Log: Artie, Rachel & The father's Berry
Who: Artie & Rachel & The father's Berry
When: Sunday, Parent weekend
Where: Centro Ristorante & Bar
What: lunch...and a grilling of the Artie. Well done.
Artie was terrified to meet Rachel’s parents. First of all, his father was here, which was completely unexpected. He had thought that his mother was coming. And he knew that his father would not approve of Rachel’s parents. Secondly, he didn’t want to say something stupid and get himself in trouble with them. And finally, he just really wanted to make a good impression and doubted that he would.
Checking his hair in the mirror one last time, he left the bathroom to go meet the Berry’s. He wore one of his most favourite sweaters, an off-white one with maroon sort of lines all over it in a random geometric design. It was fun. Hopefully, it would be something they liked. If not, well....he really didn’t want to screw this up.
Rachel grabbed her dad’s wrist and checked his watch. “Another minute and he should be here,” she told them both as they waited at the front door to Thorne Hall. She smoothed out her top and her skirt and rolled her eyes as her dad nudged her father. They were eager to meet Artie, but that just made her incredibly nervous. She wasn’t even sure what she could expect from them. This was entirely new territory for all of them.
Rolling down the tiled halls of the school, Artie debated whether he should wear the fingerless gloves that he always wore or not before finally leaving them on. They protected his hands and he always wore them, so why not wear them now too? It would be weird if he didn’t. Spying them farther down, he pushed himself a little faster, smiling at Rachel. “Hello,” he said politely when he reached them, “I’m Artie Abrams,” he offered his hand to the man closest to him.
Hiram was quick to jump into action and shake Artie’s hand. “Hiram Berry,” he replied before nodding his head in his husband’s direction. “And Leroy Berry.” He took a step back and nudged his husband into action.
Leroy’s gaze traveled over the young boy. “Rachel didn’t tell us,” he began, shooting a look at his daughter to find her quickly reaching a state of panic at his words. Hiram frowned, but waited to see where his husband was headed with this line of conversation before stepping in. “You wear mathematically inclined sweaters!” Leroy announced with a grin. “Impeccable dress sense,” he commented. He looked over at his daughter who had her arms crossed and a frown on her face. “Rach, honey, why didn’t you tell us of his timeless wardrobe?”
Rachel, embarrassed and annoyed at her father, narrowed her eyes at him. “That was not acceptable, Dad,” she said with a shake of her head.
Growing more nervous, Artie’s relief was practically palpable when Leroy commented about his sweaters. Smiling almost maniacally, he nodded, “You’re the first person to get it,” he replied, quite pleased. Not all of his sweaters were mathematics, but this one was and it was one of his favourites. “Most people just make comparisons to Bill Cosby and mom jeans,” the jeans were an unfortunate side effect of needing looser pants so that he could get them on with ease. “It’s good to meet you both though. Rachel’s been really excited.”
Rachel grinned and ducked her head as her shoulders rose. “I just...” she tried to explain it, but when her Daddy pulled her into a hug, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. She felt some tears gathering in her eyes, but they hadn’t even left the school grounds yet! She quickly brushed at her eyes. “You’re going to make me more emotional than I already am and Artie does not need to see me cry.”
Leroy dropped a heavy hand onto Artie’s shoulder, consolingly. “You’re dating a crier, I’m afraid,” he revealed, tapping his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Good luck with that.” Clapping his hands together he caught their gazes in turn. “So, lunch?” He asked.
“Yes! Let’s go. I’m starving,” Rachel exclaimed pointing in the direction of the parking lot. “We were planning to dine at Centro Ristorante & Bar over on Post road. Have you heard of it?” Rachel asked Artie as they began their trek toward the Berry’s car.
“Nope,” Artie replied, but it sounded good. He was a little worried about having to transfer into their car and his chair and all, but there was nothing to be worried about as their family car was a normal sedan. A short drive later and they were pulling into the parking lot as he fished his parking pass from his backpack.
“Looks good,” he remarked once he was back in his chair and a hostess had shown them to a table. The place was nice, but casually so. It looked tasty too. He was sitting next to Rachel and trying to resist the urge to hold her hand. That would be awkward and a little clingy. “Have ya’ll been here before?”
Hiram shook his head. “I’ve convinced these two creatures of habit to stray from the known and have made them promise we try one new place every second visit,” he said conspiratorially, leaning over the table toward Artie. From the corner of his eye he could see Rachel and Leroy rolling their eyes in unison.
It wasn’t that Rachel didn’t like change. Okay, a lot of the time she didn’t like change. She’d gotten so used to the way her days were meant to play out that she hadn’t appreciated a change in routine. Attending Archbishop was certainly helping her with that, but she wasn’t under constant fear or threat here, so that probably played a small part in gaining confidence with flexibility in her routine. Besides, she thought to herself, how else was she going to become a successful Broadway star if she didn’t put herself out there from time to time?
“There is nothing wrong with playing it safe,” Leroy said in a haughty tone that was all too familiar. He held the menu up in front of him and shot his husband a sideways glance before moving his gaze to rest on Artie. “Are your parents here for the weekend, also?” He asked, placing the menu back onto the table.
Rachel looked over at Artie sitting nervously next to her. She reached over and gently squeezed his forearm in support and offered him an encouraging smile.
Artie nodded, “My dad came,” he replied, “We thought our mom was...she usually comes,” he explained, then caught Hiram’s look and clarified, “My older sister is also at AWM. She’s a junior and a Rose too,” which was useful. Rachel was a Rose and he was a Thorne. It was sort of amazing how much Rachel looked like both her dad’s and acted like them. It was sort of hard to tell which one was her biological father though, it was impressive how similar their mannerisms and expressions were.
“If we had known, we would have invited them to join us,” Hiram replied, his tone disappointed that they’d missed out on an opportunity to meet a few of the other parents. “Never mind, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of other opportunities,” he said with a smile. The waitress interrupted their conversation to take their drink orders.
“Artie’s older sister Shay is Quinn’s Big and I’m Quinn’s Little,” Rachel explained. She’d already told her father’s this pertinent information, but they didn’t really understand what the Roses and Thornes were, but if it meant Rachel was included in something and seemed happy about it, then they weren’t going to be too concerned for her well-being.
Rachel waited for her dads to be distracted by the menu as they argued over who was going to eat what dish and which portion they’d share before leaning close to Artie. “Relax, you’re doing splendidly,” she whispered with a smile.
Really, the last thing Artie wanted was for his father to meet Rachel’s...two father’s. No. Just...no. “He’s having lunch with my sister right now,” Artie explained, “Their bonding time. I went with him to the football game Friday night,” if he had his way, his father would never know that his girlfriend had two dad’s, ever.
He smiled at Rachel, relieved, “Thanks,” he replied, relaxing. “I just...don’t want to say anything stupid, you know?” because he did that sometimes when he wasn’t thinking. “Your dad’s are nice.”
Rachel frowned. “Did you think they wouldn’t be?” She asked her voice sounding confused. She hadn’t been offended by Artie’s comment regarding her fathers, she was just curious.
“Um...” sorta? “Well, to you, yeah,” Artie replied after a moment. “But you see those movies where the dad is all mean to the boyfriend and stuff. And my dad’s all strict about everything...he gave me the talk again, even though I kept insisting it wasn’t like that!” Okay, maybe he shouldn’t’ve said that...
“Oh!” Rachel exclaimed loudly, blushing at both Artie’s implication and because she’d just attracted the attention of her fathers. “Have you finally decided, then?” She asked them, hurrying to change the subject.
Leroy eyed the pair, wanting to question them both further, but his husband’s hand on his thigh stopped him. He took a breath and allowed his daughter to distract them with conversation about food. It didn’t take long for the waitress to return and place their orders, which Leroy took as a chance to start grilling this boyfriend of Rachel’s. “So, Artie... How old are you?”
“Um, 14,” Artie replied, after he had ordered. He had been very careful not to order the most expensive thing there, which would be rude. Artie knew that he looked about 12, if he was lucky, because even without the wheelchair, he wasn’t the biggest guy. He would grow. Hopefully. “I’m a freshman too,” he added.
“Mhmm,” Leroy considered his words with a nod. He steepled his fingers and rest his chin on his fingertips, staring across the table at the boy. “Will you be turning fifteen any time soon?”
Rachel shifted in her seat, wondering where her father’s questions were headed. She’d never seen him this serious before. She felt guilty that Artie had just been telling her how nice her parents were and now her Dad was questioning her boyfriend as if he were a suspect in one of his trials.
“No....” Artie wasn’t really sure where this line of questioning was going, “Not until April,” he had almost 6 month before his birthday, it wasn’t any time soon. Had he missed Rachel’s birthday or something? He doubted it, Rachel was the type of person to announce it to the world. It made it easy not to forget at least.
Rachel sat uneasily in her seat. She hadn’t even known when Artie’s birthday was either. That was sort of embarrassing and she was glad her father hadn’t asked her about his age in an earlier conversation.
Hiram shook his head from his seat next to his husband. He reached forward for his glass of water and took a sip.
“How do you feel then, about dating an older woman?” Leroy asked, leaning forward on the table as he folded his arms and rest them on the table edge.
“Daddy, stop him!” Rachel whispered loudly across to Hiram. She looked around at the other tables, hoping they weren’t causing a scene.
“What?” now he was just confused. “I’m dating Rachel...” he was dating her, right? This wasn’t some weird way that her father was saying that they had to break up or something, was it? “I don’t get it.”
Hiram quickly stepped in to save the young boy. “Leroy would just like to know how you feel about dating a girl that is four months your senior.” He glared at his husband before turning back to Artie. “I have no idea what your ages have to do with the conversation or the status of your relationship though.”
“I was getting a feel of the boy, Hiram,” Leroy argued. He sat back in his chair with a sigh. “How are we supposed to know if he’s good enough for our Rachel if we don’t interrogate him a little?” He asked his husband, while trying to justify his actions. A beat of silence passed and suddenly Leroy brightened up. He patted Hiram’s shoulder in congratulations. “You played ‘good cop’ brilliantly, though. Commendable performance,” he boasted leaning over and pressing a kiss to his husband’s cheek.
Rachel buried her face in her hands and shook her head. And people thought she was over dramatic.
Oh. Rachel was older than him. So what? Instead of answering, Artie grew really quiet, nervous now and a little scared. They had seemed so normal and nice and now it was kinda creepy. “Look...” he took his glasses off and cleaned them with his sweater, a nervous gesture, “my dad’s a minister. My mom does hair part time. I’ve got an older sister and a younger brother, I’m adopted. I’m originally from Atlanta and I’m here on a scholarship, what else do you need to know?!” Because he was ready to go now.
Leroy leaned forward to answer, but a placating hand on his arm stopped him. “I regret that we’ve somehow lost our way in this conversation,” Hiram began, shooting a look at his husband to warn him to keep quiet. “What background you have, your financial status at Archbishop... it is of no concern to either of us,” he said seriously. “Rachel is our only daughter and you are the first boy she’s introduced to us, so if you can bear with us, maybe we can get through the rest of this meal unscathed.” Hiram raised an eyebrow in question at Artie.
Rachel sat up straight and listened to her Daddy as he tried to bring order to the table. She knew she could have felt embarrassed by her parents, as she had no minutes earlier, but all she felt was pride. They loved her unconditionally, and they probably felt so left out of her life right now, but here they sat not caring that the elderly couple at the next table over kept sending them curious and disgusted looks. They didn’t hide who they were and they were going to do all they could to protect her, because she was their daughter and they loved her. Even if it meant interrogating boyfriends at restaurant tables. She hoped Artie could understand that.
“I’m not, I mean, we don’t...” Artie stammered for a minute, still very unsure of himself and what all this was that was happening, “Rachel’s not that kind of girl. And even if she were...I’m not, I mean, I can, but....” he sighed, “I like her. And we sing together. And...yeah, that’s it. Just...that.” Okay, and they made out sometimes, but Rachel wouldn’t even let him put a hand on her bare knee, it barely counted! Boob was out of the question. He sighed, “My dad already interrogated me when he found out I had a girlfriend,” he added, dolefully. Now he was getting roasted on a spit twice.
“Okay, I think that’s enough of that conversation,” Rachel announced, sitting up in her chair. “Dad, Daddy, I appreciate your concern, but Artie and I are both new at relationships and I am sure that should anything arise...” Rachel saw the look her father sent her. “Not that way, Dad!” She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Should there be any problems, I will seek your advice. I promise.”
Hiram smiled softly at Rachel. He was proud of her. After the drugging incident, he and Leroy had been convinced that there wouldn’t be a school their daughter would ever fit in. Though neither were too keen on homeschooling because it limited Rachel’s social interactions, they’d both been on board with the alternative because they’d wanted to keep her safe. What parent doesn’t want that for their child? He reached across the table and took Rachel’s hand in his own. “It’s all we ask, honey.”
When: Sunday, Parent weekend
Where: Centro Ristorante & Bar
What: lunch...and a grilling of the Artie. Well done.
Artie was terrified to meet Rachel’s parents. First of all, his father was here, which was completely unexpected. He had thought that his mother was coming. And he knew that his father would not approve of Rachel’s parents. Secondly, he didn’t want to say something stupid and get himself in trouble with them. And finally, he just really wanted to make a good impression and doubted that he would.
Checking his hair in the mirror one last time, he left the bathroom to go meet the Berry’s. He wore one of his most favourite sweaters, an off-white one with maroon sort of lines all over it in a random geometric design. It was fun. Hopefully, it would be something they liked. If not, well....he really didn’t want to screw this up.
Rachel grabbed her dad’s wrist and checked his watch. “Another minute and he should be here,” she told them both as they waited at the front door to Thorne Hall. She smoothed out her top and her skirt and rolled her eyes as her dad nudged her father. They were eager to meet Artie, but that just made her incredibly nervous. She wasn’t even sure what she could expect from them. This was entirely new territory for all of them.
Rolling down the tiled halls of the school, Artie debated whether he should wear the fingerless gloves that he always wore or not before finally leaving them on. They protected his hands and he always wore them, so why not wear them now too? It would be weird if he didn’t. Spying them farther down, he pushed himself a little faster, smiling at Rachel. “Hello,” he said politely when he reached them, “I’m Artie Abrams,” he offered his hand to the man closest to him.
Hiram was quick to jump into action and shake Artie’s hand. “Hiram Berry,” he replied before nodding his head in his husband’s direction. “And Leroy Berry.” He took a step back and nudged his husband into action.
Leroy’s gaze traveled over the young boy. “Rachel didn’t tell us,” he began, shooting a look at his daughter to find her quickly reaching a state of panic at his words. Hiram frowned, but waited to see where his husband was headed with this line of conversation before stepping in. “You wear mathematically inclined sweaters!” Leroy announced with a grin. “Impeccable dress sense,” he commented. He looked over at his daughter who had her arms crossed and a frown on her face. “Rach, honey, why didn’t you tell us of his timeless wardrobe?”
Rachel, embarrassed and annoyed at her father, narrowed her eyes at him. “That was not acceptable, Dad,” she said with a shake of her head.
Growing more nervous, Artie’s relief was practically palpable when Leroy commented about his sweaters. Smiling almost maniacally, he nodded, “You’re the first person to get it,” he replied, quite pleased. Not all of his sweaters were mathematics, but this one was and it was one of his favourites. “Most people just make comparisons to Bill Cosby and mom jeans,” the jeans were an unfortunate side effect of needing looser pants so that he could get them on with ease. “It’s good to meet you both though. Rachel’s been really excited.”
Rachel grinned and ducked her head as her shoulders rose. “I just...” she tried to explain it, but when her Daddy pulled her into a hug, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. She felt some tears gathering in her eyes, but they hadn’t even left the school grounds yet! She quickly brushed at her eyes. “You’re going to make me more emotional than I already am and Artie does not need to see me cry.”
Leroy dropped a heavy hand onto Artie’s shoulder, consolingly. “You’re dating a crier, I’m afraid,” he revealed, tapping his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Good luck with that.” Clapping his hands together he caught their gazes in turn. “So, lunch?” He asked.
“Yes! Let’s go. I’m starving,” Rachel exclaimed pointing in the direction of the parking lot. “We were planning to dine at Centro Ristorante & Bar over on Post road. Have you heard of it?” Rachel asked Artie as they began their trek toward the Berry’s car.
“Nope,” Artie replied, but it sounded good. He was a little worried about having to transfer into their car and his chair and all, but there was nothing to be worried about as their family car was a normal sedan. A short drive later and they were pulling into the parking lot as he fished his parking pass from his backpack.
“Looks good,” he remarked once he was back in his chair and a hostess had shown them to a table. The place was nice, but casually so. It looked tasty too. He was sitting next to Rachel and trying to resist the urge to hold her hand. That would be awkward and a little clingy. “Have ya’ll been here before?”
Hiram shook his head. “I’ve convinced these two creatures of habit to stray from the known and have made them promise we try one new place every second visit,” he said conspiratorially, leaning over the table toward Artie. From the corner of his eye he could see Rachel and Leroy rolling their eyes in unison.
It wasn’t that Rachel didn’t like change. Okay, a lot of the time she didn’t like change. She’d gotten so used to the way her days were meant to play out that she hadn’t appreciated a change in routine. Attending Archbishop was certainly helping her with that, but she wasn’t under constant fear or threat here, so that probably played a small part in gaining confidence with flexibility in her routine. Besides, she thought to herself, how else was she going to become a successful Broadway star if she didn’t put herself out there from time to time?
“There is nothing wrong with playing it safe,” Leroy said in a haughty tone that was all too familiar. He held the menu up in front of him and shot his husband a sideways glance before moving his gaze to rest on Artie. “Are your parents here for the weekend, also?” He asked, placing the menu back onto the table.
Rachel looked over at Artie sitting nervously next to her. She reached over and gently squeezed his forearm in support and offered him an encouraging smile.
Artie nodded, “My dad came,” he replied, “We thought our mom was...she usually comes,” he explained, then caught Hiram’s look and clarified, “My older sister is also at AWM. She’s a junior and a Rose too,” which was useful. Rachel was a Rose and he was a Thorne. It was sort of amazing how much Rachel looked like both her dad’s and acted like them. It was sort of hard to tell which one was her biological father though, it was impressive how similar their mannerisms and expressions were.
“If we had known, we would have invited them to join us,” Hiram replied, his tone disappointed that they’d missed out on an opportunity to meet a few of the other parents. “Never mind, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of other opportunities,” he said with a smile. The waitress interrupted their conversation to take their drink orders.
“Artie’s older sister Shay is Quinn’s Big and I’m Quinn’s Little,” Rachel explained. She’d already told her father’s this pertinent information, but they didn’t really understand what the Roses and Thornes were, but if it meant Rachel was included in something and seemed happy about it, then they weren’t going to be too concerned for her well-being.
Rachel waited for her dads to be distracted by the menu as they argued over who was going to eat what dish and which portion they’d share before leaning close to Artie. “Relax, you’re doing splendidly,” she whispered with a smile.
Really, the last thing Artie wanted was for his father to meet Rachel’s...two father’s. No. Just...no. “He’s having lunch with my sister right now,” Artie explained, “Their bonding time. I went with him to the football game Friday night,” if he had his way, his father would never know that his girlfriend had two dad’s, ever.
He smiled at Rachel, relieved, “Thanks,” he replied, relaxing. “I just...don’t want to say anything stupid, you know?” because he did that sometimes when he wasn’t thinking. “Your dad’s are nice.”
Rachel frowned. “Did you think they wouldn’t be?” She asked her voice sounding confused. She hadn’t been offended by Artie’s comment regarding her fathers, she was just curious.
“Um...” sorta? “Well, to you, yeah,” Artie replied after a moment. “But you see those movies where the dad is all mean to the boyfriend and stuff. And my dad’s all strict about everything...he gave me the talk again, even though I kept insisting it wasn’t like that!” Okay, maybe he shouldn’t’ve said that...
“Oh!” Rachel exclaimed loudly, blushing at both Artie’s implication and because she’d just attracted the attention of her fathers. “Have you finally decided, then?” She asked them, hurrying to change the subject.
Leroy eyed the pair, wanting to question them both further, but his husband’s hand on his thigh stopped him. He took a breath and allowed his daughter to distract them with conversation about food. It didn’t take long for the waitress to return and place their orders, which Leroy took as a chance to start grilling this boyfriend of Rachel’s. “So, Artie... How old are you?”
“Um, 14,” Artie replied, after he had ordered. He had been very careful not to order the most expensive thing there, which would be rude. Artie knew that he looked about 12, if he was lucky, because even without the wheelchair, he wasn’t the biggest guy. He would grow. Hopefully. “I’m a freshman too,” he added.
“Mhmm,” Leroy considered his words with a nod. He steepled his fingers and rest his chin on his fingertips, staring across the table at the boy. “Will you be turning fifteen any time soon?”
Rachel shifted in her seat, wondering where her father’s questions were headed. She’d never seen him this serious before. She felt guilty that Artie had just been telling her how nice her parents were and now her Dad was questioning her boyfriend as if he were a suspect in one of his trials.
“No....” Artie wasn’t really sure where this line of questioning was going, “Not until April,” he had almost 6 month before his birthday, it wasn’t any time soon. Had he missed Rachel’s birthday or something? He doubted it, Rachel was the type of person to announce it to the world. It made it easy not to forget at least.
Rachel sat uneasily in her seat. She hadn’t even known when Artie’s birthday was either. That was sort of embarrassing and she was glad her father hadn’t asked her about his age in an earlier conversation.
Hiram shook his head from his seat next to his husband. He reached forward for his glass of water and took a sip.
“How do you feel then, about dating an older woman?” Leroy asked, leaning forward on the table as he folded his arms and rest them on the table edge.
“Daddy, stop him!” Rachel whispered loudly across to Hiram. She looked around at the other tables, hoping they weren’t causing a scene.
“What?” now he was just confused. “I’m dating Rachel...” he was dating her, right? This wasn’t some weird way that her father was saying that they had to break up or something, was it? “I don’t get it.”
Hiram quickly stepped in to save the young boy. “Leroy would just like to know how you feel about dating a girl that is four months your senior.” He glared at his husband before turning back to Artie. “I have no idea what your ages have to do with the conversation or the status of your relationship though.”
“I was getting a feel of the boy, Hiram,” Leroy argued. He sat back in his chair with a sigh. “How are we supposed to know if he’s good enough for our Rachel if we don’t interrogate him a little?” He asked his husband, while trying to justify his actions. A beat of silence passed and suddenly Leroy brightened up. He patted Hiram’s shoulder in congratulations. “You played ‘good cop’ brilliantly, though. Commendable performance,” he boasted leaning over and pressing a kiss to his husband’s cheek.
Rachel buried her face in her hands and shook her head. And people thought she was over dramatic.
Oh. Rachel was older than him. So what? Instead of answering, Artie grew really quiet, nervous now and a little scared. They had seemed so normal and nice and now it was kinda creepy. “Look...” he took his glasses off and cleaned them with his sweater, a nervous gesture, “my dad’s a minister. My mom does hair part time. I’ve got an older sister and a younger brother, I’m adopted. I’m originally from Atlanta and I’m here on a scholarship, what else do you need to know?!” Because he was ready to go now.
Leroy leaned forward to answer, but a placating hand on his arm stopped him. “I regret that we’ve somehow lost our way in this conversation,” Hiram began, shooting a look at his husband to warn him to keep quiet. “What background you have, your financial status at Archbishop... it is of no concern to either of us,” he said seriously. “Rachel is our only daughter and you are the first boy she’s introduced to us, so if you can bear with us, maybe we can get through the rest of this meal unscathed.” Hiram raised an eyebrow in question at Artie.
Rachel sat up straight and listened to her Daddy as he tried to bring order to the table. She knew she could have felt embarrassed by her parents, as she had no minutes earlier, but all she felt was pride. They loved her unconditionally, and they probably felt so left out of her life right now, but here they sat not caring that the elderly couple at the next table over kept sending them curious and disgusted looks. They didn’t hide who they were and they were going to do all they could to protect her, because she was their daughter and they loved her. Even if it meant interrogating boyfriends at restaurant tables. She hoped Artie could understand that.
“I’m not, I mean, we don’t...” Artie stammered for a minute, still very unsure of himself and what all this was that was happening, “Rachel’s not that kind of girl. And even if she were...I’m not, I mean, I can, but....” he sighed, “I like her. And we sing together. And...yeah, that’s it. Just...that.” Okay, and they made out sometimes, but Rachel wouldn’t even let him put a hand on her bare knee, it barely counted! Boob was out of the question. He sighed, “My dad already interrogated me when he found out I had a girlfriend,” he added, dolefully. Now he was getting roasted on a spit twice.
“Okay, I think that’s enough of that conversation,” Rachel announced, sitting up in her chair. “Dad, Daddy, I appreciate your concern, but Artie and I are both new at relationships and I am sure that should anything arise...” Rachel saw the look her father sent her. “Not that way, Dad!” She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Should there be any problems, I will seek your advice. I promise.”
Hiram smiled softly at Rachel. He was proud of her. After the drugging incident, he and Leroy had been convinced that there wouldn’t be a school their daughter would ever fit in. Though neither were too keen on homeschooling because it limited Rachel’s social interactions, they’d both been on board with the alternative because they’d wanted to keep her safe. What parent doesn’t want that for their child? He reached across the table and took Rachel’s hand in his own. “It’s all we ask, honey.”