Page 19 of Wrong Number, Right Silver Fox
"I didn't mean for this to happen. Our connection was instant, and I've been gone for her from day one."
"You don't deserve my daughter."
"I don’t deny that. She's way too good for me. Too smart, too beautiful. She's stolen my heart. She carries it around in that little purse of hers."
For the first time, I see his lips crack almost as if he's going to smile, but it disappears as fast as it formed. If I hadn't been watching him intently, I wouldn't have caught it.
"Don't do this, Jack."
"You talk like I have a choice in the matter. Michael, I'm a goner for her. She's the woman for me. I want to marry her and build a future with her."
This seems to thaw Michael quite a bit, and the frown finally leaves his face.
"It's that serious?"
"It is. For both of us. And you don't have to worry about her job at the university. I've talked to HR already, and they are fine. We just have to sign a few papers."
"Of course, you both work at the same place. I forgot about that." He hesitates. "You have to understand, Jack, this is my little girl. My only daughter. I don't want to see her throw her life away."
"She won't, Michael. I'll be good to her. I've never been married. I don't have any baggage, and I'm a tenured professor at the university. I can give her everything she needs, but she probably can get everything herself. She's very resourceful and independent."
"That she is.” Michael nods. “Promise me she's not only a plaything to you."
"I swear on my life. Emily is the most important thing in my life. I'd do anything to care for and protect her, and I'll be the proudest man to be her husband as soon as she'll let me marry her."
"Okay, let's see if she's already left. She can get you to the hospital to get that nose fixed."
We shake hands and go inside the house. We find Emily crying in her mother's arms. My heart goes out to her, but I let her father do the talking.
"Sweet Pea. I've talked things over with Jack and I'm…You don't have to move back home. You can keep dating him."
I keep quiet during this and cringe a little inside because as soon as it's possible, she's moving in with me. He might regret his words now. I won't step back. I mean to have Emily fully in my life.
"That being said, Sweet Pea, can you take him to the hospital to get his nose set?"
She dabs her eyes with napkins and nods her assent. Then she hands me several more napkins and looks at me funny.
"You're still bleeding," she says.
"Thanks."
She gets up from the couch, gives her parents a goodbye kiss, and walks with me to the car parked in front of the house. She takes the driver’s seat and looks exhausted.
"How did you convince him?"
"It was easy. I told him what you mean to me."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Can we go? This is starting to really hurt."
We spend a couple of hours in the hospital getting me all patched up. Now that we're back at my apartment, I can finish what I started last night.
"I'm so sorry about this, Jack."
"Stop apologizing. There was no way we'd have known your father was my childhood friend. As a matter of fact, I think it would have been worse if it had been a stranger."
"You should get out of these dirty clothes."
