The conference room turned ballroom that was hosting Tyler’s father’s cocktail reception was decked out in gold and black…everything. If I’m being honest, it looked like a hybrid of a New Year’s Eve celebration and a college graduation at best, but even I had to admit that the crowd was highbrow.
There was Secret Service scattered throughout, plus a private security detail, and if you weren’t on the list, then you weren’t getting in the door. In the time span it took Tyler and me to approach the entrance, at least four members of the press were turned away and stood there gloomily on their cell phones yelling at their editors and trying to find someone who could gain them entrance.
Tyler barely waved at the security stationed at the door of the ballroom, and they let her and me pass without even coming to a rolling stop.
I grabbed her hand as we entered, because my skin was already beginning to prickle with nerves, and something about the way Tyler strutted forward with confidence felt like safety.
She squeezed my hand and offered me an apologetic smile. “Do you want to get a drink first?”
“Maybe two,” I replied, my eyes already darting around the room to find the bar.
Tyler laughed and pulled me in the direction of the far right wall where several different bars were set up to accommodate everyone.
She ordered for the both of us—two glasses of pinot noir—and handed one glass to me. “Here.”
Tyler sipped on hers as I grimaced internally. I hated pinot noir for a lot more than the staining it left on my teeth. The taste was just not for me, but as I glanced around the room, everyone was drinking something red.
Seemed telling.
“I see my father in the corner over there,” Tyler finally said, nodding her chin toward that area of the ballroom. “Let me know when you’re ready to go say hi, and we can do introductions and all that.”
A man stepped up to the bar next to us wearing an overly large cowboy hat with holstered revolvers prominently displayed on both of his hips.
“Uh, I’m ready now. Let’s go.” I inched away from the bar and gave Tyler a gentle push in the direction she’d been pointing. “Gotta face the music sometime.”
Tyler didn’t seem to notice my discomfort, but she took my hand and led me across the room with all the confidence of a WASP heiress in a crowd of pale pawns.
“He’s the one talking to Senator McCarty.” She gestured toward a small circle of men in intimate discourse.
I recognized the senator immediately from his most recent Twitter—is it even called Twitter anymore?—tirade and backlash about welfare recipients, but the man next to him was new to me.
So, this is the infamous Walter Adams.
Tyler’s father was at least six inches shorter than she was, which made me wonder if she got her height from her mother. There was no doubt that she definitely got her eyes from her mother, because there was nothing crystal blue and deep about Walter’s pebble black irises that felt sharp in an entirely feral sort of way. He had the same hair color as Tyler, however, although it was tinged white around the temples now.
I found myself wondering more about Tyler’s mother as we stood outside the circle of men, waiting for an opportunity to break in and say hello. She’d told me a while ago that her mother’s abandonment had been a crucial part of her childhood trauma, but seeing her father’s beady eyes now…I couldn’t help but wonder what other damage he’d done to give her such a high ACE score. Something about this man just didn’t feel safe, even standing in front of him not knowing a thing about him.
We were almost in front of him now, and my stomach was in my chest.
“Tyler!” Walter finally spotted his daughter and waved for her to come closer, indicating for several men in front of him to move to the side. They immediately scuttled away like they’d just been chastised, and Tyler stepped forward into the circle like a fresh breath of air being let into a dark cellar. “Senator, you’ve met my daughter before, haven’t you?”
Tyler pulled me up next to her, and Senator McCarty cast a furtive glance at our hands clasped together, then quickly looked away.
He pushed a formal smile onto his face and tipped his chin toward her. “Ms. Adams, lovely to see you again.”
Tyler responded in kind and then gestured toward me. “Always a pleasure, Senator McCarty. Father, Senator, please meet Yasmeen Kiani, a small business owner from Arlington.”
I put out my one free hand for a handshake, and both men shook it with all the limpness of a wet noodle. “Nice to meet you, gentleman.”
“What sort of business are you in, Ms. Kiani?” the senator addressed me before taking a sip of whatever dark liquor he was nursing. “I get out to Arlington occasionally, and it’s always growing with new businesses and construction.”
“Actually, Yasmeen is going to be leasing our Pike location to open a new food and beverage establishment,” Tyler cut in for me before I could respond.
“Yes, a queer bar, actually,” I quickly clarified, shooting Tyler a look. This might be her show and her arena, but there was zero chance I wasn’t going to speak for my damn self. “We’re hoping by adding a third queer bar to the Washington, DC area, when there are so few around the country, will allow the metro region to become a destination spot for queer folks around the country to come visit.”
Tyler glanced sideways at me, and the nervousness on her face was not even remotely hidden. “Uh, yes. Because the financial aspect of bringing in that demographic will help small businesses and the local tourist economy to flourish in new ways.”
Ooh, she was trying to soften the blow of my truth with finances.
Tyler’s father blinked twice, then seemed to reboot into public speaker mode, patting Senator McCarty’s back with a firm hand. “An incredible win for the tourism industry is something any politician can support. Right, Senator?”
“Local tourism has decreased since the pandemic,” the senator churned out his words like a prewritten speech. “Anything the community can do to attract visitors and help our local businesses is certainly welcome.”
I could practically feel how hard that was for him to say, but I was impressed that he managed to force the words out of his mouth anyway.
“I’m going to grab another drink,” the senator informed us before stepping away. “It was lovely to see you again, Ms. Adams.”
I noted he didn’t even acknowledge having met me, but I wasn’t surprised.
Once he was gone, Tyler’s father stepped closer to us and lowered his voice in that disapproving way parents do. “This seems like a lot of new information to provide me in front of a senator, Tyler.”
I glanced at Tyler, and her expression had taken on that of innocent doe eyes.
“It was?” Her voice was even higher pitched now and sweeter than sweet tea. “I thought you’d be so excited, Daddy. I found a great applicant who can really make an impact on the area. I sent the lease application to your office a few days ago. Did you not…did you not have time to read it for me?”
Okay, damn. It’s one thing to know there is family dysfunction, but it’s another thing to watch the woman I’ve been fucking play her father like a goddamn fiddle right in front of me. I wasn’t sure if I was horrified or turned on, or some obscene mixture of both.
“Yes, yes. I heard all about it, and it’s waiting for me on my desk for Monday.” Mr. Adams glanced toward me now. “I’m sure you understand, Ms. Kiani, that I’ll need to review the application more thoroughly before anything is a done deal.”
“Of course,” I assured him, trying to adopt a similarly sweet tone to Tyler. “Tyler’s gone on and on about your business prowess since we first started dating.”
Two can play the brown-nosing game.
“Dating?” Her father’s brows lifted, and he looked between Tyler and me. “I didn’t know you had started dating anyone, Ty.”
She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and placed a pointed kiss on my cheek. “It’s only been a few months, but I’m really happy, Daddy. I hope you can be just as happy for the both of us.”
Walter Adams looked even more uncomfortable than the senator had a few moments ago. “Um, right. Yes. Of course, sweetheart. Anything that makes you happy makes me happy.”
That didn’t feel like a true statement, but I didn’t say shit.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
“So, a few months?” His gaze turned to me now. “How did you two meet?”
“Yoga class,” I immediately replied, casting a silly grin toward Tyler because after all this, there was no way I wasn’t going to stir the pot. “Every week, watching her bend over and stretch in downward dog—I mean, how couldn’t a woman fall in love?”
Tyler’s cheeks immediately darkened as she tried to keep a stony smile on her face.
“Love?” Mr. Adams now turned his focus to his daughter. “That sounds pretty serious, Ty.”
“Uh, yes.” She nodded, trying to keep her expression the same, even though I could see the daggers she was shooting at me. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, I’ll admit. But what is it you always said about Mom? When you know, you know.”
Her father took a step backward at the mention of Tyler’s mother, and I glanced between them, realizing that that had been some sort of power move between them that I didn’t understand.
Okay, so I really had a lot more questions about her mother now. Why had her mother left? Where was she now? What was the leverage Tyler was wielding over her father right now?
“That’s great,” he replied, the smile on his mouth appearing just as forced as Tyler’s. “And so, this bar…it’s yours alone, Ms. Kiani?”
Tyler didn’t give me a moment to answer. “Yes, but I’m going to be heavily involved in the entire thing. I’m thinking about investing, that’s how good the business model is. I’m so excited about it, Daddy. You should see the plans we have already. The buzz is going to be huge.”
His gaze flitted from mine to hers, then back to me. “I’ll definitely have to look at these plans on Monday.”
“If you need to,” Tyler continued, her hand snaking around my back now and pulling me into her side. She placed another kiss on my temple, and I cozied into her like I was already an expert at this act. “But we really just need a signature to get started. I was just telling Yasmeen earlier in the car how great of a father you are because you’d support anything I am really excited about.”
“She was,” I agreed, nodding emphatically and offering him an appreciative smile. “And what a great thing to hear. Not a lot of families out there like that these days.”
He was backed into a corner, and he knew it. “Yes, that is a founding principle of mine—valuing family, especially my daughter. She excels at everything she puts her mind to, you know. There’s nothing she can’t do.”
I leaned into Tyler’s side. “One of the things I love about her. She really is willing to do anything, and does it so well.”
The tone I said that in was just innocent enough to sound dirty.
“Right…” He straightened his shoulders and looked at Tyler. “Well, I’ll be eager to check out the proposal and application. Maybe we should meet on Monday, Ty? Go over it together?”
“I’d love that, Daddy. Want to come out to Virginia and see the space in person?” Tyler tilted her head to the side slightly. “We can do lunch together—like a father-daughter date.”
Good Lord, the fake sugar in her voice was going to give me cavities. My mind trailed back to the bits and pieces she’d told me about her childhood, and I could imagine just from watching this interaction that she’d spent a lifetime holding things in. Being someone who was so boldly out in every way—sexuality and personality—I couldn’t imagine living behind so many masks.
It seemed like every day I was with Tyler, a new mask revealed itself.
“It’s a date,” he confirmed with an all-too-wholesome smile. “It was lovely to meet you, Ms. Kiani. I hope you both enjoy a few drinks and the performance we have planned later from a local jazz band. As you can imagine, I have to keep circulating the room and chatting up donors.”
“Of course.” I offered my hand to him, and he shook it. “I’m sure I’ll see you again very soon—maybe at the grand opening?”
His smile was tight-lipped. “Maybe, but we’ll surely have to have you over for a family dinner before then at some point.”
“I would love that,” I replied. Definitely a lie, but I’d do it if it meant I could get my bar…and her. “Have a great evening, sir.”
Tyler gave her father a stiff hug, then he left the two of us alone. She turned to me with a wide grin and wiggled her brows. “Well, what do you think?”
I leveled my gaze at her. “I think your therapist needs a raise.”
She rolled her eyes, but the smile didn’t leave her face. “I’m serious. I think that went really well. He basically has no choice but to say yes now. The senator hearing all of that was icing on the cake.”
“I guess we’ll find out on Monday.” I handed her my glass of pinot noir. “But in the meantime, I’m going to need a drink that doesn’t taste like metal berries.”
She placed both of our glasses down on a catering tray nearby. “Why don’t we just get out of here? We’re not that far from As You Are—want to pop in there?”
“Tonight’s karaoke night,” I replied. “So abso-fucking-lutely.”
“I kill at karaoke,” Tyler informed me.
I tried not to snort when I laughed, but failed hard. “Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to see that to believe it.”
She linked her arm around mine. “Guess my go-to song.”
That one was easy. “Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey, obviously!”
Tyler grinned. “Am I that predictable?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Before tonight, I would have said yes. But now I just have a zillion more questions.”
And I highly doubted she’d be providing me answers anytime soon.