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“Where to next?” I ask her as we leave the arcade a few hours later. It hits me that this might have been the whole date, and I feel bad for making it sound like I need more from her, but I really don’t want the day to end.
“You ask too many questions. You need to just trust me. Do you trust me?” The tone of her voice tells me that the question goes beyond the date we’re on right now. Payton is desperate to know she hasn’t completely lost my trust.
I take her hand and squeeze it. “I trust you, Payton.”
As we drive to our next destination, my stomach growls, and I pat it. “I hope one of our stops involves food.”
“It does. Don’t worry.”
We end up at the burger place that now feels like “our spot.” Payton shuts off the car and smiles at me. “I know we’ve been here a lot, but they also have the best milkshakes and I don’t know if this is weird, but it’s kinda, like, our spot now.”
“It’s like you’re reading my mind.”
I’m surprised when she takes my hand once again walking into the burger place since this is closer to where she lives and is in the town where she works. It means so much more to me knowing what a big step this is for her. She’s been so scared of coming out, and she’s doing this for me. Me. She really knows how to say sorry. We get the food to go, because according to Payton, we have, “Places to be.”
We drive back to her town and park in her driveway, and Payton gets our food and a blanket out of the car. We then walk down to the playground we went to after everything happened with her dad. She leads us over to the merry-go-round (once again, hand-in-hand… swoon). When we sit down on the merry-go-round, she wraps us in the blanket then points to our takeout food and milkshakes. “If possible, save some of that for after the sunset. Now, I know the sunset wasn’t part of your actual perfect date, but if we wait for the stars to come out, it’s going to be way too cold. I promise I’ll make it up to you though.”
I put my hand on her leg and let it rest there. “You don’t have to make anything up to me. This is absolutely perfect.”
“Well, there’s more to come. I promise.”
After watching the sunset, we each have half of a milkshake and half of our food left. According to Payton, that’s perfect. We go into her house, which is dark, which leads me to believe we must have it all to ourselves. My heart rate picks up at exactly what that could mean for the rest of the night.
Payton leads me up to her room, and when she opens the door, I’m blown away. There are glow-in-the-dark stars scattered across her whole ceiling, and a cardboard cutout of the Eiffel Tower over in the corner. “I know it’s not quite the same as a night in Paris, but…”
“Payton, it’s absolutely perfect.” It really is. Never in a million years did I think someone would do something so sweet for me. Payton not only asks questions and actually pays attention to the answer, but she also remembers it. That’s a big deal. There aren’t enough people like that.
We sit next to each other on her bed and stare up at the stars while we finish our milkshakes and food. Payton has more than made up for her mistakes. She went above and beyond what she ever had to do. What she did really wasn’t that bad, and this… well, this is amazing. We still need to talk about everything though, and as much as I don’t want to ruin the moment, I know it has to happen.
“Can… Can we talk?”
Payton looks over at me and audibly swallows. “Of… Of course.”
Chapter 31
*Love Interest*
I knew this was coming, but it’s still hard to hear the words. I hold my breath while I wait to hear what Marjorie has to say. Today has been perfect, and at least no matter what happens, we’ll always have these memories.
“When I found those letters, it was like a shot straight to the heart. I felt betrayed and blindsided.”
I squeeze Marjorie’s hand at the same time I squeeze my eyes shut to try to stop myself from crying. “I know. I’m so sorry. It was never my intention. I really messed up, and I realize that, and I know that one stupid date and one stupid day doesn’t make up for it.”
“Do you really think that?” Marjorie asks.
“Think what?”
“That this was a stupid day.”
I shake my head and wipe the few tears that have started to fall. “This was the best day of my life.”
“It was the best day of my life too, Payton. Listen, I don’t like how I found out, but I get it. I completely understand why you didn’t tell me. I flat-out told you I didn’t want to know who the person was multiple times. I can’t blame you for listening to me. I just needed time to process it because it was confusing for me. This whole time I was fighting an internal battle of falling for two different people, and it turns out, I was just falling for one.” Marjorie laughs and shakes her head. “It was a lot to wrap my head around.”
“And where do you stand with things now?” I chew on my nails as I anxiously await her answer. It sounds positive so far, but I don’t know. I hope I’m not reading her wrong.
“I think I’m ready to move forward. With you. To see where this goes. I mean, I fell for you twice. That has to mean something, right?”
“You really mean it? You want to give this a try?” My heart might burst. This is a literal dream come true.
