Axl was gone before I even got out of bed in the morning on Thursday (also stuck in a post-fuck haze, that said, his day started super early, he was always out the door before seven, sometimes earlier than that, and I wasn’t usually out of bed until nine, earliest, more often closing on ten).

But when I finally pulled myself out of bed and got down to loading up the Smeg, I opened up the fridge and saw my lonely, woeful salted caramel creamer and kicked myself for not hitting the grocery store on the way from Dad’s after my phone conversation with Axl.

I rectified that yesterday (we now had white chocolate mocha, cinnamon, vanilla, toffeenut and the aforementioned salted caramel).

And he’d noticed.

Rounding that out, Thursday included Dad calling me and saying he was good on his own.

Which prompted a short conversation that he did not get impatient with (first shocker), that included me asking if everything was all right with him (he assured me it was). If he was taking care of his health (he assured me of that too, second shocker, because he sounded like he wasn’t lying). And if we were all right.

“It’s just that meeting your man made me realize I lean on you too much,” he’d said to that last (third shocker). “I love to see you, Hattie, but you’re a young woman. The last thing you need is to be spending every night with your father.”

He was right about that.

It was still a shock.

Thus Thursday also included me calling Mom to share not only this turn of events, but belatedly share that I was seeing someone, I really liked him, and it’d be good if we all found a time to sit down together.

She’d been wary of Dad, “He’s pulling his usual stuff, Hattie, don’t fall for it,” and ecstatic about Axl, “I can’t wait to meet him! We’ll fix a time!”

Though, the second seemed weird and forced. However, not forced in the fact she was excited I was seeing someone I really liked, but the fix-the-time part.

Which was something to think on, though not at that time push her about.

Because Mom had had a few years of being in what, at times, I worried was a concerning funk, but the last couple of years, she seemed to be moving on from it.

But she never didn’t want to see me.

I didn’t like that and put it on my mental agenda to give her time and deal with it later.

Thursday also included me talking all this through with Axl after he took me out for our second date, Mexican at Blue Bonnet.

Axl concurred with Mom about being wary of Dad, and since he’d never met her, “Got no take, baby, but I’m lookin’ forward to meeting her.”