"Daddy, do you really have to do this?" She asked. Sometimes her father's over protectiveness really irked her nerves.
"Daddy you do know that I'm twenty-four years old." She reminded him.
"Yup and I'm going to make sure that you don't end up on the dinner table being served for appetizers on some joker's menu who's doesn't want to pay for the buffet special."
"Daddy… really you need to start dating. It's time. You're just way too involved in my life." Mia said attempting to remind her father that he and her mom were divorced now. It had been over ten years and mom had moved on with her new life. She finally went back to school getting the degree she had given up on once she became pregnant with Mia. Her mother had even recently gotten engaged and was to be getting married again next year. Mia was happy that her mother had gotten a chance to get back some of the life and dreams that she had sacrificed. Now if only she could convince her father to do the same; maybe Mia could have a life of her own too.
"I told you before…"
"After I get married you'll think about it." She finished for her father. Skip told her he would reconsider dating and remarrying after he saw her happily married off to a guy that met with his approval. Mia had no idea that he would set the bar so high or that there really weren't any decent men who were willing to take the Skip Cleaves Man-Up Challenge. Every time the discussion of sex would come up and Mia would relay the conditions upon having sex with a man; the deal breaker was always the same- meeting her father and getting his approval.
There were times when Mia wished that she was not a pious and obedient daughter. Why did her father's opinion matter so much to her? She wished that she could be a little headstrong and do as she wanted; but she always knew and understood that her father's over protectiveness was coming out of a place of love. Right or wrong he was the one person that she knew who meant her no harm and that she could trust him.
She felt that if there was a man who would at least be willing to meet her father per his request; then she would be able to trust herself with him. The problem was that there had been no one who was willing to do it; therefore Mia felt that she couldn't trust the man. If she couldn't trust a man then what was the point of going all the way with him? That was the reason why Mia always asked her a potential boyfriend to meet her father. She wanted to at least feel as though she could trust him.