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To be honest, after Shane left, and then after Trent, I wasn't sure I'd ever find that again. I wasn't sure it even existed or if I honestly even wanted to try again. Yet, despite all that, there I was, grinning like a lovesick idiot. And even though I’d tried to make Shane agree that we’d only gone out as friends, we both knew I’d been a big, fat liar.
A knock sounded at the door, and I giggled as my mom patted me on the rear, giving me a knowing smile. I scurried off toward the front do
or. Olivia was sitting in the living room, playing with her dolls, looking up at me and smiling as I entered the room. This was it. He was going to meet her, whether I was ready for it to happen or not.
Letting out a long, nervous breath, I answered the door, and instantly felt like my heart was about to beat straight out of my chest. He'd gotten a cut, so his chestnut brown hair was trimmed and neat, just like I'd remembered him. He was freshly shaven too. His brown eyes were sparkling and the warm, inviting smile on his face said he was happy to see me. I nearly melted into a puddle when I saw what he had in his hands.
“Lilies?” I gushed. “You remembered. I can't believe you remembered.”
“Of course I did,” he said. “They were always your favorite flowers.”
I welcomed him into the house, and Olivia stared up at him with big eyes, wide with a little hint of apprehension in them. She stood up and walked over to me, hiding behind my leg with her thumb in her mouth.
“Well hey there,” Shane said, kneeling down so he was at eye-level with my little girl. “You must be Olivia. I've heard an awful lot about you. My name is Shane.”
My heart almost couldn't take it. Seeing him looking at her with such sweetness and gentleness in his eyes made my heart swell to the point it felt like it might burst. “She's a bit shy,” I said, running a hand through her silky black hair, as she leaned her head into my leg. “But she'll come around.”
“I'm sure she will,” he said. “She's beautiful. Just like her mama.”
My cheeks flushed with color, and I just stood there, grinning like a fool. Footsteps sounded in the hallway behind me and a moment later, I felt my mother's hand on my shoulder, giving me a gentle squeeze.
“Shane, it's been way too long,” mom said, a warm smile on her face.
“It has, Mrs. Anderson. How have you been?”
“Good,” she said, giving me an approving smile. “And you?”
“Been better,” he said. “But, no use complaining about it. I'm making it work.”
“Sorry to hear about your parents. They were good people,” mom said.
The two of them made small talk as I transferred the flowers over to a vase. Olivia was like a magnet, stuck completely to my side.
“It’s okay, baby,” I said. “He's mommy's friend.”
She didn't say anything, but her wide-eyed gaze moved over to Shane. He caught her staring and gave her a wink and a little wave. Olivia's face lit up and she smiled back at him, but buried her face in my leg again, still not willing to leave my side.
“Well, we better get going,” I said.
I stepped in to save him from my mother's endless chatter. We had reservations, and I wanted to get out of the house and feel like a real adult for once in a very long while.
Shane waved at Olivia as we left my place, and we climbed into his car. He drove us over to the restaurant which was in the center of town. Mostly we reminisced about days from our youth – the stupid senior prank our class pulled where we painted the sidewalks around the school in our team's colors, about friends who had moved on from Walter, and how they were doing according to town gossip.
It had been so long since I'd been there – maybe even the prom had been the last time – so, I was shocked that Perezzis looked almost identical to my memories of the place. Nothing had changed. The carpet was still the same wine red, the furniture all antique, dark wood. Soft classical music played in the lobby, and a petite teenaged girl greeted us upon entering. She smiled back at us with teeth bracketed by braces, and it reminded me of the summer I worked at the diner down the street. I'd been a gangly, awkward girl with braces too.
God, it felt like eons ago.
“Jackson, party of two,” Shane said.
I raised my eyebrows. “You even made reservations,” I said.
“Of course I did,” he said.
He took my hand in his and laid a gentle kiss upon the knuckles. The hostess led us to our table, and as soon as I saw it, I almost died on the spot.
It was the same exact table we'd sat at all those years ago.
A corner table, tucked away in a private little nook with a water feature separating us from the rest of the place. It was a little bit private, a little bit cozy, and a whole lot intimate. The waterfall was calming as it splashed down upon the stones in the wall, providing nice ambient noise that brought back so many memories.
