Broken Glass, Broken Hearts part 83

I jumped off the couch as the huge man walked in the front door with a briefcase tucked under his brawny arm. He looked straight off Wall Street, and also straight out of a boxing ring. He looked like Clark Kent. "Oh, hello!" I said, cringing as my voice cracked. Really? Now, in this moment, nature had to do that to me? "You're, um, Angela's father!" He smiled, "You can call me Jake. We've met, I believe, briefly." I nodded, "Oh, um, yes, very briefly, a while ago. Jake, though, you didn't tell me that was your name. So Jake was named after you, then?" He smiled and nodded, "Yup. And I after my father." The whole situation was bizarre because it seemed so cliche, like something out of a movie. Here I was, son of the traveling hippies, meeting my gorgeous and tiny girlfriend's Clark Kent of a father, who's name was given to him by generations past. While mine was...slightly less impressive. "How 'bout you? You named after anyone?" I smiled and nodded regretfully. My least favorite question to answer to anyone, let alone this classic dad-I-must-impress, proving right there in concrete that stereotypes truly are the result of actual facts. "Um," I started, hoping my cheeks weren't red, "I'm named after Bonnie Tyler." His eyebrows shot up and Angela clapped her hand in a fist over her mouth to stop her laugh. He chuckled, "Really?" I nodded, "Yea, I mean, uh, my parents were... hippies, I guess you could say. They pulled out the 70's, and the 80's, for as long as they could." The man laughed and shrugged, "Nothing wrong with that, I guess. Can't say I didn't like some Bonnie Tyler back in the day." He shrugged and winked at me as he said, "Hey, could be worse, you could be named after Steven Tyler."

"Who?" Selena asked, surprisingly close to me. I glance back and realized she had moved into the living room, probably to get away from the onions. Angela's dad looked over at Selena and said, "Steven Tyler? The singer?" Selena's face was blank with a lack of recognition. Jake rolled his eyes, "Kids now days. Aeorosmith's lead man?"

"Oh! I've heard of them," Selena said, smiling wide, like this was impressive. The man rose an eyebrow and rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Well," he said, "It's nice to formally meet you, Tyler named after Bonnie Tyler." He smiled and shook my hand once, firmly, before turning and saying to Angela, "I'll be in my office, if you need me."

"K," she replied, not looking up from the onions she was chopping. And with that, he disappeared up the stairs.

I finished chopping the onions and Selena drifted back into the kitchen, leaning against the counter and picking up a bowl of already-stirred mix, stirring it more so that she could at least have the appearance of looking like she was helping. "So, where'd you meet this Carter guy?" I asked casually. Tyler was on the couch again, but he looked slightly less comfortable as he sat stiffly, his eyes glued to the TV as a rerun of Saved By the Bell played.

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