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“That’s my ride.”

“We’ll walk you out,” Cress said, jumping from the bed as Anna slowly pushed herself up to follow suit.

We made our way down from the top of the house, descending the many flights of stairs before walking out the front door.

At the bottom of the steps, I could see a large black vehicle with darkened windows waiting by the curb. One of the back doors opened and out stepped my father.

“Matthew?”

He smiled brightly in response. I knew he was sending a car for me, but I didn’t expect him to be in it.

“Hello, Isobel,” he replied as he climbed the steps toward me. When he reached the top, I wasn’t sure what to do. We weren’t exactly at the stage in our father-daughter relationship where we hugged in greeting. Instead, we both stood waiting awkwardly.

“I thought I’d be meeting you at your place,” I said.

“I managed to get off work a little early so I could come meet you.

“Oh.” My cheeks flushed, but I didn’t know why. It was nice that he’d gone to the effort, but it wasn’t that big a deal. For some reason though, I felt like it was.

“These are my friends, Cress and Anna,” I said, hoping to divert his attention away from me.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Matthew smiled at them in turn.

“You too, Mr. LaFleur,” Anna and Cress responded with polite smiles.

“Please, call me Matthew. How has your trip been so far? Have you enjoyed it?”

“It’s been good,” I replied.

“Isobel got food poisoning,” Anna interrupted.

I shot her a glare.

Matthew faced me. “Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”

“No, I don’t need a doctor,” I responded quickly. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Certain.” I shot Anna another scowl, but she just shrugged like she didn’t see the problem. I didn’t want Matthew babying me, and I definitely didn’t want to see a doctor. I had enough on my plate tonight without my father worrying about me being sick.

“We should probably get going,” I said before Anna could add anything else.

“Of course.” He stood to the side and gestured for me to go ahead of him, but I raised a hand. “Just give me one second.”

He nodded his understanding. “I’ll wait by the car. It was lovely to meet you girls.” He smiled at Cress and Anna.

“You too, Mr. LaFleur” they chimed in response.

I hovered by my friends as I watched him walk down the steps and over to the waiting SUV.

“Okay, wish me luck,” I said to the girls.

“Good luck,” Cress replied. “You won’t need it though. It’s just your dad.”

“Your superhot dad,” Anna added with a whisper. “Why didn’t you tell us he was so dreamy?”

I thumped her in the arm.Hard. “You did not just say that.”