Wasn't into the idea of looking for my next husband.
“Next time I will show youFrozen,” my niece said. She was shocked that Shaun had not seen the movie.
It was a crime to hear her tell it.
“Maybe sometime, kiddo.”
“Okay, Mom. Everyone. We’re leaving,” I said and turned to walk out the door.
“Got everything?” Matthew asked Summer.
“Mommy, your book!” Emma said. And back they went into the house to fetch Summer's wedding planner book.
"Your family's not so bad," Shaun said as we walked down the steps.
"Yeah, they mostly behaved."
The steps were slick, and I grabbed his arm. Tightly, because I felt myself starting to slip on the slick walk.
That was my story.
Frankly, there was more than one time I’d wanted to reach out, to touch him. It was strange to have him in my safe space, around my family. For me to have anyone there as my “plus-one” that wasn’t my kids.
He wrapped his arm around me and held me to him.
"You okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "Slick right there."
"I think you wanted to get next to me."
"I thinkyou thinkI wanted to get next to you."
"Isn't that what I said?"
"You assumed."
"But I was right."
"No," I said and pulled away from him, not wanting to admit that I did like being next to him.
The front door opened.
This time, I almost leaped away from him like a teenager caught by her parents.
Summer, Matthew, and Emma were coming out.
"Thought you were leaving," Summer said.
"We were," I replied and started marching to the car.
Shaun followed me and helped me up into his truck. He didn’t have to, but he did, and I appreciated it.
Climbing up into trucks was not something I did on the regular.
I got situated inside and fastened my seatbelt as Shaun climbed in. The tires crunched over the snow, and even though I wasn’t driving, I could feel the slip of the tires under the truck. Fortunately, the drive was short to home.
Back in my driveway, Shaun helped me back down and walked me to the door.
