Chapter 8

8

E lias

My brother would be out of the country until March, so I couldn’t pull up on him to talk about Fiona. The situation from last week left me conflicted. I was usually a man of my word, so when I told her I would call her to set up something between us, that was my plan. So far, I hadn’t reached out yet, and I felt like shit because of it. She hadn’t given me a hard time about it, but I could tell by the way she lingered in my office throughout the day that she wanted me to address it.

Until I knew how I felt, why, and what I wanted to do about it, I figured it was best if I avoided the conversation. I did, however, tell her I hadn’t forgotten about it yesterday before we left for the day, and that seemed to satisfy her.

Last week was Amanda’s week to have EJ, so it was her turn to plan our family day. It was a little awkward between us. I think it was because of the whole no baby, real relationship thing. That wasn’t the first time we’d talked about children, but it was the first time she mentioned wanting to be with someone. I knew that was what had me in my head, but I wasn’t sure what was going on inside of hers.

This week I had EJ and was making our plans, so I decided to call my pops and talk to him about Fiona while I waited for EJ to finish getting ready to go. His hearty laughter filled the line, and I smiled as I heard Bernie Mac’s voice in the background. That man would watch Soul Men or any other movie with Bernie Mac in it every day and laugh like it was the first time.

“Hey, Son.”

“Hey, Pops. Can you talk?”

“Always.” The volume on the TV lowered slightly. “What’s wrong?”

Squeezing the back of my neck, I walked over to the two-chair round table in the corner of my room. I sat down and admitted, “I’m not sure if it’s wrong. It just doesn’t feel entirely right.”

“Start from the beginning.”

“Declan’s daughter is working as my assistant. She wants me.”

He was silent for a while. “Wants you how?”

“I think in all ways. At the last Wine Down Wednesday, she was flirting and even went as far as to offer to quit if it meant we could date.”

“Oh my damn,” he said, and I chuckled because he sounded just like Tommy on Martin . “Well…what’s the problem with that?”

“For one, she’s Declan’s daughter. That’s my mentor. I’m not sure I want to risk messing up our relationship to date his daughter.”

“What makes you think it would mess it up? Are you already anticipating things going wrong? If so, why are we having this conversation?”

I sighed and massaged my temple. “It’s not that I’m anticipating things going wrong. I’m just trying to prepare on all sides, I guess. You know I would never do anything to intentionally hurt a woman but still. The partnership Declan and I have is very lucrative. Not only that, but I respect his mentorship and wisdom. So I don’t know. I don’t know how he’d respond if things didn’t work and she felt some type of way about it.”

“I feel you. What are your other reservations?”

“Her age. I don’t know how old she is, but she’s in her twenties. I think she graduated college like two or three years ago. She can’t be more than twenty-five. I’m not sure what we’ll have in common, if anything at all.”

“Well, that’s why you date, Son. To figure that out.”

I chuckled and nodded my agreement, even though he couldn’t see me. “I know that, Pops. I guess I’m just trying to see if it would even be worth it. On top of those two things, she works for me. That worked for Neko, but I don’t have a guarantee that it’ll work with us.”

“Okay, so that’s three cons. What are the pros of dating this young lady?”

Instead of responding immediately, I considered his question. “She’s intelligent and easy to talk to. She’s pretty as hell. I get a good vibe from her, and I am curious about her. We roll in the same circles, so I wouldn’t feel like I had to work too hard to include her in my life. I just want to be sure it would be worth it.”

“You won’t know that until you give it a chance,” he said before pausing. “From the sound of it, you do want to see what’s up, but you’re hesitant, which is understandable. I would say just go out with her and see how it goes. That way, you won’t have to wonder what if. Like you said, y’all might not have anything in common. At least then you’ll have it out of your system and be able to say you tried. I know how important it is to you to find your wife, so explore all options, but don’t waste your time with anyone you know you can’t see yourself with.”

“You’re right. She comes from a good family. Declan wouldn’t make a bad father-in-law at all. For that reason alone, I’ll commit to at least one date.”

“Good. Make sure you call and let me know how it goes.”

“Fa sho. Thanks, Pops.”

“Always.”

After disconnecting the call, I went to EJ’s room to see if he was ready. We were matching unintentionally. My jeans were white, and I had on a black shirt with a pair of panda Dunks while he had on black jeans and a white shirt. Almost every time I saw my son, I smiled. He was truly my pride and joy. If I did nothing else worth anything in this world, he was what I was most grateful for and proud of. Being a father was my greatest accomplishment. I wanted to be a husband, too, but being Elias Peterson Junior’s father fulfilled me in a way that nothing else would.

“You ready, little man?” I checked.

He gave me a bob of his head. “Yes, sir. I was about to play my game. I thought you were still getting ready.”

We needed to leave now, because if he got on that damn game, he wasn’t going to want to get off. I didn’t mind him playing his game and watching TV in his free time because he was a phenomenal student. He wasn’t really into sports yet, but he played chess and wanted to join the wrestling team next year. As long as he was active, he could play the game as much as he wanted.

“Nah. I’ve been in there talking to your granddaddy waiting for you.”

“Did he tell you Uncle Happy made me drink beer the last time I was over there?”

I laughed as we headed out of his bedroom. It was like a customary rite of passage in my family to sneak a kid alcohol. Pops had already told me Uncle Franklin, or Happy as we called him, tricked EJ into thinking his beer was ginger ale. We all had to learn the hard way not to ask to taste anyone in my family’s drink because you never would get a straight answer as to what was inside.

“Yeah, he told me. How did it taste?”

His face twisted at the memory, making me laugh again. “Disgusting. I don’t see how y’all drink that nasty stuff.”

“Good. Hopefully that’ll keep you from wanting to drink when you’re older.”

“If it tastes like that, you don’t have to worry about me drinking at all .”

We continued to talk as I drove to Amanda’s place. I hoped we’d be able to interact with each other normally this evening and it not feel weird like it did last week. If not, I’d just have to get used to this new normal.