Page 27 of Not Quite Perfect

Roni gasped. “Language!”

“Fuck my language,” Alex growled, pushing back from the table and stalking out.

All around us, the room went silent. My dad appeared completely unruffled while Drew and Victoria looked shell-shocked. Across the table, Theo’s eyes were locked on his sister, his gaze probing.

After several charged seconds, Roni folded her napkin and set it next to her plate. She grabbed ahold of my father’s hand and looked at me, her gaze filled with sympathy. I got the impression that while I’d failed to fill her daughter in on my brief, tumultuous marriage, my father hadn’t skipped telling Roni about all of his.

“And how long ago was your divorce, David?”

Underneath the table, I set my hand on Victoria’s thigh, but she quickly scooted out of reach.

“Three years,” I answered, my voice cracking. I hoped it seemed as far in the past to her as it did to me.

Victoria pushed her chair back and set her napkin over her plate of uneaten food. “I’m going to go find Alex.”

I started to reach for her hand, but then stopped when her mother’s gaze landed on me. Her lips were flattened into a grimace and the look in her eyes was shrewd and assessing. My palm fell back down onto the table as Victoria speed walked out of the room in the direction her brother had just disappeared. I followed her with my eyes, but knew better than to go chasing after her. We’d have zero privacy if I did, and this was not a conversation we should have surrounded by her family. Or what was left of mine.

Drew dropped down into Victoria’s vacant seat and let out a long, theatrical sigh. “Since this seems to be the time for dramatic pronouncements, you should probably all know that I’m bisexual.” From the tightness in his shoulders and the clenching of his jaw, it was clear to me that he expected shock at best, or outrage at worst.

He got neither.

His mother smiled fondly. “You think we didn’t know that already, dear?”

“You did?” he gaped, pressing his palms to the table and leaning forward. He stared at Theo, who was nodding in agreement. “Did Victoria rat me out?” Drew’s eyes squinted into narrow slits.

Theo shook his head and his lips hitched to the side with a small smile. “I was at the House of Blues with a business partner a couple months back. So were you.”

“Shit.” Drew winced, then fell back in his seat. Running a shaking hand through his hair, he faced his mom. “How didyouknow?”

“I’ve always known,” she answered calmly.

Figuring this discussion required privacy, I moved to leave when Drew’s gaze darted to me and then flicked toward the door. “No, stay.”

I heard his message loud and clear. He didn’t want me chasing after his sister.

I nodded and settled back down in my chair.

Satisfied, he swung his eyes back to his mom. “How could you know whenIdidn’t even know myself?”

Roni’s face softened. “When you were a little boy, you went through a long phase where you wereveryfascinated with kissing. You frequently asked why boys couldn’t kiss other boys.”

“I did?”

She nodded. “You did. And I used to tell you a boy could kiss anyone he wanted, provided the other person wanted him to. It was more important to me that you understood consent than it was who you might grow up and feel attraction toward.”

“Wow,” Drew breathed, his gaze fixed firmly on the table. Eventually, he raised his eyes back to Theo. “Does Alex know?”

“I imagine so,” Theo replied. “You know Alex. He notices everything.”

“Did Victoria tellyou?”

“Why would Victoria have said anything David?” my dad asked.

Interesting.

Roni suspected Victoria had a crush on me, but apparently she hadn’t mentioned it to my dad. Maybe she’d chosen to remain silent on the topic lest the idea of their two children being together upset him. Not that I thought my dad would have cared. At this point in his life, if the scandal over marrying his son’s girlfriend hadn’t sullied his reputation, me falling in love with his wife’s daughter wasn’t going to be what did. If anything, the old man probably would have slapped me on the back and congratulated my fine taste in women.

Across from me, Theo gave a tiny, imperceptible shake of his head. It was so small that had I not been paying attention, I might have missed it. But like Drew before him, Theo’s message was clear. Now was not the time to spill mine and Victoria’s secret. Not that I had any intention of doing so.

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