“You don’t want to do the whole fancy dinner and nice movie theatre?” I chuckled but Melanie’s face was solemn.
“Wade loved going out and getting dressed up but most of the time, all I wanted to do was order in and cuddle on the couch while watching a movie. That way if I got tired, I could fall asleep right there and wouldn’t feel guilty about us spending so much money going out.”
“Anything you want Melanie, I’ll give it to you.”
I leaned down, placing another kiss on her lips.
“Let’s start with dinner and a movie, Jack.”
I was willing to start there but I was sure by the end of the night, it wouldn’t just end with a movie.
Twelve
We’d stoppedand grabbed dinner from one of my favorite pizza joints. Anthony’s Pizza was a staple for me on nights when I stayed in and I wanted to know what Melanie thought of it. I’d gotten my favorite, Hawaiian Pizza, and I’d gotten her favorite, pepperoni lovers with extra sauce.
I had no intention of touching her pizza but it hadn’t stopped her from giving me an evil look when she caught me eyeballing her pizza when she opened it at the restaurant to make sure it was correct.
It was cute how she was territorial over her food and it made me want to play with her a little when we got to my house by taking a slice.
But first I was going to stop by Walmart so that we could look at some options. I had my own collection at home but I wasn’t sure what Melanie liked and I wanted to find out if there was anything she wanted to watch that I didn’t own.
I pulled into the almost empty parking spot toward the end of the lot just as one of my favorite songs came on. Melanie turned the knob on the radio up and blasted it through the car. It was an old country song, one that I’d listened to many times and it just so happened to be the song playing the night I saw Melanie at Trend and tried to dance with her.
“I didn’t know you liked country.”
“It’s a genre that’s grown on me, especially because every time I see Max, he has it playing.”
“Can we finish listening to the song before we go inside?”
“Of course.”
I was about to lean over the middle console of my truck but instead decided to turn the music up and jump out of the truck. I made my way around to the side where Melanie was still in her seat and opened the door.
“What are you doing?”
I didn’t say a word but pulled myself up and unbuckled her seatbelt. I helped her out of the truck and then placed my hand on her waist.
“You wanted to listen to the rest of the song, so we’re going to but we’re going to dance to it also.”
“What?” There was panic in Melanie’s voice.
I started to spin her around in the parking spot next to the truck. I grabbed for one of her hands and placed it in the crook of my neck and continued to move us around in circles. It only took a few seconds for her to relax in my arms and rest her head against my chest. Once that song ended, another began but neither of us pulled away.
When the next song came on, the slow country beat filled the parking lot with words that rang true to what we were already doing. Slow dancing in a parking lot. Melanie was lost in the slow movements we were creating to the point where she didn’t seem to notice we had been dancing for almost fifteen minutes.
I never wanted this moment to end but when I looked down at Melanie and could see the serenity placating across her face, I knew just how happy she was in this moment.
Even more so, where I thought at one point and time in my life, that I’d loved Melanie, I knew in this exact moment that I hadn’t loved her before. I couldn’t have because it felt nothing like what I was feeling now. That my heart felt full and that I was meant to be here in this exact moment.
If I thought I’d loved Melanie before, I was fucking crazy. Yet right here, dancing with her in the middle of a Walmart parking lot, I knew I loved every little thing about Melanie.
I just needed to show it to her now.
* * *
“This has gotto be some of the best pizza I’ve ever eaten,” Melanie’s mouth was filled to the brim as she tried to tell me how much she loved it.
“You’ve got something right,” I leaned in with a napkin, wiping away sauce from the corner of her mouth. “There you go.”
