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“Oh, no. Is this not okay? I can go change. I just thought—”
I stopped her with a kiss before she could go any further. Her lips melted into mine and the taste of her toothpaste lingered on my tongue as I pulled away.
“You look perfect.”
She smiled as I pushed a strand of hair out of her face and cupped her chin, pulling her in for one more kiss.
“You still haven’t told me where you’re taking me.”
“It’s kind of a surprise. But don’t get too excited. It’s really nothing special.”
“What are you talking about? You said this place was very special to you.”
“Well, it is. But I’m not expecting it to be special to you. It’s not fancy or popular.”
“I’m sure I’ll love it.”
Grace reached out and grabbed my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to tell her before we actually got there, but her reassurance was all I needed to start talking.
“Have you ever heard Ella talk about Water’s Edge?”
“Um… no I don’t think so. Wait. Is that a bar?”
I nodded my head.
“Yeah, I think she has mentioned it, but I’ve never been. Is that where we’re going?”
I nodded again, and I could feel a lump in my throat start to form. She was going to think this was totally lame. She was going to laugh in my face when I told her how much this place meant to me.
“Cool, I’m excited.”
She was perfect. How was she so perfect?
“Tell me about the place. Why do you love it so much?”
“Well,” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. “I had my first legal beer here with my dad.”
“Oh, Ella did, too, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, she did. My dad loved this place. He always said it was better ‘back in the day’ but he never got tired of going.”
Grace smiled at me and I wanted to keep going.
“My first real girlfriend, her name was Meg, we were at this bar when I asked her to move in with me.”
“Oh,” Grace said, clearly trying to hide her annoyance that I was talking about another woman. “That’s nice.”
“But she said no. And then told me that she had been sleeping with my best friend. And then poured a beer on me as she left.”
Grace’s hand flew up to cover her mouth in surprise.
“That’s awful! I thought this was just a place for happy memories.”
“Oh, no. Definitely not. Just a place for significant memories.”
I felt the car stop, and a moment later, the driver came around to open our door. Just as I suspected, there was no one around, and the bar was nearly empty.
When we stepped inside, Grace looked around, and I could tell she was trying to hide her disgust. The paint on the wall was chipped and peeling. The fabric on the booth seats was torn. The wood floors had scratches, and there were plants popping up all over the place.
