“Hey, Dad. Everything okay?” Cody said.

“Nothing new, slugger. Where’s that pretty wife of yours?” Then Joe turned to me. “There you are, Mare!”

Joe opened his arms for a hug, and I let his six-foot-three frame envelop me. He smelled like what a good dad was supposed to smell like—cedar chips (in retirement he’d become a master gardener) and aftershave, not cigarettes and hard liquor. His glasses sat crookedly on his nose, but he didn’t seem to notice until Debra pointed it out. Joe was a wheat stalk of a man, easily swayed by his wife’s breezy opinions.

Since day one my father-in-law had been an over-greeter. Always ready with a hearty hello and a hug. Cody and I had been dating for about a month when he asked if he could introduce me to his parents. I was a mixed girl from the inner city dating their good old boy. The thought petrified me, especially if they were anything like my own parents. I could only imagine what my parents would have thought about Cody, had they ever had the chance to meet him. Probably that he was an entitled man-child with something to prove. Dad said that about every guy I dated.

When Dad wasn’t insulting my boyfriends, he was telling my friends enough terrible dad jokes to embarrass me for a lifetime. And my mother—God rest her soul—wanted so badly to be friends with my friends that she forgot to be my mom. But that first dinner with Joe and Debra sealed the deal for me as Joe recounted stories of run-ins with the police back in the early 1960s during his drag racing days along The Ardmore, a miles-long stretch of road with endless stoplights, perfect for attracting hot-rodders, along with the Steel City’s most hard-ass cops—or the fuzz, as Joe called them. Joe was proud that his black ’57 Chevy Bel Air had routinely blown the competition off the road, and he wore his jail time like a badge of honor.

I desperately wanted their approval ever since that day. It didn’t take much. They liked me for me—the version of me that I showed them, at least.

“You look beautiful, Marin,” Debra whispered in my ear, taking her turn for a hug. It was one of my favorite things about my in-laws, their natural paternal charm that I missed so much. When you’re parentless, you notice such things and appreciate them. Cody, on the other hand, stiffened as his mother hugged him against his will. Cody was clearly spoiled on affection. He didn’t know how lucky he was.

“Thanks. You too, Mom.” I kept my voice low in respect of the strain tightening the air.