“Well, I’m sure you know that I’m a big skier,” Dad boasts. “I spend most of my winters up there in Vermont, skiing Stratton and Killington with my kids.”

“Yeah, Chase told me,” Jack says, flashing me a smile.

“You’ll have to come skiing with us,” Dad says.

“I always go with my pops, too,” Jack says. “Me and my sister, Claire. She’s about Taylor’s age. They’d probably get along well.”

“You grew up on the mountains, huh?” Dad sits back and puts his hands behind his head. “Sounds like the dream. What made you want to leave that for Upstate New York?”

Jack looks to me. “Had to get out of my comfort zone and figure out who I am away from all that. My best friend, Callum, is apprenticing with my dad at the distillery and the farm, and he tried to get me in there, too. Callum’s two years older than me. After my older brother went into teaching, my dad was pretty disappointed I wanted to study writing.”

“Writing,” Dad scoffs. “What do you even do with a writing degree?” Then his eyes widen, realizing he put his foot into his mouth again, and he slams forward. “I didn’t mean it like that—”

But Jack just laughs it off. “No, my pops says the same thing. I get it.”

“Can’t deny the heart,” I add.

“Right,” Jack agrees. “Exactly. And he gets that, too. I hope.”

“You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself,” Dad says.

“Dad!”

“What?” Dad throws his hands up. “He does.”

“Nah,” Jack says. “I love writing, and I love it at CIA. My brother wants me to teach, like him, so there’s that. I get a lot of pressure to follow in footsteps that aren’t mine.” His cheeks go red. “I do miss my family, though. Especially my dad and bro. And Callum.”

It’s strange how little I know about Jack’s best friend, yet he felt comfortable sharing intimate shit about our sex life with mine.

“This is nice, though, you having me here for Taylor’s birthday. I appreciate it, Mr. Arthur.”

“Ah, call me Frank,” Dad says. “We’re happy to have you, right, Chase?”

“Absolutely.” I reach for Jack’s thigh, but he shakes me off, his leg moving as restlessly as mine do.

“Maybe over the holidays, our families can meet up at Killington.”

As much as Dad frustrates me, it is nice that he’s genuinely interested in my boyfriend. I’ll give him that.

Jack nods erratically, and I know it must be because Jack isn’t out to his parents, so the chance of all of us spending any time together like that is about zero percent.

“But I’ll have to warn you, if the conditions aren’t perfect, Chase’ll have a fit,” Dad says with a belly laugh.

Jack and I exchange glances.