Page 47 of Forbidden Romeo

Almost an hour later, I was four beers in and a little past tipsy. That wasn’t exactly my intention and now I officially had to sober up before picking Katherine up from her audition.

At least I didn’t have to drive. Thank God for Uber and cabs in NYC.

There was a knock at my bedroom door and I stifled a groan, tossing my phone aside.

There was only one person who could be knocking and I thought I had successfully avoided him before he left for work.

I grabbed my Nintendo Switch and pretended to be immersed in my game so he’d hopefully get the idea and leave me alone quickly.

“Come in,” I said.

The door opened and I blinked in surprise.

Apparently, I was wrong… there wasn’t only one person who could be knocking.

There could be two.

And the other was Laurie Fucking McCay.

Hand in hand, standing beside my dad.

“I… I didn’t realize you were here visiting,” I said, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice.

McCay was here.

In my house.

No… in my mother’s house. The house my mother had inherited after her own parents died.

“Holden,” Dad said, his voice booming. Did he have another volume? He was always fucking shouting it seemed, even when he wasn’t.

“What?” I mumbled, keeping my eyes on the shooter game on my screen.

“We have something to tell you.”

With a petulant sigh, I set my Switch down.

The late morning sun streamed in through the curtains and caught something bright, sending a blinding sparkle like a disco ball through my room.

A diamond.

More specifically, a diamond ring on McCay’s finger.

“That is not what I think it is,” I said, unable to take my eyes off the massive diamond.

“I’ve asked Laurie to marry me,” Dad said simply.

Like it was nothing.

Like he wasn’t betraying Mom with this proposal merely a couple months after her death.

“I see that.” Shock doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling at the moment. I feel numb. Nothing. “Mom’s body isn’t cold yet,” I muttered.

“That’s not fair,” Dad said. “I realize it’s fast, but when you know, you know.”

I snorted. “Next thing I know you’re gonna say you can’t help who you fall in love with. You’re a lot of things, Dad, but I never thought cliché was one of them.”

My eyes slid over to McCay standing stoically next to him. “Have you broken up with Keith yet?”