“What?” I laugh. “Why does that make you grouchy?”
“Because there should be an endless supply coming from my wall. It’s a life necessity and when it’s not available to me, I get upset.”
“I guess that’s valid. Let me know when you run out of toilet paper so I can be positive that day.”
“That’s a fair deal.”
“I have some important questions to ask you,” Jason says while we wait for our dessert. We ordered the molten chocolate lava cake. Jason’s eyes lit up when he saw it on the menu, and I couldn’t help thinking how adorable he was, getting excited over a chocolate dessert. He admitted once we ordered that other than ice cream, chocolate is one of his favorite things to indulge in. Any kind of chocolate. Doesn’t matter how it comes to him, as long as there’s chocolate in it, he’ll eat it.
“Should I be scared?”
“I think you should get ready for quite an inquiry, but they’re necessary questions that must be answered if I want to ask you out on a second date.”
“What if I don’t want to go on a second date?”
“Hmm.” He taps his chin with his fork, ready to dig in the minute the plate arrives at our table. “That’s a good point. All right. If the question arose, would you go on a second date with me?”
“Well, now I feel pressured to say yes just so I can hear the inquiry.”
“You’re going to have to deal with the pressure, sweet cheeks.”
“Fine. Hypothetically, if you were to ask me out on a second date, I would hypothetically, possibly say yes.”
“Great.” He bops his own nose with his fork and then sets it down on the table. “Here goes.” He looks serious; both his hands rest palm down on the table and his shoulders stiffen. Looking me dead in the eyes, he asks, “Bobbies and Rebels are in the World Series, what shirt do you wear?”
“Bobbies obviously.”
He blinks. Sits back. “What?”
“Bobbies for life.”
“But I’m on the Rebels.”
“Yes, but are we dating, are we married? Are we just fooling around? There’s going to have to be a huge commitment on my part in order to put a Rebels shirt on. Sorry.”
“We’re dating.”
“Eh.” I wave my hand.
“Fine. We’re living together.”
“Hmm, I don’t know.” I twist a strand of hair in my finger.
“Christ, we’re married.”
“Ugh.” I wince. “I’m sorry, I just don’t think it will ever happen.”
“Not even if we’re married, for fuck’s sake?” he asks, dumbfounded. It’s endearing, especially since he’s pushing his hand through his hair in distress, tousling it.
“Do we have kids?” I ask.
“Six.”
“Six?” Now it’s time for my eyes to pop out of their sockets. “Do you really think I want to birth six children?”
“Hell, no.” He shakes his head. “We adopted six kids from all around the world. We’re going to have the most diverse and loving family you’ll ever see.”
Adopting six kids, now that’s incredibly sweet. Or mad? No, it’s sweet. In fact, it’s extremely rare to meet a man who not only knows he wants to adopt kids, but is willing to look outside of the US, knowing how much he could offer that child. Good God, this man is a unicorn.
“We have the means for it, after all,” he says, continuing. “You’re taking over the city of Chicago, and I’ll be raining home runs on every opposing team. We would be the power couple, the new king and queen of the city. Excuse me, Oprah and Steadman, a new, hip couple is in town. People would wear our faces on their shirts like the royals in England. We’re the next Kate and William, the next Meghan and Harry. People will scream our name and then faint, only for us to give them mouth-to-mouth because even though we’re super famous, we are also humanitarians.”
“Wow.” I sit back in my chair. “That’s quite the picture you paint.” I know what my mom will say about him already. Don’t lose him, Dorothy. He’s gold. Gorgeous and selfless.
“So . . . with all that said, our six children at your side, would you wear a Rebels shirt?”
I take some time to think about it, mulling over the idea of switching to black and red as my team colors. Could I do it?
With the way Jason is smiling at me, hope in his eyes, how could I ever deny him that joy—and I say that as if we’ve been married for ten years.
“I would wear halfsies. Half Bobbies, half Rebels, and that’s the best I can do.”
He lifts his finger to the sky. “I’ll take it.”
“What do you mean you’ve never been on a roller coaster?”
“Just never have been,” I say, my hand looped through his as we walk through the park across from his apartment building. The night is chilly but Jason didn’t want to head up to our apartments just yet, therefore I’m one of the luckiest girls alive as I’m wearing Jason’s blazer.
Not only does it smell like heaven—like him—but its silk lining feels magnificent on my bare skin and it’s warm, just like him.
Even though he’s standing next to me, guiding me through the park, it still feels like by wearing his jacket, he’s holding me. Not sure he’s going to be able to get this back from me.
“But you grew up in Southern California, near Six Flags. You never visited the theme park?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Never went to Knott’s Berry Farm either.”
“Disneyland?” he asks, truly concerned.
“Obviously I went to Disneyland, but they don’t really have roller coasters there, just mini ones, nothing like a drop that will make your stomach pop into your throat.”
“True, okay. Well, we need to rectify this.”
“What?” I shake my head. “No, that’s okay. I’m good with never going on one.”
“Nope, it’s official, our second date will be at Six Flags Great America. We have to go during the week though, when everyone is in school. This Thursday, what do you say?”
“Are you insane? We are not—”
Jason stops us and spins me toward him where he grips my chin lightly and says, “Play hooky with me, Dottie. It will be fun. I won’t even go for a run that morning. We can get up early, grab some donuts from Frankie Donuts, and then head over.”
It’s tempting, oh boy, it’s tempting, but I have a huge meeting to prepare for that’s taking place on Friday. I think about it for a second. If I spend the rest of this week focusing on the meeting and work Thursday night when we’re done being kids, I could possibly fit it in . . .
“If you think about it, if we dated in college, going to Six Flags is something we totally would have done. But since you never came up to me, never made a move, we were deprived of that entertainment. Now we have to make up for lost time.”
“Oh, you’re really reaching now.”
He rubs his thumb across my cheek. “Please, Dottie. Come scream your head off with me and eat tons and tons of junk food.”