Page 16 of Mate Match: Curtis & Jae
“Did you see him, Dad? He was cute, right?”
“I saw. Where’s he from?” Dad ate a bite of his food, waiting for me to answer.
“His family is originally from Korea, but he’s American. He was born here. Went to college in Portland.”
“Huh. So what’s he do?”
Rather than go through the question-and-answer session, I pulled out my phone and showed the profile on the Mate Match app to my dad while Lara got a devious look in her eyes.
“Did Jae stay over last night? You had a date on Friday, right?”
“He did. Jae stayed all weekend—”
“All weekend! Wow! It must be serious then?”
“Uh, he went into heat early. Have you heard of that?” As a doctor, I thought she might know.
Lara sat thoughtfully for a while. “It’s possible he had a reaction to your pheromones.”
“We were in a restaurant with a neutralizer.”
“Still, I’m pretty sure you’re a dominant alpha. If he’s a dom omega, then it’s entirely possible you just mesh well. Did you getclose to him? Touch him at any point?” Lara was gearing up for a medical lecture.
“He took my arm when we walked through. I pushed his chair in.”
“You’ve always had impeccable manners,” Dad interjected with approval.
“That could have been enough. It suggests you two are highly compatible.”
“I’ll say!” I blurted. My face heated. That was not something to share with my family!
Lara giggled. “Jennie is going to love this! So you took him through his heat?”
“Yeah, and before you ask, we did DuoStop.”
Rather than smile, she frowned. “Okay.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s fine. Reminded me of a work thing.” She waved a hand. “Patient confidentiality. It’s fine. I’m glad you took precautions.”
“Are you going to see Jae again?” Dad asked, breaking the weird mood Lara had fallen into.
“He asked me to call him later so we can arrange another date. I really like him. He feels special.”
Both my dad and sister smiled. “Just be careful, please,” Lara urged. “You’ve got a tendency to put more into these relationships than they do. It’s always a little one sided.” She winced. “Sorry.”
“Nah, it’s good. I know what you mean. It feels different this time. I promise.”
“Alright. I’m glad to see you are happy. You seem lighter, I dunno, just different in a good way.”
Dad nodded, agreeing while he continued eating, making cheerful noises.
We chatted while we ate, catching up on each other’s lives. I spoke to Jennie at least once a week, so some of the things Lara said weren’t new to me, but I acted like I hadn’t heard Milo’s math test results and said how proud I was of him.
Dad talked about his yard and his bowling friends. He’d made a few new friends with a weekly bowling league we encouraged him to go to. He was retired, and we didn’t want him to be lonely. These guys were always over at his house, or he went to theirs, just to tinker on cars, or tidy flower beds. They kept each other company.
“Me and Jennie are going to take Milo to a movie. Want to come?” Lara asked before getting in the car. Dad was already sitting inside with his leftovers.
