She yanks her hands out of my hold. The feeling of rejection almost kills me. But then she rests one on my chest, the other moving my cap backwards. She settles her hand on the back of neck and pulls my face down to hers.

And then she does it again—wipes the stupid smirk off my face with her mouth.

I don't realize I've lifted her in the air until Logan shouts at us to break it up.

I set her on the ground, my eyes never leaving hers.

She laughs quietly before wrapping her arms around my waist. Her head tilts all the way back to look up at me. "So are you coming over after practice?"

"Of course."

"Good, my dad wants to meet you."

My face falls.

She laughs.

"COME ON!" Logan yells.

"See you soon," she says, walking backwards and away from me. Then I grab my hat to cover my junk and sit on a bench. "I need a minute," I shout to Logan.

Stupid boner.

***

My palms are already sweating when I knock on her door.

She opens it with a smile already in place. It should calm me, but it doesn't.

"Are you okay?"

I nod.

She eyes me warily before taking my hand and leading me to the kitchen. Her Dad's already there—sitting at the counter. He gazes up when I walk into the room.

And then he grunts.

I swear it—even if I'd walked up to the house and seen him cleaning a shotgun on the porch—that single grunt is a shit ton more intimidating.

Lucy walks me to the other side of the counter and motions for me to sit.

I do.

He grunts again.

I flinch.

"Stop it, Daddy," she hisses from next to me.

And then he chuckles, his entire body shaking with the force of it.

I don't dare laugh. Or even smile. I'm too scared to do anything.

She holds my hand under the counter. "He's joking," she says, but it makes no difference.

He comes to a stand, his huge frame shadowing us. He opens his mouth, and for a split second I envision Godzilla eating all the people of Tokyo. This is bad. This is really, really bad.

"Breathe, son," he says. And I do. I'd do anything he asks—shotgun or not. "So..." He leans his elbows on the counter and looks between Lucy and I. He let's out a sigh and scratches his beard. "I'm out of my element here. I don't really know what I should be saying." He shakes his head slowly, and then looks right at me. But it's not the same look. This one isn't made for intimidation.

We stare at each other for so long that I wonder if he's ever going to speak. "She's my little girl, Cameron." His voice breaks. Lucy holds my hand tighter. "She's my little girl and I don't know what to say right now. Kathy—Lucy's mother, she would have been great at this. This whole meeting you... setting rules thing." He smiles, but it's sad. "I just..." his words die in the air. He looks at Lucy with a cloud of failure and disappointment on his face.

I clear my throat. He focuses his gaze on me. I take a deep breath, and let it out in a whoosh. "I've been seeing Lucy almost every day since your wife passed, sir. I enjoy spending time with her and the boys. The boys have become like brothers to me. So I intend—no—I hope to still be able to do that. I have a ten o'clock curfew on weekdays, and a one a.m. curfew on weekends. But I can change that to whatever Lucy wants, or whatever you set for her. I'm not sure if you know that I help coach the twins at the little league games on the weekend. I'd like to be able to take Lucy out afterwards. I don't really know what we'd be doing; she's my first girlfriend so I guess I'd need to think of some stuff. But I can be sure to run things by you first, sir, if that's what you want. We're only fifteen. My mode of transportation is a bike, so I don't think we'd be doing much of anything. I turn sixteen in a few months and plan to get my license. When that happens, I'll come to you and we can set new ground rules. If that suits you, sir."

Silence.

Then his sharp intake of breath fills my ears. He slowly comes to a stand and raises a hand. I flinch and shut my eyes tight, waiting for the impact of his fist on my face.

It never comes.

When I open my eyes, his smile is tight.

"Shake his hand," Lucy whispers.

My gaze moves to his outstretched, waiting, hand. I stand and shake it.

"I'm Tom," he says, and then turns to Lucy. "Could you give us a minute?"

"Dad!" Lucy whines.

"It's okay, Luce," I assure, releasing his hand.

He waits until she's out of the room before speaking. "Lucy describes you as fierce."

I grimace. "Because I punched you? I'm sorry about that."

"No," he says shaking his head. "She says you're fierce in the way you care about her. And the way you protect her."

"I guess." I shrug.

He lets out a heavy breath. "She's right. It's not hard to see that. It's also not hard to see that the boys like having you around. To be honest, Cameron, I'm not really happy that she has a boyfriend. And I'm not happy that said boyfriend has such a big presence in her life. But I'm not going to stop it. It's not to say that I don't like you, I just don't like it. But I'll tolerate it. That's all I can offer for now."

I jerk my head in a nod. "And that's all I can ask for, sir."

***

She walks ahead of me, through the woods behind her house, laughing the entire time. "You should have seen your face!"