For the first time in a long time I’m actually excited about seeing my parents. It used to be really hard visiting with them because my mom would always get on my ass about my life in the Army and it would turn into an argument. I had my dad really excited to discuss what was happening with my life and my mom who didn’t want to know because she was a nervous wreck.
“Do you need any help?” Keegan comes up behind me wrapping his arms around my waist.
“You smell heavenly.” I take in a deep breath of his musky scent.
He chuckles. “Thank you, but that doesn’t answer my question.”
“Can you light some candles for me?”
“You got it.” He goes about lighting the jar candles he has scattered around his apartment while I finish up making the baked ziti. For an Irish man, he sure loves his pasta, and I don’t mind because it’s one of my favorites as well. Placing the ziti in the oven I wash my hands and get busy making the garlic bread. My parents are due here shortly and I want everything to be ready, that way we can all sit and relax.
Keegan turns on the TV to his favorite music channel. He lowers the volume to barely audible and it’s the perfect touch. Love songs are now filling the apartment. “I love this channel and it should be perfect for your parents.” Keegan has done a nice job of setting his home up, it’s masculine, but doesn’t scream bachelor pad. He has a nice dark gray living room set with a black coffee table and TV stand. His bedroom is decorated in deep blues with a cherry wood bedroom set. We’ve made sure the place is spotless so we can show my parents around.
There’s a knock at the door. “Lexi, they’re here,” Keegan calls out.
I wipe my hands on the towel and hurry to the living room. By the time I get there, he’s already greeting them. “Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, please come in.” My parents step through the door and instantly my mom's eyes go wide. I can tell she’s already pleased. “I’m Keegan.” He holds his hand out to my father and mother.
“Mom.” I quickly kiss my mom on the cheek and hug her before I hug and kiss my dad. “Please have a seat. I’ll get you guys something to drink.”
“I’ll just have water,” my father calls out. “I told your mother she could have a drink with you, and that I would drive.”
“Wine or beer, Mom?”
“Wine, please.” They take a seat, and Keegan joins me in the kitchen to grab drinks.
“They look shocked,” he whispers to me.
“No, they look pleased,” I reassure him.
The two of us grab the drinks and meet them in the living room. “Keegan, this is a very nice place you have here.” My mom waves her arm through the air.
“Why thank you, ma’am.” He takes a seat in the chair, and I join my parents on the couch.
“So, Keegan,” my father says in his deepest voice. It almost makes me chuckle because I know he’s trying to sound tough. “Lexi tells me you are a cop.”
“Yes, sir. District A-15 right here in Charlestown.” Keegan sips his beer.
“That’s wonderful. Do you enjoy being a cop?” my mother asks him.
He smiles. “Yes, ma’am I do. It’s something I started to consider when I was in middle school and took much more serious when I got to high school.”
My mom gives him a warm smile, but the room gets quiet until Keegan brings up my new job. “Has Lexi told you about her new job?”
My father looks a bit agitated. “She has, but the point of us being here is to get to know you. Let’s not deflect to her.” He gives him a stern look. “Tell us about your upbringing, why aren’t your parents here? I figured we’d get to meet them.”
His brows shoot up in shock. I hadn’t told my parents about his history, and clearly I should have. I never would have thought my father would ask a question like this. “My father is dead, and my mother is an addict who might as well be dead. Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to use the restroom.” He walks out of the living room pissed and I feel really bad that I didn’t say anything.
“Daddy.” I shout at him as I pick up my fidget cube, worrying it in my hand. “That was not the nicest way to bring up his parents,” I scold him, and both my parents look mortified. “Why are you being so snippy?” I continue to roll the little cube through my fingers. This was my counselor’s recommendation, and it’s the best thing since sliced bread. I use it anytime I get agitated.
“You are my baby girl and my only child. I need to know you are with a good man. Someone who will take good care of you.”
“Yeah, well let me fill you in. He cares a great deal for me. So much so he’s the one who got me back into counseling, and he has been nothing but a gentleman from the day we met.” I defend my man furious that my father is acting this way.
He sighs. “I’m sorry, Lexi. You only just got home, and you’re already seriously involved with someone. It didn’t sit right with me. I had it stuck in my head this guy was taking advantage of you.” He stands. “Maybe we should go and we can start over fresh another night.”
“No, stay.” Keegan walks back into the room. “I’m sorry I snapped, you caught me off guard, and my parents are an extremely touchy subject for me. I don’t speak about them ever.”
“Understood. I’m sorry.” My father sticks out his hand and they shake once again.
The oven beeps and I’ve never been so thankful. I want to get us all to the table so if this night doesn’t get any better I can get my parents out of here and figure out how to handle this for the future. “I’m going to get dinner out of the oven.”
“I’ll help you,” my mom offers, following me into the kitchen. We both look back over our shoulder to see the two guys sitting on the couch talking, but we can’t hear what they are saying.
“Lexi, I’m really sorry for your father’s behavior. He’s been so worried about you since you got home. He kept telling me you weren’t yourself and that something was wrong.” She sighs. “He said he knew it was bad when you wouldn’t talk to him, and then when you invited us over he swore it had something to do with him.”
I shake my head. “It was me. I’ve been struggling a bit since I got home. I’m not going to lie, Mom. I was having horrible nightmares, and tequila was my best friend for a while, but I’m good now, not one hundred percent, but I’m in counseling and I’m getting the help I need.” I pull the ziti from the oven and put the garlic bread in.
“I’m glad you’re getting help, and I’m happy you’ve found someone who supports you.” She sips her wine.
“He more than supports me, he understands me. He gets what I’ve been through because he has his own issues. I don’t ever have to worry about being myself around him.”
She smiles at me proudly. “You really care for him, don’t you?”
“I love him.”
She wraps me in a hug. “I’m so happy to hear that. I worry about you so much, and knowing you have someone who really makes you happy eases some of my fears.”
“Is it safe to come in?” my father asks, walking into the kitchen.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t know, are you done being mean?”
“I apologized, and I meant it. We’ve talked, and everything is good, right, Keegan?”
“Yes, sir, we’re good.” Keegan winks at me and gets busy pulling the salad from the fridge, placing it on the kitchen table while I take the garlic bread from the oven.
We finally sit down to eat and the atmosphere is so much lighter. The conversation between my father and Keegan has revolved around sports. I learned that although he doesn’t watch sports too much he is a huge Red Sox fan, as well as a Patriots fan. This thrills my father, he has been a Pats fan for as long as I can remember. I too am a Patriots fan, but I’m not freaking out if I can’t watch the game like my father would. He used to drag my mom to games all the time but when they redid the stadium my father gave up his season tickets. They are getting older and she refuses to go with him anymore, complaining it’s too cold. Now they watch the games from the comfort of their home. She tells him we need to go to their house for a game.
“He only likes watching the games from home because my mom makes him all kinds of snacks.” I fill Keegan in.
“She’s good like that.” He gives my mom a loving smile. “Even if I do drive her crazy with my screaming at the TV.” We all laugh.
“This was delicious, Lexi. Thank you for having us over.” My father rubs his belly.
“We need to thank Keegan. This is his apartment. I just did the cooking.”
“Yes, thank you, Keegan,” my father says.
“What are your plans for the future?” My mother asks.
“How do you mean?” I ask her, confused.
“Well, will you two live together? Isn’t it silly for you each to pay rent?” I’m about to lay into my mom for pressing another topic onto Keegan and putting him an awkward situation when Keegan steps in.
“Mrs. Morgan, I had planned on talking with Lexi about that this evening. I wanted a chance to meet her folks first, that way you would know what kind of man your daughter is living with.”
I gasp. “You were?” I’m a bit surprised.
He nods his head at me. “Will you move in with me?”
I shrug. “Sure, why not. I’m here more than home anyway, and I have a key.”
“There you go. Now, please, ma’am, don’t go asking about marriage because I think it’s safe to say neither of us are ready for that yet.” My mom laughs and blushes slightly. “Oh, and I know you have a bit of a drive, so you’re welcome to stay the night the next time you folks come down for a visit.”
“That’s mighty nice of you, Keegan.” My father is starting to take a liking to him.
Once everything is cleaned up my father decides it’s getting late and it’s time for them to hit the road. He’s not a fan of driving at night and tries to avoid it if he can, so we say our goodbyes and I promise to visit them soon. As soon as the door is locked I let out a deep breath. “Keegan, I’m so sorry about my father. I had no idea he was going to pull something like that.”
He puts his hand up to stop me. “You have nothing to apologize for. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I should have been prepared for a question like that, but I wasn’t, it threw me off and I didn’t handle it very well.”
My eyes go wide. “You handled it very well. He had no business asking you a question like that, and in the manner he did. He fucking drives me crazy with his protectiveness sometimes.” I pace the living room.
He steps closer to me, takes my arm and pulls me close. “Let’s just forget about it. I want you to know I’m serious about what I said at dinner though. I would love for you to move in with me.”
I nod. “I know. We’ll work out the timing. Maybe I’ll move in when we get back from Maine.”
“If that’s what you want, then I’m all for it. Right now what I want is to take you to bed and make sweet love to you.”
I smile. “Oh really. What about what I want?”
He throws his head back. “Okay, what do you want?”
I giggle. “The same thing you want.”
He bends over scooping me up over his shoulder and carries me off to the bedroom where he lays me on the bed and makes love to me until I’m exhausted.