“Wrong fairy tale.”
“Does it matter?” I held out my hand. It was a gamble. But whether it was because she needed help walking, due to her shock, or because she simply wasn’t paying attention, she took it, and I was rewarded with the soft warmth of her skin on mine. And it was like a shot of an energy drink straight to my veins. Bolstered with this new confidence, I led us through the Blue Parking Lot and into the crowd that was slowly moving toward the six sets of double doors at the front of the building.
I was personally not a huge fan of people in costumes skipping around on a stage and singing at random points in the story. But Jessie was glued to the show. Jade was interested at first but fell asleep somewhere between the dinner scene and the wolf scene, which was probably for the best. If we’d watched that, she would have forced me to pretend to be a wolf for the next month.
Feeling unusually bold, I waved down one of the workers selling those plastic roses edged with rainbow fiber optics. And for a moment…just a moment, when I quietly handed it to Jessie, the look in her eyes, one of fear and wonder and something else I couldn’t name, made me wonder if maybe…maybe I could really could change her mind.
She was silent on the ride home, aside from a few comments about the show. But the way her face glowed and the far-off look in her eyes kept me from being too nervous. It also gave me the courage to take the next step when we got back to my house.
Jessie started to get out, but I locked the doors as I pulled my phone out and hit the call button.
“Dad?” I asked quietly, as Jade was still asleep. “Can you come out and get Jade?”
“You can just drop me off at my house,” Jessie whispered, seeming to finally snap out of her daze. “That way she can just get her afternoon nap in the car.”
I just shook my head as my dad came out and walked toward us. “Don’t worry about it. Dad’s got her. Besides, we’re not done.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “We’re not?” She looked back at Jade in confusion. “But you’re dropping her off.”
I allowed myself a slight smile. “Wasn’t our bet for all day?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she frowned. “I…I guess so.”
“Good.” I grinned outright. “Because I’m not done having fun.”
She folded her arms and sat back to stare at me. “There is no way this morning and afternoon made up your ideal day.”
By this time, my dad had Jade out of her car seat and the door shut, so I let out a loud laugh. “I think I’m the one who gets to decide what I do and don’t enjoy.” I leaned forward slightly. “So you game for some more?”
She studied me for a long moment, and an icy fear crept into my veins that she might actually say no. But then she smiled slightly. “Fine. Where to next?”
31
So Much
Jessie
Idid my best to keep a neutral expression as we drove back across the river, but my heart was pounding in my chest. Today had been…well, a dream. It was exactly my idea of a perfect day. Derrick had planned it better than if I had won. But the obvious question was one that rang in my head until I nearly had a headache.
Why was he doing all this? Had my mom told him I was rethinking the rule about airmen?
There had been a moment in that dark arena during the show when I could have sworn he’d looked at me like…like he wanted me. Me, with all my obsessive habits and Scroogish scrimping and self-imposed rules. My natural lack of style. (My mother had forced me to go shopping when she heard about the picnic, and I’d come home with far more clothes than I would ever be able to wear.) My obsession with children and my parents and fairy tales.
But that, I’d argued with myself for the remainder of the show and the entire trip back to his house, was impossible. It was too soon for him to be over Amy and looking at anyone else like that. And yet, that look he’d given me was one I’d never seen on his face when he talked about Amy.
I was fast in danger of following him around like a puppy, and that made my entire brain scream at me that I was out of control and needed to take it back. I’d nearly ended our time there in the truck. To keep us both safe. The invitation, however, was too enticing after what he’d planned for that morning. And so I’d said yes. And now we were hurtling south on the 440 going who knew where at seventy miles per hour with The Scorpions blasting on the radio and a very handsome man sitting in the seat across from mine.
No one, not even me on my most curmudgeonist day, could deny he was handsome. He wasn’t in his uniform, but instead of his usual snarky cartoon t-shirt, he was wearing a dark blue Polo shirt and khaki cargo shorts. He hadn’t shaved that morning, leaving just enough shadow to make him look very…manly. And responsible. Like a really hot, responsible man. Like he could easily be a dad or husband driving a family to dinner or church or a wife on a date.
My heart tripped over itself as I recalled the way it had felt again in the farmer’s market. We’d felt like a family. And as much as the part of my brain that clutched the rules to its chest screamed at me to collect my senses, I’d been unable to ignore that feeling. And a longing had planted itself in me that I’d never known before, especially when he’d taken my hand in the arena parking lot. Sure, I’d always wanted a family of my own. And the perfectionist in me that had pushed me through college and now toward my master’s had always said later. We’ll find that later. But I wanted it now.
I wanted this now.
And that terrified me more than Derrick’s strange behavior.
We finally pulled up in front of an outdoor shopping mall. Derrick, all the gentleman, got my door open before I’d pulled all my stuff out of Jade’s backpack.
“Thanks.” I got out and stood awkwardly next to him, not sure what to do as he closed the door and locked the car.
