“You have my number, honey. Call me after your shift and maybe I’ll let you buy me a drink,” Dad says with a wink to the hostess, who scuttles away, blushing. “Champ!” he bellows. He holds out his arms and I scoot out of the booth to embrace my father. “You look good, Son. I’m so happy to see you.” He clasps his forearm around my shoulders and pats my back with gusto. “So happy.”
“Hey, Dad,” I mumble into his shoulder. My dad still has a solid two inches of height on me. I have a bit more muscle, but not by much. Admittedly, he’s in great shape for fifty-six. “Why are you so late?”
“Ah, I’m sorry, bud. I didn’t mean to be rude. Truthfully, I fell asleep in my hotel room. If I wasn’t staying right upstairs, this dinner might’ve turned into a nightcap. By the time I threw on a sports coat and ran out the door, I was already twenty minutes late.”
I nod, but I’m skeptical. I believe he was sleeping. I just doubt he was alone. “Dad, this is Avery Scott.” Ah, fuck it. I’m just going to say it. Let’s see what she does. “My date.”
She wiggles to the edge of the long booth and rises, her dainty hand extended. “Mr. Harvey, it’s a pleasure to meet you. May I just say Finn is your spitting image.”
Dad takes her hand with a huge smile on his tan face. His salt-and-pepper brows lift animatedly. “Hey, honey. Call me Junior, please. It’s so nice to meet you, too. And no, no way. My boy got all the good looks. Such a handsome fellow.”
“Well, with that, I agree.”
Still shaking her hand, Dad pulls her into an uncomfortably tight hug. Avery’s breasts flatten against his abdomen. “We’re huggers in this family, little lady.”
Penny returns to the table as if she was summoned, and I’m suddenly aware our fanfare of a greeting is blocking the thruway for the servers. She’s holding a platter of drinks and appetizers and she needs us to take our seats.
“Sit with me, baby.” I hold out my hand, pulling Avery to my side and ushering her into my side of the booth. I sit down, closing her in protectively. Dad replaces Avery on the opposite side of the booth after unbuttoning his suit jacket and neatly hooking it on the dedicated golden hanger on the outside of our booth. Man, this place is pretentious.
“Show Me Love, Start Me Up,” Penny mumbles as she slides Avery’s colorful cocktails her way, “and a Johnnie Walker Blue, neat, for you, sir.” She places the platter of fried calamari with four different dipping sauces and the piping hot plate of stuffed mushrooms between us. “Careful, the mushrooms are scorching hot.”
After Dad requests a scotch, we assure her we’re all set and need a minute with the menu before she hurries off again.
Dad raises his brows. “Show Me Love and Start Me Up? Are those drink names?”
Avery lets out a light laugh. “They are, indeed. I ordered two. Would you like one while you wait for your drink?”
“Hmmm,” Dad says, “which are you willing to share?”
“Either. I liked the sound of them both and couldn’t choose.”
My jaw clenches as Dad waggles his brows at Avery. “How about we try them both? We can switch halfway.”
I slide my whiskey over to Dad in a huff. “Take mine, Dad. You’re not a cocktail guy.”
“A man can change,” he says through a chuckle.
Or stay exactly the same.
He takes a sip of my drink and sighs with pleasure. “I do like my Johnnie, neat.”
Wedging my arm between the small of Avery’s back and the cushioned back of the booth, I squeeze her hip. “Can I try the light green one?” I ask before planting a kiss on her temple. I like playing house. I like touching her like this. It’s how it should be. She’s mine.
She takes a little sip of her drink in the martini glass first and puckers her lips like it’s sour. “Oof, tangy, but really good. I think you’ll like it.” She slides the glass across the table toward me, careful not to spill a drop on the clean white linen tablecloth.
“Aren’t you two cute? How’d you meet?”
“I’m Finn’s neighbor for the summer. I’m house-sitting. We ran into each other and I offered to help him with his photography business.”
“How so?” Dad asks.
“I’m a brand strategist. I’m helping to develop some growth plans for Finn’s studio.”
“Growth? So, like marketing?”
Avery teeters her head. “There’s a little crossover in services when I work with smaller businesses. With any company with annual revenue in the six figures, I’ll do it all. I’ll help establish a brand image, provide insight into growth tactics, and even help implement marketing strategies. But mainly, when I work with larger companies, I create a vision for the company, and usually the established marketing team of said company executes that vision. For example, Finn said you’re a commercial pilot?”
“I am.”
“Who do you fly for?”
“Royalty Airlines.”
“Ah, see, I’m familiar with that brand and it’s an interesting story—” Avery stops abruptly and looks up to meet my eyes as if to ask if she’s talking too much. I squeeze her hip under the table tenderly.
“What’s interesting, baby?” I’m not sure if I particularly care about the story behind Royalty Airlines. I’m just liking how she’s letting me call her baby all over the place, especially in front of my dad.
“So Royalty Airlines’ logo is purple, as are their seats and uniforms.”
My dad nods along. “Everything is purple. Thank God I look good in it.”
Her light laugh is forced. The way you’d laugh in obligation at your boss’s joke. “Well, a lot of people assume purple means royalty and the color choice is obvious, but that wasn’t the company’s intention—a happy accident maybe. About forty years ago, Royalty Airlines had a blue logo, but what they discovered at the turn of the century was that it was the matriarch of the household that was the one researching options and making the final decision on flights and travel. So, if the flight price points were competitive and a woman had to choose between very similar airline companies with masculine logos and colors, there was a slight advantage to appealing toward a more feminine style.”
“Interesting…” Dad says. The way his brows are furrowed, and Avery has his full attention, I know he means it.
“So Royalty did a complete branding overhaul. And the more feedback they got from their new consumer base, the more they changed about the airline policies. Families boarding with children of age five and under would be seated first versus the other airlines at the time that was only offering early boarding for families with children two and under. They made their snacks more kid-friendly and offered organic juice boxes and were one of the first companies to offer free in-flight Disney movies. The lavatories are a little bigger to accommodate changing tables. The planes are stocked with sanitary cover-ups for breastfeeding. Royalty went a step even further than appealing to women. They became the airline for—”
“Mothers,” Dad finishes for her.