JANUARY 20

I tapped my fingers nervously as Mom drove. Even though I had my license and my own car, I'd asked her to drive me. For some reason, I just did not want to go to this meeting on my own.

"Do you want me to come into the restaurant with you, Stryker? Or would you rather have me wait in the car?"

"Uh, maybe come inside. But could you sit a few tables away. Please?"

Mom sent me a quick smile. "Of course, little man."

I groaned. "Mom, don't call me that. I'm sixteen. It's embarrassing."

She just smirked. "I'm your mother. It's in my job description to embarrass you. Just be glad that I don't do it more often."

I just rolled my eyes. She did have a point, though. My mom wasn't actually all that embarrassing. She was pretty cool, most of the time. Except when she called me little man. But she kept that nickname for when it was just the family around. She only ever did it in front of my friends if I was being extremely ornery or something. Usually, if she did in public, I deserved it.

It didn't happen very often.

"Mom? Thanks for doing this. I know it's probably going to be really weird and awkward for you. You know, since you guys…Well, yeah."

"Oh, Stryk. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

I leaned my head back against the seat. "It's just…Why did he have to ask for this now? I mean, you've got the new baby and everything to think about. That's weird enough. And now Jonathan shows up."

She glanced at me sideways. I could see a small frown pulling at her lips. "Are you upset about the baby?"

I shrugged. It was almost easy to forget that she was even pregnant. She wasn't showing yet. Then again, she was only three months along. "Not really. I mean, I'm not exactly thrilled about getting anther sibling. But I'm not upset, either. Does she have magic?" Mom had been able to sense the twins' magic, when she was pregnant with them. I guess magic could easily sense magic. Or something like that. I didn't fully understand it. All I knew was that magic could do some weird and cool stuff.

Mom shook her head. "Nope. It seems like it's just the twins who inherited that. In our family, at least."

I chuckled slightly. "Isn't it kind of weird how the whole magic thing works? It seems to like identical twins. Jaxson and Cayson both have magic, and they're identical. Then there's you and Aunt Maddie. But Mamie isn't a twin, and she has magic." Yes, I still referred to maternal grandparents by the pet names I'd had as a kid. Mom's parents were Mamie and Pappy. Dad's parents were Grandma and Grandpa.

"I don't know how the magic gene works. There's no pattern to it, really. Your cousin, Rebecca, has magic, but Aunt Harper doesn't. Nathan has magic, but that's not too much of a surprise, since Aunt Maddie does, too. But Erica and Emily are identical twins, and only Erica has magic." My aunt Maddie had like, five kids. And I knew that she wanted at least one more. Nathan was eleven. Michael was seven. The twins were four. And Joshua was barely a year old. I wouldn't be too surprised if she was expecting again within the next few years.

I nodded, but I didn't say anything else. We had arrived at the Round Table. I took a deep breath, then opened the truck door. Mom got out and came around to my side. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"All right. Let's do this." She gave me a quick kiss and ruffled my hair. "I love you."

"Yeah. Love you, too."

"And I want you to know that I'm proud of you. This isn't an easy choice, Stryker."

No kidding.

We walked into the restaurant together, but then Mom moved to a table near the back.

I knew which man was Jonathan right away. I'd never actually met him, but I'd seen pictures of him. Mom had some that she'd kept over the years. And she had her yearbook, of course.

I'd gotten my curly hair from him. It was black, like Mom's. But Mom's was straight. Jonathan's was just as curly as mine. His eyes looked almost green, but I knew that they were grey. Like mine. Although mine tended to almost always look grey, no matter the lighting. His skin was pretty tan, whereas mine was a lot paler. Another thing I got from Mom.

I'd gotten more of Mom's facial features, though I could see that I definitely had Jonathan's nose.

I sat down across from him. "Hey," I said, feeling totally awkward. Hey? That didn't seem like the right thing to say. But what was the right thing to say to your estranged father?

Jonathan smiled. "Stryker. Wow. You look a lot like your mother. I'm glad you decided to meet with me."

"Yeah." An awkward silence filled the air. "So…I don't really know what we should do here, Jonathan. This is…kind of new to me."

"Me, too. Um, well. Why don't we order some lunch, and then you can tell me about yourself."

I shrugged. "All right." So we placed our order. "Is there…anything you want to know specifically?"

"What do you like to do?"

"Mostly play video games and act. I'm pretty good at playing the guitar, too. Dad taught me when I was little. I like the pop style stuff. Nothing too country or too rock. Right in between. I'm in the school drama club. I've got the lead male role. We'll be performing sometime in March, I'm not sure when exactly. Uh, I like to read. Not as much as Mamie does, but…" I trailed off. This was so beyond awkward.

Jonathan chuckled once. "I'm guessing you're talking about Merlin?" I nodded. "I don't think I've ever met anyone who likes to read as much as Merlin Pendragon. You're going by Pendragon, aren't you? Or did you change your name to Amala?"

"I kind of go by both. Alex legally adopted me when I was about seven. Mom and Dad decided to give me Amala as a second middle name, and keep Pendragon as my last name. So, yeah."

Another silence.

It was like that for the next half hour. We'd exchange a few sentences, and then there would be a huge awkward pause, and then we'd talk again. Same thing. We mostly talked about me, but I did learn a little bit more about him.

Like the fact that we had nothing in common.

I liked drama. He liked skateboarding. I liked video games, he liked poker. I liked reading, he liked drawing cartoons. I liked playing the guitar, he liked listening to screamo music.

I was so ready to get out of there by the time we were done eating and Jonathan had paid for the meal. He asked if we could meet up again.

I told him I'd have to think about it.

So we exchanged cell numbers. He told me that I was welcome to call him anytime, for anything.

So Maddie has a lot of kids, which really shouldn't surprise anyone. She'd always said that she wanted seven. So far, she has five. Just like Mac. But anyway, I got off track a bit. Maddie and Mac each have a set of identical twins. Now, in real life, the chances of identical twins each having a set of identical twins is highly unlikely. That's not to say that it's impossible, just not very realistic. The occurrence of identical twins is pretty random. But this is a fictional story, and I can do whatever I want ;) Like I said, it's not impossible. Just not likely.

I hope that you guys like this chapter. I know it's totally awkward. I would imagine that the first time meeting your father, after sixteen years of absolutely nothing, would be totally awkward. I'm not going to make this easy on Jonathan. He made his choice, and now he has to deal with the consequences of that choice. Which means it is going to take a lot of effort on his part to get to know his son.