Two weeks. It's been two weeks since I sent a thousand roses to Liv's office, and she hasn't called. Hasn't texted.
"That's okay, buddy," I say. "It was worth a try. I think it’s time to move on."
"No. You should keep trying," Danny insists. He reaches under his pillow and pulls out a spiral notebook. "I made you something."
The cover reads:APOLOGY AND ROMANCE RESEARCHin block letters, with hearts colored in with red marker.
"What's this?" I ask, flipping it open.
"Research," Danny says proudly. "From all the movies Mom and I watched together. I wrote down everything I could remember that might help you."
The first page is titled:ROMANTICMOVIESfollowed by a numbered list that fills the entire page and spills onto the next. I recognize some titles—classics Mom has loved forever—mixed with what I assume are Hallmark Christmas movies.
I flip to the next page, which is titled:GRAND GESTURES
Danny has created a chart—an actual chart with columns and rows. Down the left side are categories: Flowers, Boom Box Outside Window, Chasing Someone at Airport, Standing in Rain, Big Public Speech, Showing Up Unexpectedly, Letters and Poems, Learning New Skill to Impress Them, Saving their Puppy or Child.
I look at his serious face, his clumsy handwriting, and feel a surge of love for him. He made me a romance manual. Only Danny.
"See," Danny says, pointing at the chart, "flowers are pretty common but they don't always work by themselves. You sent a thousand roses, which is way more than anyone in any movie ever sent, so maybe you broke the system."
"Broke the system?"
"Yeah, like when you put too much data in a computer and it crashes." He frowns. "Maybe a thousand roses was too many roses and her brain crashed."
I laugh. "Okay, buddy. You might have a point."
"The thing that works the most is the Airport Chase," Danny continues, flipping to another page where he’s described a scene. "In the movies, they always run through the airport and catch the person right before they get on the plane. But you have to get through security, and Mom says that's not realistic anymore because of 9/11. So I put a note that says this one might not work in real life."
"I don't think Liv is getting on any planes anyway," I say.
"That's a problem." Danny frowns. "But the second best thing is telling someone you love them in the rain. The rain is important because it shows you don't care about getting wet because your feelings are more important than being dry."
"What if it's not raining?"
Danny considers this. "You could wait for rain? Or use a garden hose?"
I try very hard to keep a straight face as he suggests this.
He shakes his head. "No. You need real rain. Fake rain would be lying and you're already in trouble for lying."
I flip through more pages, increasingly amazed by the level of detail. There's a section on "Things NOT to Do" which includes:
Don't lie
Don't pretend to be someone else
Don't get in a fight with their new girlfriend (there might be a new girlfriend??? I hope not)
