The Ultimate Betrayal
After well over twenty minutes into dinner without a word from Grace, Neil knew something had to be wrong. While his daughter wasn't quite as chatty as she'd been when she was little, she nonetheless usually had something to say during a meal, whether it was about school, the games she was playing, or Maizie. Right now, though, all she was doing was picking at the chicken and rice on her plate and staring out into space, which was odd, to say the least.
During a lull in his and Eva's conversation, Neil was about to ask Grace what she was thinking about when she dropped her fork and asked, "Mama, Daddy, can I have Tony over for dinner on Friday?"
Who's Tony? was the first thought that came into Neil's head, followed by, Oh, that's right. Grace's friend. Well, more like acquaintance, as far as he knew. He'd heard Grace mention this Tony kid once or twice, but only in passing, so they apparently weren't that close. But that just begged the question...
"Why do you want to have him over?" Neil asked out loud. "Are you two working on a school project?"
"Um, no." Grace momentarily paused, then she gave her father a smile. "We're dating, actually."
Neil could have sworn his stomach dropped at those three words. "What?!" he exclaimed, gaping at Grace like she'd just said she was running away to join a flea circus. "Did you just—what the—how did—what do you mean," he burst out, pushing his plate away, "you're dating?!"
"Exactly what I said," Grace told him, her smile fading. "Tony and I are dating."
Neil darted his gaze to Eva, expecting her to be at least half as stunned as he was by this information. But instead, she was calmly continuing eating dinner as though their seventeen-year-old daughter hadn't just dropped a bombshell about thirty seconds ago. She hadn't even looked up from her plate.
"How the heck are you so calm about this?" Neil demanded.
Eva took a sip of her tea before answering. "Probably because I've known about it for three weeks."
"Eva!" Neil cried, now feeling like someone had taken a knife and stabbed him in the heart. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
She rolled her eyes. "Because I knew you'd go insane if I did."
"I am not going—wait a minute," Neil cut himself off mid-protest, whirling his attention back to Grace, "you told your mother, but not me?" The knife twisted further.
"Daddy," Grace said, her voice earnest, "I did want to tell you, but Mama convinced me not to."
Well, that was better than his daughter purposefully keeping something like this a secret from him, he supposed. But still—the betrayal of it all!
"I still should've been the first to know," Neil insisted.
"Why?" Eva asked rhetorically, taking a bite of rice. "So you could've thrown a fit sooner?"
"You'll be the first to know next time something new in my life happens," Grace promised Neil. "Anyway, can Tony come over for dinner on Friday?"
He opened his mouth to say that no, Tony could not come over, but Eva interrupted him before he could get a single word out.
"Of course he can, honey."
Neil groaned. "You're really not on my side, are you?"
"Great!" Grace exclaimed, beaming at her father, clearly oblivious to his sulky mood. "Trust me, Daddy, you'll like him. Tony's funny and really, really smart—he's a lot like you!"
Neil shook his head gloomily. "That's not as reassuring as you think it is, hun."
