The Love I Need

Chapter 65

"Cal." A large man with a whitening beard shakes Cal's hand and affectionately claps him on the back when we step inside. "Good to see you, son." He looks back at me and speaks with a mischievous grin, "And Emy. My, my, how my granddaughter has grown."

I'm taken aback by his words but then hear Cal laugh while April rolls her eyes.

"Funny as always, Marv," Cal comments sarcastically while he crosses the room to where Mrs. Morrison is sitting. "Wendy, you're looking beautiful as ever." He stoops down to hug the woman on the couch, and she giggles while she returns the embrace.

"And you're just as charming, aren't you?"

"I do my best," Cal answers while he releases her from the hug. He winks at her as he takes a step back and then walks to where April is standing near the entrance to the kitchen.

"Dad, I already told you that Emy is at a friend's. Maybe, if you two ever gave us a heads up that you were coming to visit, she would have been here," April explains with clear annoyance in her voice. "This is our good friend, Emilia."

"Ape..." Cal runs his hand down her back as if telling her to relax, earning himself a small glare.

"It's good to meet you, Emilia." Marv offers me his hand, and when I take it he surprises me by pulling me into a hug. "Any friend of a Morrison-O'Malley-Jones is a friend of ours."

I stiffly return the hug and step back with an awkward laugh. "Same to you, Mr. Morrison."

"Ah, Marv or Marvin is fine, and my wife here goes by Wendy. Or Beautiful." He grins at me and some of my awkwardness melts away from the warmth he exudes. He's basically an older, slightly shorter version of his endearing son.

"It's just Jones. She didn't hyphenate her name," Cal explains in an even tone but his tight jaw makes it obvious to everyone in the room that the comment from Marvin didn't sit well with him.

Marvin chuckles and moves to join his wife on the couch. "My mistake, son. I didn't mean anything by it." He takes a seat while smiling at Cal. "This is why I like you. You're never afraid to put someone in their place when it comes to our daughter, are you?"

Cal returns the smile with a shake of his head and steps closer to April to move an arm around her waist. "No, Sir."

And just like that, all is well between the two men again.

"Speaking of our son, where is your brother?" Wendy asks, turning in her seat to look in Cal and April's direction while I lower myself into the remaining chair. "He wasn't in church with you?"

"He was, and he should be here for lunch. He was visiting with Megan first," April explains. "Did you both want coffee or do you want tea, Mom?"

"Coffee is fine, dear," Wendy answers, and April heads into the kitchen to get their drinks ready.

Wendy looks over at Marvin with an excited grin. "Did you hear that, Marv? Theo is seeing Megan again!"

"Actually-" Cal begins while looking at me, but thankfully he gets the message and shuts his mouth when I widen my eyes at him in alarm.

The last thing I want is for Cal to tell Theo's parents that we're together. I don't even know if we are together. We haven't exactly had that conversation, and since Theo doesn't want to have sex I'm not sure what being together with him would even look like.

Besides, Wendy seems pretty thrilled about the idea of Theo and Megan-Theo's high school sweetheart, the perfect church girl and baker extraordinaire... How can I compete with that?

"It's about time he smartened up," Marvin chuckles. "What were you going to say, Cal?"

Cal shrugs awkwardly and crosses the room to perch on the armrest of the couch next to Wendy. "Uh, I was just gonna say that I'm not sure he's exactly seeing her. Aren't they just friends?"