Dad said, “I’m glad to see you, son.” Then he chuckled in a self-conscious way. “It’s an odd word for me to say. But I look forward to getting used to it.”
“And so do I,” Rafe said. I was pleased to see he didn’t add “Dad” or “Father” at the end of it. My dad had no way of knowing that Rafe was his senior by almost five hundred years.
My mother leaned forward eagerly. “You’ll join us for dinner?”
He shook his head. “Thank you, but I’ve already eaten.”
My dad got up. “Have a drink then. Or coffee at least.”
“Thank you. I’ll have a glass of red wine, if I may.”
Dad happily went off to procure it for him, and he withstood Pete’s teasing and my mom’s impertinent questions with good grace. Better, in fact, than I had.
My dad returned with his glass of wine and then said, “I’m glad to see you tonight, Rafe. We must talk about your bachelor party. Now I’ve got some ideas—”
“That’s very kind of you, but my best man will be organizing an event. The details of which, of course, he hasn’t shared with me.” He sent a half-amused, half-horrified glance around as though he might be subjected to strippers and lap dances. I was fairly certain that wasn’t going to happen.
“Your best man. Excellent.” If Dad was disappointed, he didn’t show it. “Anyone I know?”
“Lochlan Balfour. He’s coming down from Ireland.”
As one, everyone turned to stare at him. “Lochlan Balfour?” my dad repeated. Dad was rarely starstruck by anybody who hadn’t dug up something smelly and skeletal that had historical significance, so to see him getting excited by Rafe’s best friend was surprising.
My mom piped up. “You don’t mean Lochlan Balfour, the technology mogul?”
“The very one.”
“But I thought he lived in New York,” my mom said.
My dad shook his head. “Seattle.”
Pete argued that they both had it wrong and his headquarters were in Sydney.
Meri was the only one who didn’t hazard an opinion. Though she clearly knew of him when she said, “He is a very famous man. I have read about him on my computer.”
Rafe nodded. “He travels to all the places you mentioned for his business. Best if you don’t go spreading around the news that he lives a good part of his year in Ireland. He tries to stay out of the spotlight.” Or the daylight. Lochlan was another vampire, and he was older than Rafe.
“Good Lord. Imagine you knowing a fancy chap like that,” Dad said.
I blinked. As fancy chaps went, Rafe wasn’t half bad either.
“Well, yes, if Lochlan Balfour’s organizing your bachelor do, there’s no more to be said,” my dad said, sounding disappointed.
Rafe also must have heard the disappointment, for he said, “I’m sure he’d value your input and probably your help since you’re in Oxford. I’ll put you in touch with him.”
That perked my dad up immeasurably. Whether it was because he could help plan the stag or just because he wanted to talk to a tech billionaire who was a household name, I didn’t know.
My mom looked at me then. “And I suppose I’ll have to speak to Violet, will I? To help plan your hen party?”
“Sure,” I said weakly. I’d have to impress upon Violet how very much I did not want a hen party and leave it to her to talk my mom out of it. With any luck, some new mummified pharaoh would be discovered and that would take Mom’s attention away from me, at least until the wedding.
“And who are your other attendants, dear? I don’t think you said.”
“Well, there’s Violet, obviously; Alice, who’s married to Charlie, and they have the bookshop across the street; and Jennifer’s coming.”
At the mention of Jennifer, who was the only person coming from the States, Mom’s mouth turned down. “I do wish you’d let us invite more of our friends and family from Boston. It seems so very peculiar.” Not the first time she’d aired this complaint.
With as much patience as I could muster, I said, “Mom. My life is here now. I’ve hardly kept in touch with anyone from back home, and you and Dad have been in Egypt a lot more than you’ve been in America for the last five years. Having Uncle Joe and Aunt Bessie at my wedding isn’t going to mean anything to me, and two big, fat plane fares for them. And you know how cheap they are. If they actually came, they’d do nothing but complain about how much it cost until Dad wrote them a check to reimburse them.”
My father looked horrified at that notion. “I think Lucy’s right, Susan. Nothing wrong with a small wedding. Nothing at all.”
“But she’s our only daughter. She’ll only get married once.” And then she glanced between the two of us and in a soft voice said, “I hope.”
Rafe and I both have very good hearing, but even as we chose to ignore her soft-voiced dig, his hand reached over for mine and gave it a squeeze. There would only be one marriage, and we both knew it. At least for me, but I shut that idea out of my head as quickly as it arrived.
Luckily, my parents were tired from their travels, and so dinner broke up fairly early. Pete and Meri were staying with some of Pete’s Oxford friends, so amazingly my guest room was still free. It wasn’t that I would have minded having a guest, but the vampire knitting club—wedding dress edition—were meeting at ten, and it might have been awkward.
After Rafe gave my dad Lochlan Balfour’s contact information, we bade the four of them goodbye, and then Rafe and I turned back towards my shop. As we neared the door, he said, “Your grandmother and Sylvia both texted me to see what my plans were tonight.” He looked down at me with a puzzled expression. “Is there some reason they don’t want me here?”
I bit my lip. I
