and then Daddy explained the family dinner problem. Then I told Daddy I wasn’t going to make them cookies because they’d been naughty. I gave him permission to spank them. He might not need it because they’re family, but not the naughty family kind of family, but hands on butts seems like something I needed to agree to first.”
Probably.
Daddy hadn’t said it was wrong, though, so I was going to stick with being right.
Leander was back to groaning. “You make me say the weirdest shit, but I want to know if he starts spanking his cousins. Naughty family or not naughty family.”
Leander was naughty too.
“Fine. I don’t think he’s the spank in anger type but he’s been glaring at them all morning and kissing my cheek every time he sees me. So he knows we’ve got a problem.” It was nice to have a smart Daddy. “His cousins must be dumber than I thought.”
Maybe I shouldn’t ask if Leander wanted one of them.
“Did you tell your Daddy that you didn’t want to meet his family?” Somehow Leander made that sound like he was in a scary movie and the monster was in the next room. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”
He was so strange sometimes.
“I don’t lie to Daddy unless it’s something I’ve done wrong.” That should’ve been obvious. “And he knew it’s a bad idea too. I’m not family ready. I can’t even remember which name goes with which cousin.”
I knew their favorite cookie flavors and what would make them laugh or blush but that wasn’t enough information to public with them. What if one of their mothers or weird relatives started quizzing me?
I’d fail.
That was not acceptable.
I was a straight A student no matter what.
“I haven’t practiced peopling around them.” We were supposed to do this kind of stuff in small steps. “I’ve just been me.”
And I was kind of annoying, so I needed to be eased into family member stuff.
Even my own family didn’t like me.
Leander was still horrified but he wasn’t in any state to explain it. “But you…that’s…we don’t…”
“We don’t be honest?” That would never work. “He knows I’m strange. That’s not a surprise.”
The fact that he knew I was weird and he still wanted to date me was a shock, but it was like a surprise party kind of startled, so it wasn’t bad.
Leander groaned for a few more seconds before he shoved his drama back. “First of all, it’s not polite to tell your partner you don’t want to meet their family. Period. I’m right. Don’t argue. I know more about social situations than you do.”
“Fine.” We’d already established that his social IQ was much higher than mine. But we couldn’t be smart about everything. It wasn’t how brains worked and everyone had something they were good at. Ordering coffee just right. Handling social situations. Knowing how to get the cheapest groceries.
Coupons were more confusing than people wanted to admit.
But Leander couldn’t use them right either, so I stayed on track. “I won’t do that again without talking to you so you can help me be subtle.”
We’d get a lot more done if he stopped groaning.
“I’ll take that. Okay, second. You are not strange. You’re just really smart and kind of awkward. That’s not strange, though.” He seemed ready to argue about that, so I just made agreeing sounds.
Letting him be right sometimes saved a lot of headaches in the long run…but it’d taken me a while to get to the point where I understood that.
“Third, if your Daddy is hiding you from his family, you need a new Daddy.” Leander was getting worked up again, so I jumped in.
“No. Daddy knew it would make me stressed.” That’d been very obvious. “We’ve only had one date and we haven’t even exchanged limits lists yet, Leander.”
Dropping my voice, I was careful not to offend Daddy with the next part. “He doesn’t even know what foods I don’t like and he thinks it’s okay to buy me noodles in public. He’s not ready to take me to meet family.”
Leander’s groan was less drama and more understanding. “God, Terrence. They’re an Italian family. You’re fucked. All they’ll probably eat is pasta.”
Oh dear.
“Why didn’t you tell me that to start with?” He always saved the biggest problems for last. It had to be his dramatic nature coming into play, but it wasn’t helpful. “I haven’t even been worrying about the right things.”
Just great.
I was going to have to be big and boring and polite while eating noodles.