As Raven wrestled the wiggly dog into the house, I caught a glimpse of the inside. There was a wall of what appeared like magazines in the foyer.

When I glanced at Taylor, she was watching me. This was a sore spot. I wasn’t trying to embarrass her, but before we could discuss it, the man I assumed was Taylor’s dad parked his car alongside mine.

He got out slowly and had to gather a few bags and an armload of mail. I leaned close to Taylor. “Anything I need to know?”

She silently shook her head. There was no prep for this or what this man thought of me. Did he even know that Taylor was living at my place?

“You home? I didn't know you were coming. Gas isn’t cheap.” He stopped and rocked back on his heels. He took me in from top to bottom. He flinched at some of my more perceived feminine choices. I was used to this. To guys like him. I never tried to fit in, so I was used to having people pass judgment on me. “Who’s this?”

I stepped forward and stuck out my hand. My father had ingrained in me since a young age that men shook hands, so I always offered. It was also a nice secret way to throw any haters off-balance. I took my hat off inside, if I had one on. I held doors open for ladies and men. I could play a mean game of hoops. All the things about masculinity that I accepted. A few things. But they mattered to guys like this. Judgment passers. He did shake my hand, though, after shuffling his burden around to free up a hand. It was a hard shake. A warning shake. I held eye contact. He wasn’t intimidating me.

“Yeah. It was last minute. Austin, my dad. Dad, this is Austin.”

I watched her swallow and then saw anger flare in her dad’s eyes. They were having a silent conversation. It had to be about the condition of their place. It was obvious there were struggles going on here.

“Mr. Boland.” I made sure to use Taylor’s last name to greet him.

Taylor offered, “We were just leaving. I had to drop off something.”

She was keeping it vague. I didn’t add to anything. Her father didn’t hug her. He just nodded.

And then we were headed back to my car. I held the door open for her and she collapsed on my side. I saw that Raven and Axel were waiting at the screen door.

After I got to the driver’s side and sat down behind the wheel, I looked at Taylor, who had her head in her hands. “Can we just go? Please. That’s not anything I ever wanted you to see.”