My eyebrows furrowed, wondering why I had been so naïve not to ask before. I had been so wrapped up in Rook, I had nearly forgotten about it.
“Morning, Regan,” my dad said.
“Yeah, morning,” I mumbled. The woman next to him gave me a tight smile, and I looked her over without a word. She was dressed up in business style clothes, the button up jacket not doing much to hide the breasts spilling out. I couldn’t figure out if she was here for my dad to work with or something else.
I pulled out my phone. I didn’t care if it was rude to text at the table. The bombardment of bringing Elliot and the random woman across from me felt worse.
Regan
What reason would Elliot have had to walk me down that road?
Rook
To get you killed? Push you off a bridge? The options are limited.
Regan
Is there a pretty overlook there?
Rook
I wish you could hear how hard I’m laughing. No, Rebel. Nothing pretty down there unless you want to see a dead body.
Is he bothering you? I can go find him.
Regan
Bothering me? Yes. But he’s sitting right next to me, so there’s no need to go find him.
“Regan, are you here to text or are you here to have a discussion?” my dad asked, his voice booming just enough to scold me.
“To talk, of course. I’m just a little confused why Elliot is here, and who this woman is?”
“This woman,” he said through gritted teeth, “is named Candy, and she is now my fiancé, so please, call her by her name.”
“Candy?” I turned to look at Elliot. “As in your mother, Candy?”
He smirked. “Looks like we are related now.”
My mouth had dropped open, and I wasn’t sure how to close it. “And yourfiancé? You didn’t think that it was importantenough to even let me know you were dating someone, let alone proposing?”
My stomach churned as my eyes jumped to each one of them.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you would handle me dating your ex-boyfriend’s mother very well, and it seems I was right.”
“I thought we were closer than that!” I yelled.
“Really? Because Elliot says you’ve been dating someone new and you haven’t said a word about him. Isn’t that the same thing?”
My mouth finally snapped shut. He did have me on that one. I hadn’t wanted to talk to him about Rook until I knew more about him at first, and then when I did learn more about him, I worried that my dad would know him and his reputation. I planned on introducing them at some point, but it hadn’t felt like the right time yet.
“Well, based on the lack of a smartass response, I think you are understanding of that, at least.”
“Couldn’t we have talked about this in private first?” I asked, looking from Candy to Elliot. My phone buzzed over and over in my hand, and I knew Rook had to be pissed about my last text.
“I didn’t have time for that,” he said. “And I needed to talk to you before Elliot and I take off for a few days.”
“Take off where?”