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The crew of the schooner had stepped back, sensing a private family moment.
“I helped,” I blurted out, going off-script. “They made the plan themselves, but I helped book the tickets. It was such a sweet idea I couldn’t resist.”
Please don’t fire me, I begged with my eyes.
Mark looked at Sadie and tilted his head. “You want to go on a sunset cruise with me?”
He held out his hand.
“I would,” Sadie said, putting her hand in his.
If this were a movie, the orchestra would be playing swelling romantic music right now.
“So you’re going?” Riley asked.
“Yes,” Mark said, almost unable to take his eyes from Sadie. Oh yeah, this had been a good idea.
“I’ll take care of them,” I said. “We’ll go out and meet you back here.”
“Sounds good,” Sadie said, finally looking over at us. “Give me hugs before you go.”
Riley and Zoey hopped on the boat just to hug their parents and then we stood back as they headed out, waving our arms as if they were going on a long journey.
I put my arms around both of them, pulling them toward me.
“Good job, girls. I think they’re going to have a lot to talk about on that boat ride.”
“Do you think they’ll kiss?” Riley asked. “We should have told them they should kiss.”
I laughed. “I don’t think it works that way, Rileybug.”
“Should we text them?” Zoey said, pulling out her phone.
“No, I think they can figure it out.”
* * *
Since Rileyand Zoey and I were dressed nicely, I took them to a nice restaurant. I’d let them look at the menu ahead of time so they knew there was something they wanted.
“How do you think they’re doing?” Riley asked as we were seated at our table. There were no other kids in the restaurant, and I was sure there were some adults that thought children didn’t belong in a place like this, but I didn’t care. Riley and Zoey had learned restaurant manners when they were young.
“I think that no news is good news,” I told her as they picked up the giant menus.
“Zo-go, that’s the wine menu, you don’t need that,” I said, taking the tasseled wine list from Zoey.
“Wine, gross,” Zoey said, making a face.
“You’re not old enough to drink it anyway,” I said, setting the wine list off to the side.
“Do I have to drink it when I get older?” Zoey asked.
“Absolutely not. You don’t have to eat or drink anything you don’t like. Not even if people tell you that you should like it, okay?” I said.
“Okay,” she said, and leaned over Riley’s shoulder to ask her what she was going to get.
The small Italian place had both spaghetti and fettuccine alfredo on the menu, so the twins got an order of each so they could share, and I got the lasagna, even though I cringed at the price.
“Can we order a fancy drink?” Riley asked, her eyes lighting up.
