Maggie is giggling but smiling wide, and Harper is looking at me funny with her nose scrunched up. “Daddy, why are you dressed like that?”
“Because I love your mommy, sugar. And I plan to woo the crap out of her tonight.”
“Huh?”
“He’s taking Mom on a date tonight, Harps. Apparently this is what old people do. Dress like weirdos and hope that their wives don’t laugh in their faces,” Grady tells her.
“Aw, come on. This is cool, right, Mags? Mom will get it, yeah?”
“Yeah, Dad. It’s cool. Actually it’s totally sweet, and Mom is gonna love it.”
“I’m still confused,” Harper says as she turns her head back to the TV to continue watching Home Alone, apparently over the conversation and her dad’s epic surprise for her mom.
James, whose laughter finally subsides, turns and looks at me still with a smile on his face. “Maggie’s right, Tess is gonna love it. She’ll cry, you know, because she cries at commercials, but this is perfect for her. Thanks, man. I couldn’t ask for a better guy to love my sister.”
“She makes it easy,” I tell him. Not to suck up, but because that’s the truth. It’s never been a hardship to love Tess. It’s been what comes most natural to me. Even though I may have forgotten to show her that over the last few months, it never left me. It will always be easy to love Tess because my heart won’t let me ever stop loving her.
“They’re right, Dad. You look like a giant dork, but Mom is gonna flip,” Grady says as he has his phone up and aimed in my direction. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna send a picture to Cole, since he missed this epic display of your dorkiness, or that I’m not gonna use this against you some day.”
“Picture it up, dude. This is your dad showing you how to date a woman, even when you’re old and decrepit,” I say, completely unfazed by him calling me a dork. I don’t deny that. “Besides, your dad can totally rock the Dylan look. Admit it.”
“Who’s Dylan?”
“Man, it makes me so happy that your kids have no clue who Dylan is.”
“Right?” I grin at James.
“Bye, Dad,” Maggie says while she’s gently pushing me out the door to the pickup waiting for me in the driveway. Apparently, she’s just as anxious as I am to get this date started.
Twenty minutes later, I’m pulling up to Tess’s parents’ house. The memories of our past hit me in the face like a Mac truck.
On our first official date on the night after homecoming of our junior year when she wore my jersey for the first time… I still remember knocking on her door, my stomach feeling like it could drop out from underneath me at any moment. Her dad opened the door with a scowl on his face that had me almost turning around.
“What the hell do you want?” Tess’s dad, George Cole, says when the door is open fully.
“Uh, hi, Mr. Cole.” I clear my throat. “I’m Barrett Ryan?” I ask, rather than say, my nerves shining through like a jackass.
“Are you asking me or telling me, boy?” he says in a voice that scares the crap out of me.
“George! Leave Barrett alone!” Tess’s mom, Deb, comes into the room and pushes George out of the way.
A bright pink scarf-thing covers her head because of the chemo treatments I know she’s been going through. My mom told me about her cancer, so this doesn’t really surprise me but is still sad to look at.
“Come in, Barrett. Tess is just about ready for you,” she tells me, her smile as bright as can be.
“Ah, Debbie, I was just having fun with the boy,” George says and grins at me. He claps me on the shoulder and squeezes lightly once. “Come in, kiddo.”
“Thank you, sir.” I tell him, still completely terrified of the man. I know he’s protective of his only daughter. I’m just glad that her older brothers aren’t here, too.
“Daddy, were you being rude?” Tess says as she descends the stairs. My breath catches in my throat, and my jaw drops to the floor. She is beautiful. Her blonde hair is full of curls and down around her face. Her bright purple long-sleeve shirt is just short enough that I can see a tiny sliver of her stomach poking through, and her jeans fit her perfectly. Her tall black combat boots give her a couple inches of extra height, but she’s still way shorter than me.
“No, princess. Just welcoming Barrett into our home,” George says, clearly not wanting to be in trouble with his daughter.
“Good,” she says to him with a smile before turning that gorgeous face to me. “Hi.” Her voice is shy and sweet, and the slight blush to her cheeks tells me she’s just as nervous and excited for tonight as I am.
“Hi. You look um…” I cough. “…you look beautiful, Tess. Like, really beautiful.”
“Thanks,” she says, as her head dips down a little bit. “You look really good, too.”
“Ayyy, get out of here!” George says, apparently not able to listen to much more, causing Deb to choke on her own laughter.
Tess giggles and lifts up on her tiptoes to give her dad a kiss to the cheek. “Bye, Daddy. I love you.”
“Bye, princess. Love you, too. Midnight. Not a minute later, got it?”
“Got it,” she tells him even though he was looking at me when he said it.
I nod my head at him, letting him know I understand while Tess gives her mom a hug goodbye.
As soon as we’re out the door, I take hold of Tess’s hand as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, because it feels like the most natural thing in the world. How I went seventeen years without holding her this way I’ll never understand, but I take this moment to relish in the comfort of it. We make our way down the sidewalk to my waiting pickup, and I open the door for her to get in.
After crossing to the driver’s door, I will my heart to stop beating so hard against my chest and slide inside. As soon as I get settled, I look over at my forever and smile her way. She smiles back and in a whoosh all the nervousness is gone. Only excitement remains between the two of us.
“C’mere,” I tell her. And she immediately slides over the seat and nestles in next to me. Right where she belongs.
“Ready?” I ask her. But it’s not just ready for our first date. It’s ready for the first date of the rest of our lives.
She looks up at me from under my arm that’s resting on the back of the seat behind us. “I am.” And I feel it. I know, in my soul, that she feels it too. She knows this isn’t the start of something little. This is the start of something huge.
I knock on the door, shaking my head of the memory that completely assaulted me. I’m surprised at the level of detail I can remember from that night. The night that started it all. The door swings open, and I see her dad staring back at me, a man who I’ve known for decades, have come to respect and love as if he’s my own. A man who’s held me as I cried over losing my own father. A man who handed his daughter’s hand over to me to take care of forever. A man who trusted me in that honor. I find myself fighting my knees from buckling beneath me. If I manage to be half the man that he is, I’ll be lucky.
“What the hell do you want?” George barks, making me laugh hard.