“It is.” I tried to gauge the response on her face but got nothing. I wanted to ask her to go with me but like I’d told my mom, I wasn’t quite ready to have her with the whole family just yet. I mean, she already knew Lilly, Greg, and my mom but her meeting my dad and then Delilah were a whole different level.
I’d never brought someone home before and when I bring Melanie to meet my family, it’s going to be because I knew it wasn’t temporary. Not that I thought we were temporary now but neither of us had yet talked about what it was we were doing, so at this moment, I wanted us to enjoy us.
“Who has Amelia tonight?” I quickly changed the subject and Melanie’s face lit up at the mention of her daughter.
“She’s actually with Erica and Chase tonight. Max and Alexa took it upon themselves to pawn all of our children off on them so they could also have a date night as well.”
“I’m surprised Lilly and Greg didn’t get in on the action with having them watch Jonathan so they could finally have a night alone, too.”
Melanie let out a laugh and I continued to get our tickets and walk us to the first showcase room.
“I’ve only known them for a short time and I’ll tell you, those two will never let that little boy out of their sight. He’s too rambunctious and they are also head over heels in love with him.”
“Also with each other.”
I rolled my eyes to myself, thinking about my brother and his wife. They had a rough start in their relationship but once they came together, there was no turning back. When my nephew Jonathan came along, it was like they were living a different life. I saw my brother at work and family dinner. Other than that, they were with their son.
They never brought Jonathan to family dinner anymore. The last time he was there, he broke three of mom’s collector plates. Wednesdays and work were the only times that Jonathan was with someone else. I wanted to say that I thought they spent so much time with their son because they felt guilty but honestly they just loved spending time together as a family.
My nephew was the best addition to our family according to my mom but because of Jonathan, Delilah and I had constant questions thrown at us. She’d ask if we were going to settle down and have children, too. Mom wanted as many grandkids as she could get in our family.
“Either way, they make a cute family.”
I looked down at Melanie who was staring ahead at a painting and I couldn’t help but think that we made a cute family. I shook my head, trying to toss the thought from my mind. I thought that way while at the hospital with Amelia and it’s been plaguing my mind ever since. My original plan was to get Melanie to date me and now all I could think about was how can I get her to let me be part of her family-hers and Amelia’s.
“Enough about my brother’s family and let’s get down to the real reason why we are here.” After a few seconds, I pointed to the next drawing on the wall. “Art.”
“I know I recommended this place but I figured there would be something more…”
Melanie stood in the quite room, where we were the only two standing and looked around at the eclectic artwork hanging on the walls. The specific exhibition we were currently looking at was drawn in Georgia from different artists around the state. The pieces ranged from colored images, to black and white, with some having figures and some having shapes.
“Modern?” I laughed, not at Melanie but at the thoughts she was having because it was what most people thought when they first came to this museum.
“Yeah.” She was silent as she walked up to the next piece and then kept moving along until she had spent at least five minutes in front of each piece of art. “I just never expected it to be so open for interpretation.”
“It’s why it’s my favorite museum.”
Melanie spun around with a surprised look on her face.
“This kind of artwork, that’s open for any interpretation is in a sense what I do every day at work.”
“What is it you do exactly, Jack? I know you’ve talked about working on covers but is there more to that?”
“I make covers but I also work on graphics, formatting, and different promotional aspects for all the novels we help publish.”
“That sounds like a lot of work.”
“It is but it’s work I love. I get to create something for an author that will bring their story to life. I get the chance to make something that when readers look at it, they interpret the story that they want to see.”
I was looking at a piece of art that was an array of colors. I hadn’t looked at the name of it yet but I knew it was about a man. There was sadness to his eyes and even though the colors were vibrant, you could feel what he was trying to hide in the drawing.
“You really do love it.”
I looked down over to Melanie who was now staring at me, our eyes locked and the only smile between us was the smile we both had in our eyes. She understood what my job meant to me and that’s all I could have really asked for.
The date was something I’d wanted for us and I’d wanted us to be more but the fact that she understood what I did, had me. I would never have to explain staying at work late or getting sucked in.
I could just be me.
