𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

7│SINGLED OUT

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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ sɪɴɢʟᴇᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ ꒱


❝ GUITARISTS ALWAYS CARRY
AROUND A LUCKY PICK ❞

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That Saturday, Barron joined the other two Capelwoods for dinner as had become their tradition. Daly had made a chicken dish and it was always a nice surprise to Juliet— who had lived most of her life off school food, her friend's food or pasta— that her mom was such a good cook. 

The three of them were sitting around the coffee table in the den like usual since Daly hadn't made an effort to get a third tall chair for the kitchen table. Juliet had just finished the recount of recent hijinks she, Cory and Shawn got up to during the school week (with occasional notes about Topanga) while she studiously ignored her parents' amused glances whenever she mentioned Shawn's name abnormally often.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Daly changed the subject. "So, how's the construction project going?"

"Quite well," Barron answered, pleased that she had mostly forgiven him for his. . . oversight in omitting the story until the last minute. "I've got all the permits approved and we'll be ready to start construction in June."

"June?" Juliet asked, confused, "why would you wait so long? Can't you get started sooner?"

"Well, yes," he admitted, "I could start as early as three weeks from now. But I didn't want to interrupt your school routine until I had to so I decided it was best to wait until summer."

The redhead was surprised by his thoughtfulness. "Thank you."

"Of course," he told her, "if I was in your place I wouldn't want my parents to disrupt my schedule, either, if they had the power to do so. I do, and so that's what I did. Of course, we'll have to figure out where you're going to stay during the construction but I'm sure you've already been thinking about it."

"Yeah," she agreed, "I thought I might stay with. . ." she trailed off hesitantly before she offered: "Shawn."

"Topanga," her mother corrected her.

"Topanga," Juliet amended her statement quickly. "I thought I might stay with Topanga."

"That sounds like it will be a lot of fun," Daly said with a smile. "Cory and Shawn are wonderful, of course, but it's nice that you have a female friend to spend time with."

"I know. After spending so much time with the boys, Topanga pretty much had to teach me everything about being a girl."

"I had. . . another thought," Barron spoke up tentatively. Juliet turned her attention to him and he resumed: "I of course agree that you can spend time with your friend, but I was thinking that, maybe, you'd like to spend the weekends with me?"

"With you?" she repeated curiously, "what do you mean?"

"I usually rent apartments in New York when I have to be physically at work but my. . . regular home we'll call it, is upstate and a great place to spend the summer and time when you're not at school. If you're interested, you could come visit next weekend to see if you'd like it."

Juliet didn't say anything for several long moments, clearly making the dark-haired man anxious about her answer. He needn't have worried. Of course she was going to say yes. She was just in awe of the role her father was playing in her life now. For so long, she had believed that he must be a terrible person, that he would hate her and wish she hadn't been born. Over the months that she'd gotten to know him, he'd proved himself over and over again and shown that none of these things were true. He made every effort to spend time with her when their schedules allowed, he tried to get to know her as a person rather than buying her affection and he was everything she had ever dreamed a father could be.