Surprised?

by Nick Day

  “I already booked a ticket, Sara,” he said. Hearing him say my name killed me. Tears escaped my eyes and I was immediately short of breath.

  “Let me just say one more thing, then. Before you leave.” He turned to look at me, though he kept balling up T-shirts and burying them in his suitcase. “You’re right, I do owe you.” Immediately I knew that was the wrong thing to start with. He rolled his eyes bitterly and looked away again.

  “But wait! Wait!” I yelled desperately. “That is not why I love you.” He stopped suddenly like I had shot an arrow into his back. “I know I love you because without you here, this trip wouldn’t have been half of what it was. Having you here meant I could watch you charm my dad even while I held back. I got to watch you become inseparable with those girls. I mean, I wouldn’t have even gotten here without you. I drove up to this house on the first night laughing and happy—not scared, not ready to turn around—because being with you gives me strength. Pete, you made this trip what it was. You make my life what it is. I never, ever want to go back to what my life was like before.”

  Finally, Pete looked up and met my eyes. He put a hand in front of his mouth as he inhaled ragged breaths, his eyes red with tears. “Sara,” he said. He smiled, and opened his arms wide. “Then you got me. I’m here.”

  I sprinted across the room and wrapped my arms around him tight. I could have stayed there forever. The room was silent except for our heaving breaths. I pulled my head off his chest and grabbed his face with both hands. I kissed him hard, our lips interlocking like they had been made for each other.

  Eventually I pulled my face away a few inches and looked into his sweet, green eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Pete said. “I have to admit.”

  I laughed bashfully. “As good as you hoped?”

  He smiled. “I think we’ll get there.”

  Three days later, it was time for Pete and me to make the drive back home. After the first day that felt like an eternity, the rest of the trip flew by. We had taken trips around Dallas, visited Dad’s office, cooked gourmet meals in the beautiful kitchen, and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking.

  Lily, Anna, and I left Pete at home and spent a whole afternoon together, just the three of us. They introduced me to their American Girl dolls, Samantha and Lea, and the three of us went on tons of adventures together, real-life trips to the zoo and the movies, and imaginary trips to Japan and Mars.

  But somehow the three days came to an end, and Pete and I found ourselves loading our bags into the Corolla under another stunning Texas morning sun. “When will you be back?” Anna demanded, her tiny body wrapped around my right leg.

  “Sometime soon, I promise,” I said. “But we’re gonna FaceTime every week. You’re gonna get sick of me—that’s how much you’re gonna see of me.”

  Both girls rolled their eyes. “You’ll never get sick of me, though, right?” Pete chimed in. The girls shook their heads and chuckled. “You just love me for my red hair!” Pete cried.

  I walked over to Dad, who was admiring the scene from the front steps. “Well,” I said, “I guess this is goodbye. For now.”

  “Not too long, though,” he said.

  “What do I tell Mom?” I asked.

  Dad grimaced. “You tell her whatever you want, Sara. I want to do anything I can to patch things up with her, too, if she’s ready for that.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “This is going to take a lot of work.”

  He nodded. “I know that. And I don’t expect either of you to ever completely forgive me. I just hope you believe me when I say I want to be a part of your life, and of hers. If you’ll have me.”

  “I can’t speak for Mom, but I believe in you, Dad.”

  He smiled sweetly, and embraced me. “Then there’s no use drawing this out any longer. You guys better get going while you have some daylight left.”

  I nodded, squeezing him one last time. Pete came over and shook Dad’s hand—with their secret handshake they had made up. Pete put his arm around my waist as we said one final goodbye and walked back down towards the car.

  When we reached the Oklahoma border, it was dusk. Over the course of the afternoon, low-hanging clouds had rolled in above, casting the world in blue and gray. All of a sudden, the sky opened up, and sheets of rain pounded the highway and the roof of the car.

  “Yikes!” Pete cried from behind the wheel. We couldn’t see more than a few inches ahead of us.

  “Pull over! Pull over!” I cried. Pete angled the car onto the shoulder and put it in park.

  “Man, I hope this doesn’t last long,” Pete said, putting the hazard lights on and sitting back.

  “Where else do we have to go?” I said, smiling. I leaned over and kissed him. He held my face in his hands and tenderly stroked my cheek with his thumb, like an arrowhead skimming the surface of a lake.

  Under the incessant clatter of rain on the roof, it was just us. The space inside my little powder blue car might have been the whole world.