“I never thought I’d find someone like you,” I said as I finally worked up the courage to look at her without bawling. “I really thought I’d be alone forever. I mean, I hoped that maybe I’d find a girl someday, but I never knew how it would happen. It just didn’t seem possible. She’d always want Chance Carter, the baseball player, and never just Chance Carter, the guy.” I reached out and cupped her cheek in my hand. “Then, I met you. And you changed everything. You made me feel something I’d never felt before, and at first, I hated myself for it because you weren’t mine to want. You weren’t mine to have, and it tore me up inside.”
Her eyes started to water, and mine did the same.
“Girls always say they have walls that guys need to climb, but I had armor. And you cracked it the first day I met you, and you’ve been slicing through it ever since.”
She started crying and didn’t even try to stop, and I felt my own tears start to fall before quickly wiping them away. I remembered what Cole had said when he came over that day, about having a partner and feeling really alone if Christina hadn’t been there to experience it all with him. I couldn’t have understood what he was saying at the time, but I felt like I completely understood it now.
“This thing between us isn’t temporary, baby.”
“I know it’s not,” she said as she wiped away her tears, and my heart expanded, just hearing her say those words.
“Can we go to my parents’ now? I’m starving.” I tried to lighten the mood, and it worked.
Danika giggled and leaned over to kiss me and tell me she loved me. Then, I pulled back onto the road and headed toward home.
When we pulled into my parents’ driveway, my dad’s car was already in the garage, but my mom’s wasn’t, so I parked my truck so that my mom would have enough room to get in. I unclicked my seat belt and leaned toward my girl once more, giving her another kiss before we went inside and I’d be too scared to make out with her in front of her dad.
“Is there anything I should know?” I asked, throwing her own question back at her from when we’d visited my parents for the first time together.
She smiled in recognition. “Nah. My dad’s a softy. Even if he pretends to be super tough, it’s all an act.”
“That doesn’t really help,” I complained, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward my own front door like she was the one who had grown up there and not me.
We walked through the front door to the sounds of yelling and laughter coming from somewhere in the house.
“Oh my God. I think they’re in the pool.” I looked at Danika, and she shook her head like there was no way that was possible.
“Not a chance. My dad is not in the pool with yours.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad swim before?” she said it like a question before continuing, “Whenever we go to the Hamptons, he always lounges around the pool but never gets in it. And my memories of swimming as a kid were always with my mom.”
“Okay. Maybe they’re in my dad’s office,” I suggested with a shrug. “Also known as his sports memorabilia room.”
“That’s more likely,” she agreed as the front door swung open behind us, and we turned to see my mom struggling with a handful of bags.
“Help,” she said, and we raced to her and took some of the bags from her hands.
“Is this all food?” I asked, wondering if she’d invited fifty other people over without telling us.
“I wanted Ralph to try real Mexican. I might have gone a little overboard,” she explained, but I understood completely.
Mexican food tasted different depending on which state you were in. And there was nothing that tasted like California’s. It was the best, hands down, no matter what anyone else tried to say or sell you.
“I’ll take some home to Mac. He’ll be so happy,” I offered, and my mom’s expression turned pouty.
“We should have invited him over. You’re always leaving Mac out. Poor Mac,” she said.
I shook my head. “Do not feel sorry for him. He’s probably making out with some girl as we speak,” I said, and Danika busted out laughing.
“It’s true. He probably is,” she said, having my back, and my mom quieted as we all started pulling the containers of food out of the bags and setting them on the counter.
She truly had gone overboard, but I wasn’t complaining. That just meant leftovers, and I was all about that.
“Boys,” she shouted.
I looked at her, half-expecting my cousin, Coby, to come running in. That was what she always said for the two of us, but now, she meant my dad and Danika’s.
“Boys?” I teased.
“What was I supposed to say? I don’t know. It was just easier. Leave me alone.” She pulled out plates from the cupboard and set them down near the plethora of food.
Ralph and my dad came in, both of them sniffing the air.
“Mexican? You got me Mexican?” My dad reached for my mom and spun her around, kissing her neck and hair.
“I got it for Ralph,” she teased before giving Ralph a sweet look, and my dad cocked his head back in mock defense.
“I might send you home with the kids,” he said, and I almost started coughing.
The food was amazing, and Ralph commented on how they didn’t have Mexican food like this in New York.
We all shouted, “I know,” in unison, and his accent grew so thick in response that it made me laugh.
I looked around at our blended family and couldn’t believe that this was my life. How did things chang so quickly and without warning? I’d never known that my life was missing anything before, but if you removed Danika from it now, I’d have a hard time breathing without her.
With a full stomach, I realized just how exhausted I was.
“You two had better get home. Unless you want to stay the night here?” my mom offered, and I honestly didn’t care either way, deciding to leave it up to Danika.
“We should probably go home and be closer to the field since your game is early tomorrow,” she said, and I knew I had a keeper.
“See? You’re a good baseball girlfriend, and you don’t even realize it,” my dad said, meaning it as a compliment.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Dad?” Danika asked her father.
“Of course,” he said before giving her a hug and reaching for my hand. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked me.
I suddenly wanted to throw up everything I’d just eaten. I wasn’t sure I even responded to him, but I followed him blindly, knowing that I’d do whatever he asked.
Why didn’t anyone ever warn me how nerve-racking it is to meet your girlfriend’s dad? I wanted to pummel every guy friend I’d ever had who had never told me this part about dating.
“I wanted to meet you before you got drafted and took my little girl away from me,” he started.
I had to stop myself from shouting, I knew it, before bracing myself for the pummeling that I was sure was about to come.
“I love your daughter, sir,” I said, hoping he would let me live a little longer so I could keep doing it.
He chuckled deep. “Call me Ralph. And I know you do. I can tell,” he said, and I wondered if parents just knew these kinds of things.