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“Absolutely,” he says. He waves over the other actors and Ethan hands his phone to an usher.
After several silly poses and one where we’re all smiling, we wave goodbye.
The walk back to Ethan’s car is chillier than our walk in. I begin to shiver slightly. Ethan wraps his arm around me and pulls me in against him. Our footfalls match and we walk in sync down the darkened sidewalk. This would be a spooky place to be at night if I didn’t have Ethan with me.
“Did you have a good time?” he asks, once we’re situated in his car. His eyes scan my face, searching for truth.
“I really did,” I say. “I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. Honest.”
“I’m glad you had fun,” he says. “That was my whole goal for this evening. For you to let go and have fun.”
“You definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone a few times.”
Ethan beams, clearly proud of his accomplishment. “The last thing I have planned won’t make you uncomfortable,” he says. “I hope.”
“There’s more?” I ask. “Wow, I’m already feeling spoiled. How can there be more?”
“You better believe there’s more,” he says. “I told you, Prom Queen, I’m in this to win.”
When Ethan pulls into the driveway of a house twenty minutes later, I look at him, confused. He just laughs. “Come on in,” he says, stepping out of the car.
“Wait, so is this your house?” I ask.
“Yes,” Ethan says. “I saved the best for last.”
My brain tries to think up ideas of what this final, best-for-last surprise could possibly be. I can’t think of anything.Confused, I follow closely behind him. He opens the front door and leads me down a long hallway and into a kitchen. “Hey Mom, we’re here,” Ethan says.
A blonde woman with identical blue eyes to Ethan turns and offers me a warm smile. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she says. “Ethan has told us all about you.”
I glance at Ethan, but he’s looking past his mom. I wonder what types of things have been said. I don’t dare ask.
“We’re going to go see Taffy now,” Ethan says. “Will you record for us?”
“Sure,” his mom says, taking the phone.
She moves ahead of us and through a door. I’m legitimately scared. Who or what is Taffy? And the fact that he wants to record my reaction makes my heart start to beat a little faster. I follow Ethan through the same door and down a long flight of cement stairs. I walk slowly and carefully, half expecting something to jump out at me. You never know with Ethan and his videos. As we near the bottom of the steps, I can hear a bunch of high-pitched squeaking noises. Curious, I start moving more quickly. Ethan takes me into a large room with a short, grey gate forming a circle in the middle. The squeaks are coming from that gated section of the room. I approach the gate and look in. There is a beautiful, curly, caramel colored dog resting on a soft, green dog pillow. While five little puppies run around her, chasing each other and yipping. When they see Ethan and I approach the pen, the puppies bark playfully and lunge toward the gate.
“They’re so cute,” I squeal. I feel like I sound just like Mom.
The mother dog stands to her feet and walks to Ethan, wagging her long tail furiously. Ethan opens the pen gate and the puppies fall all over each other to climb out. “This is Taffy,” Ethan says, sitting down. “She’s the best dog in the world.”
Taffy lays her head on Ethan’s leg and he scratches her behind the ears. I sit on the hard cement beside Ethan and let the puppies crawl all over my legs. Their whole bodies wriggle with excitement as their stubby tails wag back and forth. They’re a variety of colors. One is creamy like her mom, while two are a darker chocolatey brown. The last two have brown and black spots.
“Are these purebreds?” I ask.
“No,” Ethan says. “Taffy is a mini golden doodle. But her puppies are half golden doodle and half sneaky neighbor’s dog.”
I laugh. “Your parents didn’t breed her on purpose?”
Ethan shakes his head. “They were talking about it. But then before they could, she turned out to be pregnant. We don’t even know whose dog it was, so we aren’t sure what the puppies will grow up to look like.”
“Well, they’re adorable,” I say, holding one up to my face and letting it lick the end of my nose. I love their warm puppy breath. “I’ve always wanted a dog,” I say. “You’re lucky.”
“That’s what your mom told me.”
I freeze. “You talked to my mom?” I ask. “When?”
“I went to her office at school today. I needed to ask her some things about our date.”
