Irish Coffee

Chapter 4

Are you sure you want to do this?"  Travis had already asked him this approximately seven times since he'd initially said yes the day after they'd met.  He stood in the doorway, blocking his entrance, as if once he was inside there wasn't any going back.  "I mean, you can say no at any time, it's not like my parents aren't used to seeing me show up alone."

"First of all, I said I would do this," Ethan reminded him, pushing past his host and coming inside the writer's home.  Looking around at the few touches of Christmas décor they'd put up last night, he was surprised to see Travis had added a couple more items to the mix.  "Second, I meant what I said.  I like you Travis, I want to get to know you better."

Travis laughed.  "But meeting the family?  We've not even had an official date yet."

Ethan relished the sound of hopefulness the word 'yet' brought to his voice.  "We can count this as our first, how about that?"

The smile that graced Travis' face in that moment warmed Ethan's heart.  Maybe this was the right decision after all?  Heaven only knew he'd doubted every choice he'd made since he'd landed himself here, six months ago.  Hopefully this meant he could start trusting his instincts again.

"I think I'd like that a lot," he admitted.    Holding his hand out to Ethan he said, "Does that mean you're ready for Christmas dinner with the Murphy clan?'

Ethan reached out, taking the offered hand firmly.  "It does."

Aracely Murphy met them at the door, excited smile stretching across her matronly face.  Travis couldn't help but beam at his mother's eagerness to meet her son's new friend, even if the entire thing was a setup.  Ah, well, my parents never need to know that, right?  After all, he figured that even if the night bombed as badly as he was afraid it might, he had made a new friend.  As much as he wanted a hot boyfriend, having a really good friend worked for now.    

"Mama," Travis called out to the woman in the doorway, hugging her hard against his broad chest.  "I've missed you."

"You wouldn't miss me if you came around more often," she scolded.  "But I am thankful you are here."

Travis kissed her cheek and pulled from her embrace.  "Mama, this is my friend, Ethan McDowell.  Ethan, this is my mama, Aracely Murphy."

"It's a pleasure, Mrs. Murphy."  Ethan reached out to take her hand when he found himself engulfed in a massive hug. 

"Please, it's Mama," she corrected him, "and nothing else.  Any friend of my Travis is automatically family.  Come inside you two, your father has been waiting on you, Travis."

With a look of mock horror, Ethan followed Aracely into the house, Travis close behind.  "I warned you, now it's too late.  You're officially stuck until after dessert."

Ethan grinned, green eyes sparkling.  "If this is as bad as it gets, your family has nothing on mine.  They're the scary ones."

"Oh, you just wait, you haven't met my Irish father yet," Travis reminded him ominously. 

Hadn't they had this conversation once already?  "Yeah, well, I have a Scottish father, so I'm not scared." 

"Maybe we should pit them against each other sometime," Travis teased.  "Come on, my dad has been asking about you."

Liam Murphy rose at the sound of his son entering the den.  "Travis!  It's 'bout damn time," he exclaimed, hauling his son into a brusque hug, patting him roughly on the back before releasing him.  "And this handsome fella, is he your new man?"

"Now pop," Travis began, warning his father, "we've talked about this.  Ethan and I have only just started dating, no planning weddings yet, okay?"  It was the cover story they'd agreed on, one that was not only true to an extent, but would also cover the fact there wasn't any PDA going on between them.  As much as he hated lying to his parents, he hated disappointing them even more and this little lie worked out to be the lesser of two very wicked evils.