“Your father has plenty of flaws,” Kim disclosed.
“Is working too hard considered a flaw? Or maybe he’s too generous and loving? Actually, he probably spends too much time in the gym? Yeah, he’d be much better with a beer belly, right, Mom?”
Kim laughed to herself while reflecting on Stacy’s long-standing obsession with Peter. They really were two peas in a pod, weren’t they? Peter spoiled their daughter rotten, Stacy viewed him as Superman, and the world kept on spinning. It shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to hear just how enamored her daughter was with him.
“Tell me how you two met,” Stacy got things back on track. “That way I know what to look for when I try to find a guy like Dad.”
She had a feeling that her daughter wouldn’t be so lovestruck after learning the details of their courtship. “I met up with my girlfriend at her parents’ house because we were planning to go out that night, when her brother returned home just before we left. He had his friend with him.”
“Was his friend Dad?”
“Yep, his friend was Dad,” Kim nodded as she took herself back to her youth. It’d been an awfully long time since she revisited anything that happened over two decades ago. “Somehow, they convinced us to tag along with them to a house party they were headed to.”
Stacy jotted down notes in her head. Apparently, spectacular men could be found in the least likely places. Dad used to party back in the day? Really? She’d never even seen him drink alcohol.
“So, we went to the house party with them,” Kim continued. “Now, things got a little rowdy as the night progressed. A bunch of the guys were extremely drunk, and some football player grabbed my butt while I made my way to the bathroom.”
This wasn’t the romantic tale that Stacy had imagined.
“I freaked out. Usually, I would just ignore a guy if he did something like that, but I think I was a little buzzed too. I ended up making a way bigger deal out of it than I should’ve.”
“Mom, some strange guy grabbed your butt,” Stacy reminded her. “It’s not out of line to freak out. Heck, I would!”
An unfamiliar sense of embarrassment consumed the forty-two-year-old mom after she recalled the way that she’d made herself the center of attention. It was a reaction she would never dream of replicating at her current age.
“Guess who stepped in when I really started screaming at this guy?”
“Who?” asked Stacy.
“Dad.”
Stacy’s heart stopped beating. “Oh my God, Dad came to your defense!?”
“Um…you could say that,” Kim chuckled. “He got in the football player’s face, and when that guy shoved him, Dad knocked him out.”
Stacy gasped.
“It was wild,” Kim told her stunned daughter. “The craziest part was how none of his teammates confronted your father. It was like they didn’t want to mess with him.”
Of course not! How couldn’t her mother see what she saw? Dad really was Superman!
“So, like twenty minutes later, I’m getting a beer when I suddenly feel someone squeeze my butt.”
Stacy currently wondered how she’d never heard about this night. It sounded insane! “Was it another football player?”
Sadly, Kim was about to shatter the mantle that Stacy placed Peter on. “Nope, it was your father.”
Stacy’s eyes bulged.
“He took the cup out of my hand, filled it for me, and said, ‘I’m the only guy who gets to grab that perfect ass,'” Kim revealed, waiting for horror to sweep across Stacy’s face.
But instead, Stacy smiled from ear-to-ear. “Oh my God, that’s so romantic!”
Kim’s jaw dropped. “What!? No, it isn’t!”
“Mom, Dad beat up a guy who grabbed your butt, took your cup out of your hand and filled your drink for you, and then said that you belong to him! That’s amazing! It’s like a Hollywood romance!”
“A Hollywood romance?” Kim questioned, baffled. “Your father grabbed my butt just like that football player did!”
“Yeah, but it’s totally different,” Stacy pointed out. “One, you owed him after what he did for you. Two, he’s Dad. It’s not inappropriate if it’s the guy you end up marrying.”
“I didn’t know that I would marry him at the time, though.”
Stacy would decide that. “Well, how did you react when Dad grabbed your butt?”
Kim immediately moved her eyes to the floor.
“You liked it, didn’t you?” Stacy shouted with a big smile. “And it’s obvious why! Because Dad’s amazing!”
“I actually tried to protest,” she said, turning her attention back to her daughter. “I had a little problem doing that, however. You see, your father kissed me before I had the chance to speak my mind.”
Stacy didn’t know what to say. How could one man be so perfect, and how could one woman be so lucky? Mom had totally hit the jackpot!
“And…we…oh my God, I can’t believe I’m about to say this.”
Stacy waited with bated breath.
“Listen, never do what I’m about to say, do you understand me? Never! We…ended up…going back to his place,” Kim finally spit out, not necessarily proud of herself.
Stacy’s smile couldn’t possibly be bigger. “You messed around with Dad on the first night that you met him!?”
Kim nodded, unable to look her daughter in the eye. “Yeah, and it was so much different from anything I’d ever experienced. He was just so…phenomenal.”
She didn’t understand why her mother acted ashamed of herself. She would totally do the same thing if she met a clone of Dad! Why bother waiting? She would get married, have his children, and then gladly be his sexy housewife who dedicated herself to making the love of her life a very happy man. It would be her honor.
And she wasn’t surprised in the least from the reveal of Dad’s prowess in the bedroom. It only made sense. He was spectacular in all facets of his life, so why wouldn’t he be incredible in bed as well? Actually, she would’ve been stunned to have learned anything different.
“Mom, your life is literally a fairytale. A guy showed up unexpectedly, saved you from trouble, told you that he wanted you, and then gave an unbelievable life. That’s exactly what I want! It’s what every girl wants too! How don’t you see how lucky you are?”
“I’ve been very fortunate with how things turned out,” Kim acknowledged what everyone around her already knew. “I know that. All I’m saying is that perfect guys don’t exist. Every man has flaws, honey. Sometimes, you need to look past a few of them in order to appreciate what he has to offer.”
“But you don’t have to look past anything with Dad. He’s literally perfect,” Stacy said, refusing to change her mind.
Kim rolled her eyes as she laughed to herself. Deep down, she knew that she couldn’t convince Stacy otherwise. Her daughter would always view Peter as a superhero, so she would keep her fingers crossed that a truly spectacular man would come into her world to give her the life that she so desperately desired.
“My last few dates have all been soooooooooo awful,” Stacy admitted, reflecting on her time at college. It was nice to be home for summer break. At least it granted her an opportunity to escape from the jerks on campus. “I’m going to be single forever. I just know it.”
“No, you won’t,” Kim laughed.
“You don’t know that. What if–”
The sound of footsteps caused Stacy to cut herself short, and the arrival of her favorite person on the planet brought a big smile to her face. Truthfully, he was the reason that she loved being back home more than anything. She’d missed him so much!