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"Well, I have to read it now." Mom said.
"We don't kick in until later in the book, but you are welcome to read it. Isaac brought this copy for y'all. Jill signed it and everything."
"Wait, so what happened?" Jesse's wife had been tending to their son, so she missed most of our conversation.
"I'll catch you up," Jesse said.
"It's a romance novel," I explained. "Half of the stuff didn't happen. There's no stalker or anything. Most of the book is set in the café, and a bunch of love stories take place around it. What's written of our story is kind of half-true."
"That is just unbelievable," my mom said, still shaking her head. "I can't fathom that someone wrote about you in a book. That's going make me cry." Her voice was high-pitched as she fanned tears from her eyes.
Chapter 16
Isaac Alexander
It had been a long but amazing day. Ari's family had a hundred questions about the book and how the two of them became acquainted, and then they ate a gigantic Thanksgiving lunch. All of the Moreno siblings besides Ari still lived in Savannah, and they collectively hung out at the Moreno's house all day.
There were a few others, friends of the family, who stopped in during the day as well. People played organized games and had outside time including catch, basketball, and an outing on the neighbor's boat.
The family seemed to accept Ari and Isaac's closeness because there were never any second glances when the couple converged or made their affection obvious. They hadn't been overboard with it, but Ari had missed no opportunity to give Isaac small stolen touches and glances. They briefly held hands on the boat, and they shared quick, fleeting moments of physical contact throughout the day, but they had absolutely no alone time.
Later in the afternoon, they piled into Jesse's truck to go to the store and they got wonderfully shoved into the backseat next to each other. Isaac basically got to hold onto her for the whole ride, and it was one of the best parts of the day.
It had all been pretty great, honestly. The Morenos were a nice, God-fearing family who were easy to please and down to earth. The whole family had a flair for art, and later in the evening before everyone left, they all sat around the living room and sang a song together. Isaac had a lot of good childhood memories with his family but he can honestly say this was something the Alexanders had never done. He could not remember a time when a whole room full of people just collectively decided to take time out of their day and sing a song together. It was fun and funny and unlike anything Isaac had ever done before. He had just called his mother to check-in, and he told her about it.
"A family sing-along?" she asked. "How many songs? What songs did you sing?"
"Just one. Hey Jude by the Beatles. I asked Jenny why she chose that one, and she said it was just random."
"That's neat. Birdy would love to make us do that. Claire would, too."
"You would like Ari's family. They're nice."
Isaac's mom could hear that her son was distracted. "I bet you're tired," she said.
"I am. I'm just thinking about everything. Ari's amazing, Mom. I really like her."
"Isaac, I'm happy for you, baby. I've never heard you say that about someone."
"Because I've never liked anyone like this."
"What are you going to do when Sunday rolls around?"
"I have no idea. Come home, I guess. Right now, I feel like I want to shove her in my luggage."
"It might be better to get her a plane ticket."
He let out a humorless laugh. "She's got so much going on. When I'm headed to the airport, she'll be doing a shoot for a music video. There's just no way she could come home with me. She's got a ton of work to do with her job, too. She has a trip to Seattle scheduled for January."
"Okay, well, I know you guys will work it out. Thank you for calling and checking in with me, sweet Isaac, I'm so glad you're having a good time. Hug Ari and her family for us."
Isaac hung up with his mom just in time to hear the bathwater stop running in the room next door. He was staying in Jesse's old room, and since Ari's room and been turned into her mother's office, she was staying in Nick's old room. She happened to share an adjoining bathroom with Isaac.
He knew Ari had been taking a bath just on the other side of that wall. The phone call to his mother had been a means of distraction from that very fact. She was beautiful and lovely, and Isaac found himself wanting everything with her. He thought of the last two days. He remembered things she said and did, and he balled his hands into fists at the thought.
His body physically ached.
Seconds passed, and Isaac stared down at his phone, looking at his emails but not seeing any of it. He deleted the ones he knew were trash, but his vision was unfocused the whole time because his mind was processing everything. It was a comfortable house and hearing Ari make subtle noises on the other side of that wall gave Isaac all sorts of nostalgic feelings.
