Tina holds up an old framed photo she's about to place into a box. "No way!"
Andy lets out a sheepish laugh, color rising in his cheeks as he continues stacking books into the fourth moving box. His blushdeepens when he glances up to see the attention his old photo has drawn.
For the record, Andy doesn't just have a book collection... he has an obsession. Ninety percent of his apartment seems crafted from paper and ink.
Books hide under the bed. Books cram into kitchen cabinets. Books line bathroom shelves. Even the entryway cabinet, where most people might store shoes, overflows with them.
When he packed his car to move to LA, I'm pretty sure the only thing he brought with him was books.
I'm not the dork in this relationship. He is.
God, I love him.
"Let me see that photo," Malia demands, reaching for it. Tina passes it over with a giggle.
"Oh, Andy," Malia snickers, "this is gold."
My patience wears thin, so I step over and snatch the photo from Malia's hands, ignoring her indignant glare.
"Vince, don't make a big deal about it," Andy groans, running a nervous hand through his hair.
I look at the photo, and my heart performs a little somersault. It's Andy, probably sixteen or so, leaning against an ancient Land Rover. His blonde hair falls messily into his eyes, and he wears that tired-but-proud look that I've come to recognize as his signature determination.
He's so scrawny, his jeans hanging off his hips like hand-me-downs, barefoot and shirtless with a grin so wide it practically illuminates the photograph. The car looks like shit even back then, which somehow makes the whole scene even more endearing. Adorable. It hits me that, at the time this photo is taken, Malia is probably ten, and Kaitlynn and I are already separated. Life is a whirlwind back then, and somehow, it has all led to this moment, to Andy and me.
"Hey, can I get a copy of this picture?" I tease.
"Jesus, Dad, you're so creepy..." Malia bites her lip, holding back a laugh.
Andy's blush deepens, and he snatches the photo from my hands, muttering, "Will you all stop? That photo's embarrassing. Quit looking at it."
The girls burst into laughter, and Andy quickly packs the photo into one of his boxes.
"Wait," Tina says, still grinning, "is that the same Land Rover? It can't be."
Andy sighs, resigning himself to the interrogation. "Yeah... It had been sitting in the yard for years. My mom said I could have it if I could get it running again. I did, and I practically lived out of it for a while. And yeah, it's still going. Sort of."
Malia shoots me a pointed look, and I shoot one right back.
She'd better not ruin my surprise for Andy.
Andy and I aren't exactly great at surprises, but damn it, I'm determined to get this one right.
"Andy, don't use your hand," I say, prying a moving box out of his grip. "You're supposed to let it heal."
Andy glares at me, annoyed at my hovering.
He hates being babied, but I'm not going to back down. Andy isn't used to people taking care of him, and it shows.
"Go pack up more of your ridiculous books," I tease, setting the box down.
"My books aren't ridiculous," Andy shoots back, rolling his eyes.
"Your Steinbeck collection begs to differ."
I kiss him quickly, and despite himself, he smiles. When I pull away, he leans in to kiss me back, and I wrap an arm around his waist, pressing a kiss to his neck just to hear him laugh.
The girls groan in mock horror.
