Chapter 10

"Akaliiani Suzanne (her middle name was after her father's mother) Benet! I am assuming you were with a man?"

"Yes, dad, and I only met him last night…" she trailed off waiting for the explosion that she knew was coming.

He sat there for a moment in open mouthed shock, and then said, "I thought your mother and I had brought you up better than that."

"You did dad. You brought me up to help someone in need and AJ was going through a crisis. We sat up all night in that diner out on Route 7 and talked until the sun came up."

"Oh," her father said, stopped in his tracks by his daughter doing something to help someone rather than the way he had thought she had spent the night, "In crisis you say? Is he alright now?"

"He seemed fine when I saw him for lunch today," she answered.

Noticing for the first time since she got home, the pink in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes, Gerald had a new question for her, "So you like him, girl?"

"Yes, daddy! He is very special!"

"And you know this after just meeting him last night?"

"I do! We talked for hours getting to know each other. If I look at the dates I've been on in the past, we were doing good to have one hour of serious conversation. Last night AJ and I had nine hours together! I know it's probably way too soon for him to be thinking this way, but I know he's the one for me! I'd really like to bring him to your birthday party next week."

"Liiani that is hardly fair to the poor boy! You know all your brothers are coming home for this. It wouldn't be very nice to spring the whole family on him at once. Why don't you bring him by this weekend? We could cook out and I could meet him alone before your brothers are here to give him the once over."

"That sounds like a great idea! I have to work Sunday, so Saturday would be better for me. I will check with him when I see him for dinner tomorrow."

"Lunch today, dinner tomorrow…he seems to be moving pretty fast on his own," Gerald observed.

"Oh, I hope so dad!" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek and taking off with a skip in her step to her own apartment.

She spent the afternoon tidying up, getting caught up on both her own, and her father's laundry, as well as making dinner for the two of them. Liiani had taken over the cooking when one day Gerald had become engrossed in a program on the History channel and forgot he'd had dinner in the oven. After the smoke had cleared, they'd come to this new arrangement. Gerald would pay for the food, and she would cook it, then very often they would eat together. But, if either one of them wanted to be alone Liiani would bring his portion downstairs to him and then return to her own place.

That evening she made spaghetti with her homemade sauce, garlic bread and a fresh salad. They ate on the back porch because the weather was so nice and the topic of AJ did come up more than once by each of them. Liiani was telling Gerald how special he was and Gerald was trying to discover more about this man his daughter was interested in.

Liiani purposely didn't mention that AJ was in the Navy because she knew how her father would react to that. She simply told her dad that AJ managed an office full of lawyers. AJ's last name was also not mentioned just in case Gerald would recognize it and connect it to the Navy and Marine Corps JAG office.

Aware that a lie of omission was still a lie, Liiani comforted herself with the logic that her dad hadn't asked AJ's last name or any further details about his profession, so she wasn't really omitting anything…right?

"Okay dad, if you are finished grilling me about AJ, I still have to make the food for tomorrow night since I won't have time to cook after work."

"First off, I didn't 'grill' you! I just asked a few pertinent questions, and secondly, why didn't you say you were making dinner for him here tomorrow night?! I can meet him then instead of waiting for this weekend!"

To be continued…..