“This is for you,” he tells her.
A smile spreads across her face.
“For me? Really? Thank you!” She’s so obviously delighted by it. “This is the first time anyone’s ever given me flowers.”
The first time?
It will be the first of many, if I have anything to do about it.
Jonah puffs his chest out with pride. “Put it in your hair, Sadie.”
She tucks it in above her ear, nestled into her hair, and bends down so he can see. “How's that?”
Jonah examines her. “Perfect,” he decides, and turns to climb into the truck.
When she stands, the lupine slides out immediately, catching on a strand of hair before dropping toward the ground.
I'm off the hood before I've thought about it. I rescue it from the long grass before she can catch it, and then I’m standing in front of her with the flower in my hand.
“Here,” I murmur. “I’ve got you.”
Reaching out slowly, I find the place where she already has a hairpin in, just above her ear, and tuck the stem in, threading it through until it holds. My fingers brush the curve of her ear.
“Thank you,” she says, not quite meeting my eyes.
I open the passenger door for her, then get Jonah buckled while she settles in. And then we’re off.
It feels like I’m taking my girlfriend to meet my family for the first time.
It feels like the three of us are our own little family unit, driving over to join up with the Rhodes clan-at-large.
It feels… right.
Which is completely off the mark in every way possible.
My father’s already met Sadie. This isn’t a first time meet-and-greet.
And of course, she’s not my girlfriend.
She’s my nanny. Jonah’s nanny. Whatever.
I can fantasize all I want about making this woman my wife. Doesn’t mean it’s ever going to be real.
Yet it activates all the primal instincts inside me as I drive her and Jonah the five minutes to Rosemont. Thatfeeling that this is my family and they’re mine to take care of and keep close.
A new song comes on the radio. One of mine. But this one’s from my third album, back when I was still proud of the music I was making, back when it poured out of my fingertips like liquid gold.
I remember writing this one. Three in the morning at a kitchen table in Nashville, just me and a legal pad and a bottle of whiskey. The words came so fast I could barely keep up with them.
That used to happen. That used to be me.
The song that’s playing now is all about longing. Longing for someone who isn’t blinded by the fame and fortune. For someone I could bring back to my hometown, to my family. Longing for the woman I hadn’t met yet.
She's sitting right next to me.
I found the girl I’ve been waiting for all my life. I just don’t get to keep her.
“Dad, it's you!” Jonah shouts from the backseat. “Turn it up! Turn it up!”
