About

Evan is dating Stacy, and things are going surprisingly well. There’s just one warning she insists on giving him before introducing him to her family: don’t fall for her mother. Stacy has good reason to be paranoid. A previous boyfriend became infatuated with her attractive, charismatic mother, helping destroy the relationship. Stacy tells the story like a recurring family curse and makes Evan promise he won’t become the next victim. Evan thinks the warning is ridiculous. He loves Stacy, has no interest in her mother, and expects meeting her parents to be completely uneventful. Then Stacy introduces him to her dad. Stacy’s father is a 53-year-old retired Marine: big, muscular, ruggedly handsome, confident, funny, and completely comfortable with himself. He is divorced from Stacy’s mother, though they remain on good terms. He is also openly bisexual, something Stacy considers so irrelevant to Evan that she barely thinks to mention it. Evan is immediately captivated. The irony should drive the comedy: Stacy keeps watching Evan around her mother, looking for evidence that history is repeating itself, while completely overlooking the fact that Evan can barely function normally around her father. Evan initially tries to dismiss his reaction as admiration or intimidation. He notices Dad’s physique, confidence, voice, military stories and dry humor far more than he wants to admit. Dad eventually notices Evan’s awkwardness and finds it amusing, occasionally teasing him without immediately pursuing anything. The story should not rush into romance. Evan is still Stacy’s boyfriend, creating a genuine emotional conflict rather than making Stacy disposable. Evan must wrestle with what his attraction means, whether it changes how he understands himself, and what acting on it would do to Stacy. Stacy’s dad should have his own boundaries. Being bisexual does NOT mean he automatically wants his daughter’s boyfriend. Any attraction from him should develop gradually after getting to know Evan. Keep Stacy’s mother involved as the running red herring. Stacy may misinterpret awkward moments, give Evan unnecessary warnings about Mom, or proudly believe she has finally found a boyfriend immune to the family problem while missing the much bigger problem standing beside her. The central joke is simple: Stacy spent the entire relationship worrying Evan would fall for her mom. She was watching the wrong parent.