Aka Amy

Although I'd never been there before it wasn't that difficult to find the place that Amy and her father picked for lunch. It was in the historic downtown area, which was only a kilometre or so away from Bev's clinic.

The pub was relatively new but it was in an older building, and it looked to be a sort of up-market dining experience. The interior was a blend of old-world and modern aesthetics, and the staff were all smartly dressed.

I was a little apprehensive about meeting up with Mr. Price, considering how things went the last two times we'd seen Amy's parents. And her text messages hadn't really given me any indication of how she felt or what the general mood was like, only that she was having lunch with her father and I was invited.

When I spotted the two of them a moment later I was relieved to note that neither looked upset or angry. They were in a booth off to the left, and from what I could tell they both seemed a little awkward, like neither was sure yet how things would progress. On the other hand there were polite smiles on both sides of the table, and both of them had already started with drinks. There was a pint of beer in front of Mr. Price, while my girlfriend had a glass of white wine.

"Hi Amy, hello Mr. Price," I greeted them both as I finally approached the table.

My girlfriend smiled, "Hi Tess! I'm glad you could join us."

"Hello Theresa," Mr. Price responded politely. "And please, call me Doug."

As I took a seat next to Amy she moved closer and gave me a side-hug, while a waiter approached to offer me a drinks menu. Unfortunately I had to work again so I couldn't indulge, and just ordered a glass of cola instead.

While the waiter went to fetch that for me I asked my girlfriend and her dad, "So what's the occasion, why are we all getting together for lunch today?"

Doug looked a little embarrassed as he replied, "Like I was telling Amy, I happened to be in the area and I wanted to take the opportunity to try and patch things up with her. I'd really like to get to know my youngest daughter a little better, and I'd like to get to know you as well Theresa."

"I'm sorry our first two meetings were so short and unpleasant," he added quietly.

Amy smiled, "Hopefully this time my fiancée and I will actually get to eat with you, instead of running off like the last two times."

Her dad grimaced as he started to say something, then caught himself. He blinked and glanced back and forth between me and Amy, "Fiancée? You two are engaged?"

"Yes," I responded. I couldn't help smiling as I held out my left hand to show off my ring as I told him, "We haven't set a date yet, but we've been engaged since May."

Mr. Price stared at the ring for a second or two, then looked up and smiled at both my girlfriend and I. He seemed genuinely happy as he said, "Congratulations, to both of you! Now I really do need to get to know you better Theresa, if you're going to become my daughter-in-law."

"Please call me Tess," I told him. "And thank you."

"Maybe we should have a look at the menus?" Amy suggested at that point. "The waiter's been hovering around like he wants to take our orders, and I know Tess has to get back to work sooner or later this afternoon."

I grimaced, "Unfortunately correct. I have to be back at the clinic by half past one."

It didn't take us long to make our selections, and the waiter was right there to take our orders as soon as we were ready. The conversation resumed again after that.

"So you're working full-time now Tess?" Doug asked. "And I understand you're a therapist?"

I nodded as I had a sip of my cola, "That's correct. I've been working part-time and doing co-op work at the same clinic for over a year, but since I graduated in June I'm now part of the full-time staff. Although I technically only started working full-time at the beginning of July, so it's just over a month now."

Mr. Price smiled, "Still, I hope you're enjoying it? I'm sure it can be rough at times, but it's got to be rewarding work, helping people out."

"It is," I agreed. "Although I really am just getting started."

Doug acknowledged that, then after a sip of his beer he commented with a smile "It's nice knowing we'll still have someone in the family working in health care."

My girlfriend reminded me, "Dad's a dentist, and my mom used to be a nurse. They were both disappointed that neither Hailey or I wanted to follow in either of their footsteps."

"You're training to become an EMT cutie," I pointed out. "Doesn't that count?"

She grimaced, "I guess? Or maybe it only counts if I actually get a job as an EMT after I graduate."

"Why wouldn't you?" I asked. "I'm sure there's always going to be a need for paramedics and ambulance attendants, right?"

Her dad seemed curious as well, "We haven't really talked about any of your long term plans yet. Amy, Tess, what are you two thinking about doing with yourselves in the future? And I know you said you haven't picked a date yet, but when were you thinking about for the wedding?"

My girlfriend let me answer first, so I replied with a happy smile "We've agreed on a longer engagement, we're planning to get married in two years. That gives me time to get established with work, and it'll give Amy a full year after she graduates to get a job sorted out as well."

"I imagine we'll probably start really thinking about all of this about a year from now?" I added. "After Amy's graduated and I've got a year of experience at the clinic, then we can start making some long-term plans."

Doug nodded slowly, then he looked to my girlfriend. He lowered his voice as he asked, "What about your uh, religious endeavours? Back at easter I got the impression that was a significant part of your life?"

Amy grimaced, "I don't think I've ever used that word to refer to it. I'm absolutely not starting a church and I don't want to call it a religion."

"Sorry," her dad apologized. "What do you call it then? How would you like me to refer to it?"

My girlfriend was still grimacing slightly as she shrugged, "I guess I just refer to it as my goddess stuff? I know that probably comes across as a little irreverent, but that's how I think of it."

"And yeah," she continued, "It is a large part of my life now. That's why I don't have a summer job, because I'm working on that instead."

Doug hesitated, "How does... What does that entail? How do you work on um, goddess stuff?"

Amy kept her voice down as she replied, "It's not a ton of work, but I'm helping people here and there. I answer the odd prayer, grant a miracle or two now and then. My numbers are still pretty low, well under a hundred faithful, so it's definitely not like a full-time job. Barely even part-time right now. But I do what I can, and I'm looking for ways to slowly grow."

"I'm an LGBTQ goddess," she added when it was obvious her dad was about to ask something along those lines. "My faithful are mostly trans folks, and I've been picking up demi-human followers as well lately. But I'll help anyone who's queer and prays to me."

Mr. Price blinked, "Demi-human? What does that mean?"

"You know, like cat-kin, bunny-kin, fox-kin," Amy explained. "They're basically humans, but with animal ears and tails. You know what a catgirl is, right? Like that, but their animal attributes aren't always feline."

"You're joking," her dad stated. "Aren't you?"

I shook my head, "She's not. I've only met one myself so far, a pink-haired and pink-furred catgirl."

There was a strong temptation to mention my role in how that pinkette catgirl came about, but I still had some lingering guilt over Ada's situation so I kept quiet about it. For that matter I wasn't sure how my girlfriend's dad would take to finding out I was Amy's cleric as well as her fiancée.

Meanwhile my girlfriend commented, "They're obviously still pretty rare. I've only met a couple dozen demi-humans spread around southern Ontario, but I'm sure there's more out there."

Doug asked, "How though? It's not possible, humans and animals can't... Medically speaking it just can't happen."

"Magic," my girlfriend replied with a shrug. "I'm responsible for a couple, a few people have prayed to be transformed like that? And there's someone else out there who's been doing this for over a year now? I don't know who they are yet, they operate under a pseudonym, but they mail enchanted objects to anyone who wants to be transformed."

Her dad seemed stunned. He slowly shook his head and mumbled, "Damn. It's hard to believe that sort of thing could be going on without anyone noticing. I'd have thought the first time a real catgirl turned up someplace she'd end up on the evening news."

My girlfriend and I exchanged a glance, but neither of us were eager to try and explain the whole 'status quo' thing that Raven told us about a few months back.

The conversation was further derailed when our waiter arrived with our lunch. He also topped up my soda and Amy asked for another glass of wine, but rather than more beer Mr. Price just asked for a glass of water.

The food all looked great. The selections were all sort of basic comfort food, but done up a little nicer than usual. Doug got a Lancashire hotpot, which sounded like a traditional dish. It looked like stew but with a bunch of cheese melted over a layer of potato on top. Amy went with a Philly steak sandwich, and I got a grilled chicken sandwich. They were both served on freshly-baked buns, and came with thick-cut fries on the side.

As the three of us enjoyed our lunch I decided to try and get to know a little more about my girlfriend's father, since he was obviously looking for all of us to connect better. After washing down a bite of my sandwich with some cola I asked, "So Doug, Amy said you're a dentist?"

"That's right," he nodded. "My practice is down in Port Credit, just a couple blocks north of the lake shore."

"Is it your own practice?" I asked.

There was definitely some pride in his voice as Mr. Price replied, "Yes it is. I spent the first ten years or so of my career working for someone else, before I decided to set out on my own. Or almost on my own, a friend and I formed a partnership and opened our own clinic together. That worked well for a little over a decade."

He paused for a forkful of his lunch before continuing, "Then some other details in my friend's life changed and about a dozen years ago he decided he wanted to move on. So I bought out my partner's share in the practice, and I've been running it myself ever since."

"Do you work alone?" I asked. "I can imagine you must be awfully busy."

Doug smiled as he shook his head, "I've got over a half dozen full-time staff now, and a couple more part-timers. It takes a lot of people to keep the place running, from receptionists to the dental hygienists to the staff dentists. Plus we've got a bookkeeper, and I have two specialists who come in part-time. They spend the rest of their time at other practices, or one of them also handles oral surgery in a local hospital."

"Wow," I responded. "That's impressive. Especially considering you built it all up yourself."

Amy commented, "Dad's always been a hard worker. And ambitious too. I can remember him working six days a week when I was younger."

"That's true," her dad confirmed. "I had to put in a lot of long hours. Being your own boss can be really rewarding, but it sure isn't easy."

Mr. Price looked to me and asked, "What's it like at the place you're working now? Obviously it's very different work, but I'll bet there's some similarities between your clinic and what it was like for me at first."

I spent the next few minutes telling him about working with Bev at her clinic, while Amy and her dad both ate a bit more of their lunch.

When I paused for another bite of my sandwich Doug responded, "That definitely sounds similar. And I'm sure Bev got started a lot like I did? And who knows, maybe in a few years once you've got an established base of patients you'll be ready to strike out on your own too."

"Maybe," I replied with a smile. "I'm not ready to even start thinking about that right now. And I enjoy working with Bev, she's been a great boss and mentor. My other colleagues there are really nice too."

"Sounds like you're in a good place there Tess. If you enjoy what you're doing and you like the people you work with, you're already ahead of the game," Mr. Price stated.

"Agreed," I nodded.

At that point we were all quiet again for a bit, with the three of us focused on our meals. Eventually Amy had enough and set her plate off to the side and had another sip of wine as she quietly regarded her father.

After another minute or so my girlfriend finally asked him, "Hey dad? Sorry if this brings down the mood but I've been wondering. You said mom didn't know you were coming out here to see me and Tess. Are you going to tell her later?"

"I guess I'm just curious about how you think it's going to work long-term," she added. "Not mentioning that you met us for lunch one day is nothing on its own, but you said you wanted to patch things up between us. You can't keep that secret from her indefinitely."

Mr. Price sighed, "I know Amy. I don't know yet how I'm going to handle the situation? I'm going to keep trying to talk with her, and hopefully she'll come around sooner or later. Whatever happens though, I'm not going to let her stop me from having a relationship with you any longer."

"She's my wife," he continued, "But you're my daughter. I love you both, along with Hailey. And I'd love for the four of us to be able to get together as a family again."

My girlfriend smiled, "Thanks dad, I love you too. And I'd like to be able to get together with you and Hailey, along with Tess and Alex too of course. I don't want to exclude mom, but I'm not going to be part of any more family arguments. And I won't drag Tess into that kind of nonsense again either."

"I understand Amy, and I don't blame you," her dad stated. "For now, all I can do is keep trying."

The two of them left it at that, and by then both Doug and I were finished eating as well. The waiter came by to gather up the dishes, and my girlfriend and her dad took a couple minutes to argue over who'd take care of the bill. In the end Mr. Price won that debate, he paid for our meals then offered to drive Amy back to our apartment while I headed back to work.