Page 70 of Forever Yours

“Better.”

“You look better.”

Jessi and I took the stools opposite him at the island. I was beyond hungry and ravenously eyed the plates of pancakes. Dad opened the refrigerator door and took out not one, but two canisters of whipped cream.

“You are hands down the best dad in the world,” I said, ripping the plastic cap off, opening my mouth, and—

“Don’t you dare,” Jessi warned me before I could fill my mouth from the nozzle.

With a devil-may-care grin, I pressed the nozzle sideways.

“That’s gross.”

“But it’ssooogood,” I said with my mouth full.

I squirted a mountain of whipped cream on top of my pancakes and dug in.

Dad shook his head and took his first bite of Jessi’s pancakes. “These are fantastic.”

Jessi beamed at the praise. “Thanks.”

“Could you leave me the recipe?”

“Sure.”

“You’re going to cook?”

My dad gave up trying to cook for me when I was twelve after he almost burned the house down. I was usually the one who made our meals. That or takeout from Ruby’s Diner, which I planned to hit up once or twice before I left. I was craving their pot roast and potato skins.

“I’m learning,” Dad replied, his cheeks going pink.

Why was he blushing?

“Ah, I see. Breakfast for a lady friend. Nothing impresses a woman more than a man in the kitchen who knows what he’s doing,” Jessi said.

Lady friend?

“Are youdatingsomeone?”

I had no idea why I whispered that.

Dad’s blush increased tenfold until he was basically the shade of a ripe tomato.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Holy shit. Hewasdating someone. He was finally moving on from Mom.

“When can I meet her?”

Did I know her? Miss Prachett, my eleventh-grade English teacher, had a huge crush on him. I didn’t mind. My grades benefited because of it.

He started choking on pancake. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Yes, we absolutely would.

I couldn’t stop smiling. I was thrilled that he found someone he was interested in. His life had consistently revolved around his work and me. I just wanted him to be happy. And not alone. That was one of the things I worried about most—me going away to college and leaving Dad by himself in this house.

“How’s New York?” he asked Jessi.

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