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Her laughter was a beautiful sound.
“She thinks you’re hysterical.” Chase was grinning from ear to ear, watching her in the rearview mirror.
When we got out of the car, Khloe held my hand as we walked in the parking lot. Inside, she let go and followed the hostess to our table, skipping happily ahead of us. When we reached our booth, she pulled me in beside her. “Sit next to me, Merry!”
“I’ve been replaced.” Chase clutched his heart as he slumped over in the booth.
“They have the best apple pie here.” I pointed to the desserts on Khloe’s menu.
“Ooh, can we get apple pie, Chasey?” She bounced up and down excitedly.
“Yeah, Chasey-poo. Can we?” I teased.
“If you both eat your dinner, we’ll talk about it.”
Khloe nodded as she began coloring the picture on her placemat. I watched her as she worked, her sweet eyes so big and focused. Everything on her was perfect. Her little round nostrils, her soft cheeks, her puffy pink lips. I reached out to stroke her golden hair.
“Merry,” she started, without looking up from her coloring. “Are you and Chase going to get married?”
Chase nearly choked on the water he was sipping.
“Why do you ask?”
“If you marry Chase, you’d be like my big sister. Then you’d be in our family forever, and I could see you all the time.”
“You can see me whenever you want. We don’t have to be married for that.”
“But I really love you. And I know Chase loves you, too.”
“How do you know that?” Chase intercepted.
“I know that when you love someone, you take care of them all the time. You always want to be around them, because they make your heart happy.” She stopped coloring to look at him. “Doesn’t Merry make your heart happy?”
“She does.”
“And does Chase make your heart happy?” Both Khloe and Chase looked at me with the same exact eyes.
“He does.” I took her hand and placed it inside of mine. “And so do you. You make my heart very, very happy.”
She smiled, satisfied with our answers, and went back to coloring.
“Speaking of marriage, where are your parents tonight?” I asked Chase.
“They went out. They do date night once a week now.”
“That’s sweet.”
“It is. I can only hope my marriage is like theirs one day.”
“Chase Brooks wants to get married?”
“Sure. Don’t you?”
I shrugged. “I never really thought about what it would be like if and when I got married, or if I’d ever have children. Taking care of my dad as much as I did, my prospects didn’t look too hopeful.”
“Well, things are pretty different for you now.”
“I know. We’ll see, I guess.”
