“Let’s get back and we can organize on the drive. How long until your father gets to town?” I asked.

“Oh, well, he has to get my sister back from her friend's house, so we’ve maybe got like three hours,” She responded.

“We can make that work. Let's do it.” I looked around the room, assessing.

Working together, we picked up all of our things and neatened the house for my friends. Taylor and I kissed a few more times, but I could tell that we both had a lot on our mind when we got back into my car. I sent a text message to my friends to let them know we were leaving the house early. They responded by saying that they were setting the alarm remotely.

Halfway home, Taylor started to cry. I didn’t know what to do or where to go.

“I’ve got it. How about The Coffee Shop? That seems reasonable? Right?” I waited to see if that would work for her.

“That could work. Do you think Tinsley could keep Axel? Because I had Raven tell Dad Axel ran away.” She looked bashful about the fib.

“For sure. I think we’ll be lucky to get Axel back. Parker wants to run a marathon with him.” I wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Thanks, that’ll be good. I think a coffee place will be good. But what do I tell him? He’ll never understand why we are pretending to date.”

I took a breath. “How about it’s not a lie? How about we really are dating? I’ll be happy to meet your dad. I mean, unless you don’t want me to.”

“I'll cut anyone out of my life that doesn’t want to meet you and accept you for being the amazing guy I'm getting the honor of being with.”

It meant something that she was willing to be so all in. “Thank you so much.”

I put the car in gear. I guess I was meeting Taylor’s dad tonight and that was quicker than I anticipated, but it was going to happen.

* * *

TAYLOR

I still felt like I was flying blind. I really wanted to see what was going on online. Dad insisting on meeting me pretty much immediately after finding out about this scandal was throwing me for a loop. I could never tell from looking at Austin. He had a calm smile and would squeeze my hands from time to time. He couldn’t check his phone while we were driving, but he assured me that we could look at the screenshots as soon as he had them. The drive home was tense for me, and I texted back-and-forth with Peaches.

ME: You’ll never guess where I’m going.

PEACHES: To run far, far away from Teddi when she realizes you guys are going out for real?