I look into his eyes, reach up, and cup his scruff-covered cheeks with my fingers and nod my head slowly.
“You’re everything,” he repeats. He kisses my forehead as his hand trails down my arm. He squeezes my hand in his once, then he’s gone.
And I’m alone with my thoughts.
Let the freak-out begin.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
James
She actually said yes. No hesitation. No nervousness. Well, a little nervousness, but I just seem to bring that out in her. She seemed… ready. And excited. Few times in my life have I felt this excited, and I have not a single clue what I’m going to do for our date. For all the hours I spent waiting and hoping this day would come, I never actually envisioned what it would look like.
As much as it pains me to admit it, I need help. I haven’t been on a date — much less a first date — in more years than there are iPhone versions. And that help? It comes in the form of three enabling little brats.
I pick up my phone and shoot off a quick text, telling both Lauren and Tess to meet me at Dreamin’ Beans, hoping that Christine is working. They both respond with telling me they’ll come, as long as I get them coffee.
After I throw on a ball cap and walk down the stairs from my apartment above Balance, I walk out into the frigid air for ten steps into Christine’s coffee shop.
I step inside, letting the warmth and scent of coffee wash over me. I make my way to the register and order a black coffee and one of her out-of-this-world cranberry and orange scones for me, a caramel latte, and cinnamon roll for Tess, and a pumpkin-spice latte and apple muffin for Lauren. She has the best pastries here.
“How you feeling, sunshine?” I ask her when she groggily emerges from the kitchen area.
“Ugh,” she responds as she pours herself a cup of coffee and grabs a muffin.
“Yeah, that’s about how Carly was this morning, too.”
She waggles her eyebrows. “Oh re-e-ea-l-ly?” she teases as she loops her arm with mine. We make our way to the couch that’s set next to the fireplace and take a seat.
“Oh, stop. You know it wasn’t like that.”
“I know.” She sighs. “One can only hope, though.”
“It’s your hope that I spend the night with Carly? That’s kinda weird.” I smile.
“Shut it. You know what I mean. She’s happy with you, James. I’ve only known her a short time, but I see it. When she first moved here…” She shakes her head. “…I don’t know. It was bad. She wasn’t in a good place. Everything spooked her. I don’t know her story, not fully, anyway, but I know what I see now. And what I see now makes me happy.”
“Jack told me some stuff last night,” I confess.
“He did?” she asks, her eyes wide.
“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m not going to breech their confidence because it’s kind of obvious she wants that part of her life to stay private. But I’m just saying, if I can give her happy now, after what she’s been through, that’s more than anything I could hope for.”
“You’re a good guy,” Christine tells me.
“Thank you. And I gotta say, so is Andy.”
“Hmmm?” she says looking away.
“You heard me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says, deflecting quite well. “Tell me. How was Carly feeling this morning?”
“Nice. Diversion. I’m very well-versed at this. Well done.” I bow my head toward her.
“Why, thank you, sir.” She smiles.
“She was feeling rough,” I admit.
“I feel like such a giant shit. I didn’t know she didn’t normally drink!” I hear Lauren shout. “She did it so well! I mean, until the end, I guess. Then she kind of went from let-the-good-times-roll to completely passed out.”
“She did,” Tess agrees.
My sister leans over first to give me a hug then takes a seat next to me as Lauren sits on the oversized chair to the side of us.
“Your sustenance, ladies,” I tell them and point to the table in front of me. When they notice their pastries next to their coffee, they both groan and dive for them.
“Mmmygsh,” Lauren mumbles with a mouth full and lets her eyes roll back in her head as she leans back in the seat.
“You’re so gross.” Christine laughs as we watch Lauren pick a crumb off her shirt that fell from her mouth.
She points to the muffin in her hand then back over to Christine before she shifts her gaze on me. “Best. Ever. You need to have her genius in your kitchen for dessert,” she tells me.
“This is something I already know,” I confirm.
“What?” Christine asks, seemingly surprised.
I shrug. “Like you don’t know that you have some of the best baked goods in the state of Michigan. I had already planned to ask you if you wanted to help as the pastry chef for Balance.”
“He speaks truth, girl,” Tess says as she plunges her fork into the flaky cinnamon roll.
“We’ll talk. But later. Now I need your help. All of yours.”
“I’m all ears, for both. Now and with Balance.”
I nod at Christine, thankful she’s willing to help.
“What do you need our help with?” Lauren asks, finally not talking with her mouth full. She sighs happily and pats her stomach then winks at Christine.
“Carly. She finally said yes,” I say and can’t help but let the smile take over my face.
Complete silence is all I receive back from the ladies. The fork Tess is holding falls to the plate with a loud clank, then I hear three grown women squeal like high school girls.
Lauren and Tess stand up and do the cabbage patch while Christine does the running man. They throw their arms up in the air and jump around then hook their arms together like they’re about to play ring-around-the-rosie. I look around, embarrassed for them since they don’t seem to have an ounce of dignity left among the three of them. Which, after the show they put on in El Charro last night, shouldn’t surprise me. I stand up and start walking away, partly to screw with them, the other part because, as I mentioned, they’re doing 80’s dances in the middle of Dreamin’ Beans.
“I’m outta here, weirdos.”
Christine grabs my arm as I’m walking past, all three of them falling in a heap together onto the couch in a fit of laughter.
“No-no-no! You can’t leave now!”
“We’ll be serious, James. We promise,” Tess tells me, giving me the look that ensures she’ll get whatever she wants. She perfected it on Dean and me before she could even walk.
I sit down, and they shift back to their original seats, all of them smiling widely.
“She said yes?” Christine finally says. The fact that I don’t have to explain what she said yes to tells me that they know plenty.
“This morning.”
“You were there this morning?” Lauren asks, waggling her eyebrows.
“Yeah. After I slept on the couch. You know, to make sure that she was okay after the three enablers poured liquor down her throat all night,” I tease.
“We didn’t know!” they all shout at the same time.
I smile in their direction and continue on. “As you can imagine, I didn’t really want to wait very long for this date to happen. I’ve been wanting this yes from her since the moment we met. But I have no idea what to do.”
“What do you mean?” Lauren asks.
“It’s been years since I’ve been on a date. Years. I don’t want to screw it up. And she deserves the best first date in the history of first dates. I want to give her everything she could possibly ever want and need. I want to make her feel like she can be herself, and that she’s safe with me. I want her to be comfortable and calm. Happy. That’s what I want. But tonight I need to give her a glimpse of that. To show her what it will be like for us.”
I look around at all three of them: Tess with tears in her eyes, Lauren with a goofy smile on her face, and Christine with a soft smile, her hands tucked under her
chin.
“I love you, big brother,” Tess says, leaning over to give me a hug.
“Love you, too, goober,” I say and kiss her on the temple. “You guys gonna help me or not?”
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Tess says, smiling and lifting her shoulders excitedly. “Ladies, we have a date to help plan.”
For the next thirty minutes, they give me every idea they can come up with. From the ridiculously unattainable flying to New York City to see the Christmas lights to the little bit off-the-wall snow-tubing to the boring dinner and a movie, the girls and I talk about every scenario we can come up with. I want their help, but I also want this night to come from me. I want to make sure that whatever I do on our first date is something that she feels deeply.
“Oh! Take her paintballing! Remember that one movie where the guy takes the girl paintballing to get over the fake death of her dog?” Lauren says, looking around nodding her head like she came up with a brilliant plan. But it leads to my own plan, which is perfect.
“You are a genius. I’ve got it.” I say, suddenly having the best idea in the history of ideas.
“What is it?” Christine asks.
“Paintballing?” Lauren asks, as if she won the lottery.
“Nah, close though. Your idea helped. And I want Carly to be the first to know.”
“You. Butt. Head,” Lauren says.
“Payback for getting my girl tanked last night.”
“We didn’t know!” they all shout again.
“Besides, if you really want to split hairs here, her being drunk kind of led you to her saying yes, so you should be thanking us,” Tess says.
“Thank you. Now, I’ve got some phone calls to make.”
“James? Just to say… I want you to remember you don’t need to go crazy on tonight’s date. Simple is just as wonderful as extravagant,” Tess tells me, her voice soft.
“I know. And I appreciate you saying that.” I reach over and give her hand a light squeeze.
“You’re really not going to tell us?” Christine asks.
“I’m not. But it’s not because of last night,” I assure them. “Thank you, ladies. You were a huge help. I mean that.” I stand up and discard our trash then start for the door. I turn around and walk backward. “Wish me luck!” I say with my arms wide and a smile on my face that I just can’t seem to wipe away.
As soon as I get back to my apartment, I throw my coat on the single piece of furniture that I have here. I moved the couch in a couple days ago, sleeping on it rather than continuing to stay at Tess and Barrett’s. I haven’t sold my house yet and want to keep it staged, or at least that’s what my real estate agent told me. If it were up to me? I’d have all of my stuff moved to Liberty. One step closer to making it permanent.
For now, my apartment is pretty bare. The couch, what I need in the kitchen, all my clothes, and one TV, which I barely watch because I’m busy enough with getting Balance ready and spending as much time with Carly as she’ll give me.
I pull my phone from my pocket and dial a number I became very familiar with five years ago.
“Hello?” Harrison, the owner of The Shore, a restaurant along Lake Erie that has the best view on the lake, answers. The back of the restaurant is a wall of windows and one side of the building is a deck where people can eat outside when the weather permits, which unfortunately won’t be tonight. But the food is incredible, too, which is obviously a bonus.
“Harrison!”
“James! How’s it going, man? Long time!”
“It has. That’s not a bad thing in my business,” I remind him.
“True. True. But doesn’t mean you can’t come around once in a while,” he reminds me.
“Also true.”
“To what do I owe this phone call?”
“Well, here’s the deal. There’s this girl,” I say, a joking lilt to my voice.
He bursts out laughing. “There always is, man. There always is.”
“Not in my world,” I tell him.
“Oh so it’s that girl. I gotcha.”
“Exactly.”
“When?”
“Tonight?” I ask as a question and wince. His restaurant has become well-known all around Michigan, and even on a Sunday night, his tables are filled to capacity.
“You’re killing me, James.” He groans.
“Sorry?”
“It has to be tonight? That table?”
“Tonight,” I confirm. “And yeah, that’s the best of the house. You know this. I expect nothing less.”
“You would,” he jokes. “For you, anything.”
“Yeah?” I ask, already feeling the excitement of our evening coursing through my veins.
“Wouldn’t even be a restaurant to come to if it weren’t for you,” he tells me.
“Nah, I just gave you the tools, remember? You did the hard work.”
“Priceless, those tools were. When I say anything for you, I mean it.”
His praise humbles me. It’s not every restaurant that becomes the success that The Shore has, and it also isn’t every restaurant owner who appreciates my input. Working with Harrison was a pleasure, but to hear from him how much he appreciated what I did with him makes the entire process more than worth it.
“You’re the best, man. Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he says, chuckling.
“Oh, and I know I don’t have to ask, but I’m going to anyway…”
“The chocolate tiramisu truffles?” he asks, anticipating that I’ll be requesting one of the best forms of dessert I’ve ever had.
“You know it.”
“Chocolate fan?”
“Doesn’t even begin to cover it,” I smile.
“Sounds like a winner to me,” he says.
“You have no idea.”
“Eight o’clock alright?”
“Perfect.”
“See you tonight. I expect an intro, you know. Known you for five years, and never once have I heard you mention a girl, much less bring one around. She must be something special.”
“She is. She’s everything.” I tell him something I’ve told Carly before, but it deserves to be said to the masses.
“Yeah, I definitely need introduced.”
“You got it. I gotta get going. Have some more phone calls to make. See you at eight, and thank you, again,” I say.
“No problem. See you tonight,” Harrison says.
“See ya,” I say before hanging up.
Part one of mission: complete.
After I made my phone calls to make the rest of the arrangements, I settled in on the couch to talk with my other favorite girl.
“Hey, Dad. What have you been doing? You’ve been on the phone forever.”
“Ah, just setting some stuff up. Talked to the realtor… she wants me to keep the house staged, but I’m ready to have my stuff here.”
“Yeah, I figured that would be coming.”
“Why do you say that?”
She gives me the duh-Dad look. “Uh, Carly?”
“About Carly…”
She bursts out laughing and squeals. “Knew it!”
“Knew what?”
“Just that you’d end up talking about her!” She giggles.
I stand and pace my small apartment, raking my fingers through my short hair. “Does it bother you?”
“What? Why would it?”
“I don’t know. We’ve never really talked about it, even after you guys met. I feel like a shit father.”
“Did you ever think that we’ve never talked about it because, until Carly, you had never met anyone worthy of talking to me about?”
She has a good point. I dated. A few times. But no one captured my attention… my heart.
“Maybe you have a point,” I admit.
“Of course I do,” she says proudly, causing me to chuckle.
“She said yes.”
“Be more specific, please.”
“To a date. What else?”
&nb
sp; “I don’t know! You seem pretty…”
“I wouldn’t say pretty. Handsome. Hotty McHotPants is also a winner.”
“Gross, Dad. As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, it seems as though Carly is so much more to you. Know what I mean? Like this date? Yeah, it’s a first date. But it’s like the last first date.”
I get what she’s saying. Completely. And oddly enough, it doesn’t scare me in the least. It gives me a sense of peace I hadn’t known for a long time, or ever.
“And just to say, it kind of sounds like this may be your official first date, but it’s like you’ve been together for longer. From the moment she face-planted into your um… you. Tripping over her own two feet right into Captain America, she became yours. You became hers.”
“I don’t think you’re allowed to talk to Aunt Tess anymore.”
“Actually, it was Uncle Barrett,” she admits.
“Gossiping little…”
“And Josh,” she adds.
I rub my forehead and scrunch up my face. “Oh good grief. Those two are worse than women!”
“Well, at least they tell me stuff! You keep her all to yourself.”
“Not true! I just haven’t told you all the details. I didn’t want you to think anything weird when you two met over Christmas break. I had planned to.”
“I think it’s wonderful, Dad. You already know I love her. She’s awesome. And most of all, she makes you happy. That’s enough for me.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief. I knew Lily would be excited that we were finally officially going on a date, but I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear her say it.
“Thank you, baby girl. What about the house?”
“What about it?”
“Well, it’s your childhood home. Are you upset I’m selling? Did you want me to keep it? Maybe for you to live in?”
“Yeah. No. Not so much. Dad, I loved our home. I loved being in that home with you. But it also leaves some pretty crappy memories, you know? Sell it. Liberty is our home.”
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“You’re the best. Now, how do I calm these nerves for tonight?”
A Better Place Page 16