Chasing After Him

Evie

I was stunned—speechless. I didn’t know what to say or think. I turned my head, half-expecting Xander to come back to the table. He was joking, right?

My dad and him had gotten together beforehand and came up with a practical joke. That was the only explanation my brain could come up with. I looked around the restaurant, wondering if Nelle had a hand in this. She knew how stressed out I was about introducing Xander to my dad. This was something she would do.

I didn’t see Nelle, though. My father looked like he had just dined on glass. Xander wasn’t coming back. It wasn’t a joke. No one was going to jump out and laugh at the fact I had been pranked. This was my real life. All my fears about introducing a man to my father had just come to life.

I turned back to look at my father. His cheeks were red, and his eyes were flashing with anger. His hands were clenched in tight fists resting on the table. For a brief millisecond, I stopped to notice I had never seen him so angry. No one w