I let myself into my dad's house after I knocked and there was no answer. His car was still in the driveway, and I could hear water running upstairs as I entered the living room.

"Hey, Dad, it's me!" I called up.

"One second!"

I headed into the kitchen, and a stack of mail on the counter attracted my attention before I could stop myself. Underneath a couple of bills, a thick envelope with the name Dr. Kyle Danvers in the return address sat unopened.

"Hi, sweetheart." My dad's voice forced me to spin around before I could investigate further.

"Hi, Dad," I replied, my stomach twisting slightly in guilt. I had kind of forgotten my concerns about my dad with everything going on with Alex.

He gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Always happy to see you," he said. He grabbed the pile of mail off the counter that I so desperately wanted to look at and threw it in a box. "What's up?"

Right. I had an actual purpose for the visit, not just snooping around my dad's mail. And clearly, he wanted to keep things private. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."
My dad's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," I reassured him. "Everything's great, actually."

My dad gave me a questioning smile. "Oh? Great, you say?"

I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. It had been a few hours since I left Alex's house, but everything, the date, the sex, waking up with him in the morning, still hung around me like a euphoric mist. I realized then that my dad probably figured something was up the minute he saw me. "It's about Alex."

My dad waited for me to continue.

"We started dating."

My dad was silent for a moment. "I mean, Ana, were you expecting this to be a huge shock for me?" he finally asked.

That gave me pause. "No?" I finally said. Then I shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't really know how you would react."

"Ana, honey, I am your dad," he reminded me. "And you're young and work in a bar with a young clientele, at least during the summer. I know what it looks like when you're not giving someone the time of day. And well, I can see you have been giving Alex the time of day."

"Alright," I said, still unsure how to feel about his reaction. "I'm going to try and ignore just how perceptive you are with my interactions with men. So, you're okay with it? I know it's a little weird since he technically works for us."

"He works for me," my dad pointed out. "As do you. Everyone sees you as a manager, but technically, you're at the same level as everyone else."

I guess that was true. Everyone listened to me, but on paper, there was nothing really stating that they had to. "Yeah, why is that again?" I asked him. "I feel like I would get a raise if you gave me the title."

"It would also be a lot messier if you had the title and started dating an employee," my dad said.

I narrowed my eyes. "Please don't tell me that you haven't given me an official promotion because you've been concerned about my dating life."

My dad laughed. "Not exactly, but I can't deny that it's part of it. And don't be angry," he said hastily, "if I gave you the title you wouldn't even get a raise. I'm paying you what I would pay a manager."

I let out a huff. "You haven't been collaborating with Emilia, have you?" I grumbled. "Because she's just as obsessed with my dating life. Or my previous lack of."

My dad just chuckled. "Are you happy with him, sweetheart?"

The smile returned. "Yeah, Dad, I really am," I said softly.

My dad came over and kissed my forehead. "Then of course I'm okay with it," he said. "You deserve to be happy."

"Which brings me to my next thing," I said. I explained to my dad about going to New York and the event for Alex's dad and how the two of us would need to miss a long weekend. "I know that puts us short behind the bar, but I'm sure—"

"Ana, yes, go." My dad cut me off. "You seem to forget, I used to work behind that bar, with Ryan I might add. We'll survive."

"Are you sure?"

"I want you to do fun things, Ana," my dad said. He grew slightly somber. "Your mom would want you to do fun things," he said quietly. "So yes, I want you to go to New York with the guy you're dating and go to a fancy party and everything."

He rarely mentioned Mom. "Dad," I asked hesitantly, "do you think Mom would have liked him?"

"Liked Alex?" My dad stared off into the distance, a wistful look in his eyes. "Yeah, I do. I think she would have liked him a lot."

I let out a sigh. "Honesty, I thought so, too. I just, I just kind of wished she could have met him."

My dad wrapped me in a hug. "I know. But she liked seeing you happy, and if he does that, then I know she would have loved him. Don't worry about the bar. You two should have a weekend of fun together."

The next few weeks flew by. Emilia, of course, was in full support of me and Alex going away together. New spread fast at the bar that the two of us were dating. Ella and Janice wasted no time in giving me grief, constantly reminding me about how this needed to be a 'safe work environment' for everyone. Ryan just grinned when I told him. Something told me that, like Emilia, he figured out that Alex and I were inevitably going to start dating before either of us had.

In a lot of ways, those three weeks were nothing short of blissful. Alex and I went out every free night we had, and even though nothing was as elaborate as our first date, I didn't care. I didn't have to keep my feelings to myself anymore. I could kiss him in public without worrying what people would think, and I was starting to feel way more comfortable with PDA than I ever had been before. And somehow, the sex had only gotten better. For every time we fucked, we also made love, and we both kept our promises to each other. We both found we had a talent for talking dirty to each other, and I also began to wonder how I had survived so long without Alex's talents for making me orgasm.

I knew he was nervous about New York. I was, too. But by the time the day rolled around for us to leave, everything was just so good, I knew we would be able to get through it, together.