“Alright, kids, the burger and the club?” Kelly asks as she comes over.
I nod, telling her wordlessly that my usual is fine. At the same time Rina sighs, tossing the menu down, and taps her finger on the table.
“Yep, thanks, Kelly.”
I almost laugh at how annoyed she seems to be at the menu, or rather the lack of needing it, but I wisely don’t. I’m trying to stay on her good side today.
She glances at me before shifting her eyes, then quickly looks back. The double take makes me absolutely sure that I’m smiling like a loon at her.
“Why are you smiling like that?” she asks accusingly.
“Like what?”
She waves at my face. “Like you’re enjoying this!” she says, exasperated.
I do laugh then. “Because I am. I mean, not how uncomfortable you look right now, but the date overall? Best day ever.” I lean back in the booth and watch the emotions scuttle across her face.
“I’m sorry. I just realized how very little of these I’ve actually been on, and it freaked me out, and then I got super nervous, and I looked at the fucking menu I’ve known from memory for too many years to count, and then I just looked stupid.” She sighs before slumping back.
I won’t touch on the fact she just told me she rarely dates. The confirmation is something I didn’t even realize my caveman ass needed to hear, but damn does it make me happy.
“You didn’t look stupid. Look, there is no pressure, no expectations, none of it. Although this aspect is new, we’ve known each other for years. That hasn’t changed in the walk over here. This isn’t an average first date, but we’re still just us, okay?”
She tips her head back onto the booth’s back and lets out a breath. “I know. This just feels so … huge, you know? Like, yes, it’s a date, but it’s a date withyouand that feels so much more monumental.”
Itismonumental. It’s nothing short of miraculous that my wife is willingly sitting across from me, wanting to give things a try, showing off our new relationship to our small town.
Shit, I really need to tell her about not filing the divorce papers.
Not now; this moment feels too fragile.
“I get what you’re saying. Let me try something.” I clear my throat, straighten my seat, and prepare to hopefully make her laugh. “I’m so glad you agreed to our date. What do you do for work?”
Her eyebrows furrow. “You know what I do for work. What the hell?”
“That sounds super interesting. Did you always know you were going to go into furniture building?” I plow through her confusion, hoping she catches on.
The twinkle in her eye transforms into a bright smile. “I actually took a woodworking class in high school, and it changed the course of my life.I found I was not only good at it but that I loved it as well, and I just ran with it.”
“Fascinating,” I murmur. And it is. Even though I know this story, she tells it with the same excitement she did when she decided to really lean into her love of working with wood and went to college for it. I’ve never known anyone who loves what they do as much as Rina does, and it’s still inspiring to this day.
“What about you? You’re in law enforcement?” She plays along, and I already see the tension in her shoulders lessening.
“I am the sheriff of the lovely Bluebell Falls. I had intended to be career military, but that fell through.” I keep it light, mainly because I don’t want to talk about it. Therapy is helping me with that, but this isn’t something I want to bring up at the moment.
“Alright, folks, club and a burger,” Kelly interrupts and sets down our food. We say our thanks and wait for her to walk away before continuing our first date narrative.
“Do you miss it?” she says softly.
I exhale. “Not as much as I thought I would, if I’m being honest.” This is something I’ve been really trying to isolate with my therapist, and I concluded that I miss the idea of being a career Marine more than I miss what that actually entails.
“Can I break this really cute thing you did to get me out of my head?”
“Absolutely,” I say.
“I think you were always meant to be our sheriff.” She takes a bite of her burger like she didn’t just blow my world apart with her thoughtful words.
“I—” I try to come up with a response, but I honestly don’t have one.
