The auditorium lights lower as I shuffle in, the emcee welcomes everyone, and instead of Lauren’s reddish hair, I spot Tanner and the empty seat next to him.
“Is the end seat okay?” he asks as I sit. “I thought that in case you have to get up for anything and?—”
“It’s perfect,” I tell him, my hand finds its way over to his arm. “Thank you.”
Before I can pull away, he reaches his other hand over and covers mine and damn it if my stomach doesn’t flip within itself. I am going to have a lot of answering to do with Lauren later but for now, I steady myself and try to breathe as the music and spotlights come on. Winnie's group comes onto the stage squinting. Winnie only has to shuffle a couple inches over to her spot this time. The dance is silly and cute, and they smile and spin around in their little sparkly outfits and it goes perfectly fine. Winnie doesn’t fall or cry. She’s brave and she smiles and she even giggles when her and another girl bump into each other. Then they line up, curtsey and shuffle off the stage.
“She did it,” I whisper into the dark.
I look over and Tanner’s smiling just about as wide as I am, then I realize my fingers have been digging into his bicep the entire time and his hand is holding my hand there. All those late-night conversations, the texts, all of that, to end up here. In the same seats I sat and listened to the stranger danger talk freshman year.
“Winnie!” Paul shouts once I bring her to the lobby after the program.
She beams at the whole crowd of people there for her, with a crazy collection of flowers in their hands. She launches herself into Paul’s arms.
He kisses her cheek. “You’re a star.”
Winnie pops her head back and looks over at Tanner.
“Hi Winnie.” He smiles and hands her the bouquet of flowers. “I picked these from my garden for you. I wasn’t sure which to pick, pink or orange, so I went with both.”
My heart flips, skips, whatever the word is.
“Hi Tanner.” She smiles bashfully.
“How do you know who Tanner is?” I question.
“He was on your FaceTime on your phone. Like I do with Aunt Laurey.”
“She called me this morning,” he explains nervously. “I answered assuming it was you.”
“So, you’ve met?” I ask and Winnie nods.
“He said he’s your friend too. Not just Uncle Rhett’s friend.”
“Well.” I scoop her from Paul’s arms. “It looks like he might be your friend after all with these beautiful flowers. What do you say to Tanner?”
“Thank you.” She smiles shyly and Lauren is staring holes into my head while she laughs.
“You two…” Rhett trails off, his eyes flickering between us with question.
“They talk on the phone,” Winnie interjects. “His name is spelled t-a-n-n-e-r. I see it on Mommy’s phone. A lot.”
“Okay. It’s Friday night,” I cut her off. “How about Chili’s?”
Everyone agrees and I would be embarrassed that I just got outed by my five-year-old, but Lauren is beaming at me, and Rhett is patting Tanner on the back.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about her getting on my phone,” I tell him while we walk out to the parking lot.
“I was going to tell you in person. She said you were busy opening the mail.”
“Thank you, by the way. Those seeds were one of the nicest gifts I think I have ever received.”
Our arms bump as we walk through the parking lot. Though the evening air is humid and warm, each brush against his skin sends a cool shiver through my body.
“Who knows.” His eyes flicker over to me. “If you let me come back, I can help you plant them.”
His words make my heart sink. My life is here, his is in Michigan and planting a garden will just remind me that this couldn’t actually work.
