"Travis, I'm saying that when I look at you, I see the real world. And when I look at my Arden, I see a young woman who isn't ready for the real world." He set his cigar in the ashtray and leaned back with his whiskey. "Contrary to what you might think, my concern, here, is actually for you."
Travis sat up straighter. "I think I can look after myself, sir," he said, a nervous laugh escaping his lips.
"You can? How well do you know Arden?"
Travis cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. "She talked to me about breaking up with Nick. I know what it's gonna look like if she ever decides to break up with me." He looked up at him. "But I can make her happy. She won't have to break up with me. I'll give her everything I can."
Mark smiled sadly. "I'm sure you will. My concern is that she won't do the same for you."
"Again. Thank you. But I'm willing to risk it."
"Well," Mark polished off the last of his whiskey and then stood. Travis followed suit. "Since I can't talk you out of dating her," Mark said. "Why don't you come for dinner Sunday after church. So the wife can meet you. My sister-in-law and her family will be down, as well."
Travis tried with all of his might not to grin like an idiot. He shook Mark's hand. "Thank you, sir. I'll be looking forward to it."
Mark walked him out and Travis drove home feeling good about his life.
Dustin sat behind the wheel of his car in the driveway of the parsonage where Emma lived with her parents. This was their sixth date. Way too soon to be having dinner with her parents. He'd tried to tell her so, but she just brushed off his concerns.
"It will be very informal," she had said. "You don't even have to think of them as my parents. Just treat them like two regular people. You can even call them by their first names."
But Dustin would be calling Roy and Susan by the more formal, Pastor and Mrs. Harris. He just couldn't do it the other way.
He took a deep breath. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. He should have had a drink to calm his nerves, but he was afraid of everyone smelling liquor on his breath. One more deep breath. He stepped out of the car. He was wearing jeans and a button-up shirt which was about as fancy as he got, except on Sundays when he put on a tie. Sometimes.
He raised his fist to knock on the door, but Emma was there before he had the chance. She beamed up at him and he would have loved to have a moment to bask in the glow of her sweet smile, but she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him inside. He caught glimpses of the foyer and the living room off to the left before he was swept into a quaint dining room off the kitchen and plopped into a chair at one end of the table.
Emma stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders. Pastor Harris sat at the other end, a healthy looking man in his fifties, hair mostly gray. Susan Harris stood next to him and Dustin wondered whether it was standard for the women to stand while the men sat.
"Mom, Dad, you know Dustin Lanier," Emma said, her voice chipper and not the least bit distressed.
"Of course," Pastor Harris said. He stood and extended his hand. Dustin leaned over the table and shook it. "We're glad you could come, Dustin."
"Thank you sir."
Emma patted him on the shoulder. "We'll just leave you two to visit while we get dinner finished."
Dustin turned to try to catch her, but she was gone. A split second later, her mother had disappeared into the kitchen behind her. Dustin turned back to face the pastor. Somehow, there was a cup of coffee in front of him and he picked it up and took a sip.
"So I hear your date the other night got interrupted in a rather bizarre turn of events," Pastor Harris said.
"Yes," Dustin said, letting out a short laugh. "That crazy ex-wife of Travis's..."
Pastor Harris chuckled and shook his head. "Poor Travis. Tonya and the baby are well, though?"
"The baby is. Tonya looks about as unhealthy as you can get and still be breathing."
"Poor girl. Perhaps the church can help her out...get her into a rehab clinic of some sort."
"I'm sure Travis would appreciate that."
"He's a good man, your brother. A cheerful sort of fellow."
Dustin nodded even though he wondered what had prompted Pastor Harris to make such an observation.
"He's made a lot of friends. Come a long way from where he was ten years ago. Even five years ago."
Dustin nodded again and took another sip of coffee, wishing he could stay hiding behind that cup until Emma got back.
"I believe Emma had lunch with him one day a couple of weeks ago, didn't she?"
"Yes, sir." She’d been asking for his help getting a recently homeless family moved into some subsidized housing.