Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
When she looked back at me, she was still expressionless. “I care about Gio too,” she said. What I told her either went right over her head, or she was purposely dodging the subject.
My father walked up to my mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek before putting the cups in the dishwasher. But before he turned away, he stopped and looked between us, clearly feeling that something was going on.
“Did I miss something?” he asked, and my mother looked at him then.
“Pyper said she cares for Gio.”
My father’s face showed he knew exactly what I meant by that. He turned his focus to me then. “I know.”
I felt my eyes widen at his simple, straightforward sentence.
“You know?” my mother mimicked what he just said.
He gave a sharp nod, his expression not showing disapproval, disappointment, or anything negative. “You’d have to be blind to not notice the way she looks at Gio.” My father rolled his eyes, and I found myself giving a nervous laugh as I looked between my parents.
I’d been obvious, painfully so, if my father noticed.
“And I won’t even get started on how many times I caught Gio staring at you,” he said, and his expression immediately went to protective father. “I almost took my shotgun out and cleaned it on the patio just so he could see.”
My mother scoffed, and this time it was her turn to roll her eyes. “Marcus,” she said his name in an exasperated tone. “That shotgun is an antique. You wouldn’t even be able to shoot the damn thing.”
My father made a gruff noise and crossed his arms over his chest. “Gio doesn’t know that. I’d just want him to know the family he’d be getting involved with if he dated my daughter.” He leveled a stare at me, but there was no heat or actual threat in his voice. “I’d just want him to know he’d better treat her well or he’d deal with my wrath.”
“Marcus, you’re ridiculous. You know Gio would treat Pyper well. He’s a good boy.”
I did laugh then. My father was the least threatening person I’d ever known. He wouldn’t even kill spiders we found in the house, and instead he released them outside. But what really struck me as surreal was the way he was talking about this.
He was fine with it. My mother was fine with it. I felt like I’d been shoved into a dream.
“Wait. Wait,” I said and shook my head, trying to grapple with this. I had expected them to try to explain why they thought it would be wrong to be with Gio. I expected them to maybe tell me how it was inappropriate, that we didn’t get involved with our employees.
What I didn’t expect was them having absolutely no issue with it. In fact… they seemed okay with it.
“You’re fine with how I feel for Gio?” I may not have told them I loved him, but either way, they seemed totally fine with it all, even my dad noticing Gio staring at me. He might have given some faux fatherly anger, but it had all been done with zero heat in it.
My mother tightened her hand on my shoulder and gave me a small smile. “Pyper, what kind of people do you think we are?”
I didn’t know where she was going with this.
“That we wouldn’t approve of who you were with because of how others around us think and feel?” she continued.
I nodded slowly. “I just assumed you’d feel the same about “being with the help.” I did little air quotes and made it sound degrading.
My father had this almost hurt look on his face. “Pyper, sweetheart, by default, we may associate with people who think that way, but that doesn’t extend to us.”
I felt a bit shameful in the fact that I’d thought my parents would have given me shit over this. “I just assumed… and I feel like an ass now,” I whispered.
“Gio is a good boy, is smart and a hard worker. He looks at you like you carry the sun for him, and when asking for someone to treat out daughter well,” my mother said softly, “we couldn’t have picked a better person.”
I felt myself choke up at the things my parents said, at the way they looked at me.
They loved me, and they cared for Gio and his family so much. I might have thought things could have been a fight with them, but I should have known better.
As I hoped, they just wanted me happy.
Epilogue One
Gio
One year later
It was a hot July day, the sun beating down on us, the water the perfect temperature to cool off. I sat on the edge of the pool, my feet immersed in the chilled liquid, my focus on Pyper. She was currently doing a lazy lap in the water, that little red-and-white polka dot bikini peeking out from the surface every so often. I was pretty fucking proud of myself for controlling my arousal. Well, as much as I could. I certainly couldn’t stand up or I’d risk giving everyone a show of exactly how hard I was.