“No, but that’s all I’m telling you. Your parents know what the plans are, so don’t worry about that. Now, close your eyes, pretty girl.”
She did as I asked and closed her eyes while I slipped the blindfold over her head. I followed up by placing a quick kiss on her lips.
After about fifteen minutes on the road, she finally asked, “How long is it going to take for us to get wherever we’re going?”
“Now, if I told you that, you might have an idea of where we’re going. Nice try though,” I laughed.
“I hope I’m dressed okay. I thought we were going to the clubhouse not somewhere else.”
“Trust me, Avery, what you’re wearing is perfect. Stop worrying, baby. We’ll be there soon.”
After an hour and a half on the road, I finally turned onto the street that led to our destination for the evening. I hadn’t visited in almost a decade, but Gramps assured me that the place was clean and everything was in working order.
I parked the truck in the gravel driveway and went around to open Avery’s door for her. “Before you take the blindfold off, I want you to know that even though it might not look like much, this place is very special to me. I’ve never brought anyone here, but when I was trying to come up with the perfect plans for tonight, I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather take you.”
“Why were you trying so hard to come up with perfect plans?” she asked.
“Because you and I have a child together and we’ve never even been on a date. I couldn’t let that be once I realized it.”
She gave me a beautiful smile. “Well, let me see where we are.”
I inhaled deeply and helped her out of the truck before removing her blindfold. “This was my parents’ place. Come on, let me show you the best part,” I said and pulled her along behind me.
Instead of going through the small house, we followed the wraparound porch to the other side of the house where it connected to large deck that led to the covered dock housing Gramps’s boat. The area was lit by small twinkle lights that were hanging from the porch railings. My mother had hung them the first year they had the place, and Gramps made sure to replace them whenever a strand went out.
“Kellan,” Avery gasped. “It’s beautiful.”
“Mom loved it here. We lived in Croftridge, but we spent our weekends and most of the summer here. After I lost them, I came with Gramps whenever he stopped by to check on things, but once I was old enough to stay home alone, I stopped coming and haven’t been back since.”
She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist while burying her face against my chest. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat.”
When she saw the table set for two, she turned to me with squinty eyes. “How did you do that? You just said you hadn’t been back.”
“I can’t give away my sources, but I had some help,” I confessed and ushered her to the table.
Since neither one of us could drink alcohol—because of her breastfeeding and my liver injury—I opened a bottle of sparkling grape juice to fill our champagne flutes. Avery laughed, “I’ll have to remember to get some of this for Riley the next time there’s an occasion. She will love drinking out of a fancy glass.”
After dinner, I got a fire going in the outdoor fireplace and turned off the twinkle lights before Avery and I curled up in the giant outdoor bed swing my dad made for mom. Avery snuggled closer and asked, “Why’d you turn off the lights?”
“Roll to your back and look up.”
She did and gasped. “Wow! I’ve never seen so many stars.”
“You could see even more without the fire, but it’s too cold for that tonight and neither one of us can afford to get sick.”
“No, this is perfect.”
We cuddled together under the blanket by the fire and silently admired the stars. Before long, we were both fast asleep.
A loud boom startled me, as well as Avery, from sleep. “What was that?” she gasped and dug her fingers into my skin.
“Fireworks,” I said and pointed to the sky as another loud boom echoed over the lake before the sky was filled with a starburst of color. “The country club across the lake puts on the best fireworks display for New Year’s and Fourth of July. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come out here tonight. I thought you would enjoy it.”
I was right. For the next half an hour, Avery oohed and aahed each time the sky was illuminated with a different explosion of color. When the grand finale started, she pulled out her phone and started recording it. I laughed, “I guarantee you’ll never watch that video after you finish recording it.”
