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I looked down at his bare feet sticking out from the bottom of the black slacks he had on. “Shoes?”
His wide eyes said those hadn’t been ridiculous questions. “One second.”
Addison dashed back in the house before I could even hold back a laugh, coming out quickly with shoes on his feet and his keys in his hand. “Ready.”
Well, at the very least he had shoes and the ability to get back into his house later, so I wasn’t going to poke at anything else. “Perfect.”
The drive to the restaurant was quick and filled with Addison’s chatter about work and a new dress he saw online. It’d been quickly followed up by an admission that he knew he couldn’t have it, but I could see the longing in his eyes.
That led to me being sympathetic and ended with him showing me pictures as we were seated at our table. “See, it has sparkles at the bottom.”
The dress was clearly made for a princess that loved to twirl around. It was beautiful but my favorite part was that Addison didn’t seem to care what the hostess overheard as she sat us down and walked away with a smile on her face.
That must’ve been obvious because as my excited boy wiggled around the small circular booth to get closer to me, he waved his hands. “I won’t even make the top ten list of weird things she sees tonight. It’s a full moon. Restaurants are like emergency rooms and the weirdos just pop out of the woodwork.”
Chuckling, I leaned over and kissed the side of his head. “You’re right. I just thought it was cute. I wasn’t worried.”
He beamed then went back to point at the dress on the small screen. “See, it looks like a ball gown but the reviews say it’s very soft and easy to play in.”
Trying not to smile too widely, I nodded. “But are you going to have room in your next place for another dress?”
He hadn’t really talked much about his plans for college so far but I couldn’t imagine a walk-in closet as part of any dorm.
His sigh said I was right… and that he’d probably been deliberately talking about anything else but his new college adventure. “Well, I don’t know.”
Since it seemed like an opening for a Daddy, help fix this conversation, I wrapped one arm around him and gave the server heading in our direction an apologetic shake of my head as I mouthed “just a minute.”
She nodded, giving us both a bright, aren’t you cute smile so I didn’t think she was offended.
Of course, Addison was solely focused on the pretty dress. “I might. I got a few smaller scholarships and one big one but they really only cover everything if I stay in on-campus housing. There are a few options that are like apartments but I don’t know if I’ve gotten one of those yet and I don’t know what kind of roommate I’ll have.”
Both very valid issues.
“I’m assuming that part of your plan is to put some of your stuff into storage?” As he nodded, I thought about how he could make things work. “As long as you’ve got the right storage in your room, even a dorm, you should be able to keep a lot of your toys and dresses with you and then change them out every few months?”
It seemed like the most practical idea and had Addison perking up. “I could do that. I would just need to make sure my fun stuff is easy to access and my regular stuff is at the back.”
I wasn’t exactly sure what regular stuff would include but it seemed like a reasonable plan. “We’ll just need do some research about good storage solutions.”
He might’ve been a bit older than the average college student but he couldn’t be the only person wanting to take way too much with them to school.
“Yes, I can do that.” Perking up again, he gave the dress one last longing look before putting his phone on the bench beside him. “I’ve already done lots of research.”
“Have you figured out what you’re going to major in?” He’d mentioned already having his associates but he’d been vague about everything else.
Nodding, he sat straighter and shoved his hands under his legs which seemed to be his I’m not going to wiggle pose. “Either chemistry or math. I can’t decide which but my counselor says that’s okay and I can start with basic classes in both and see which one I like best.”
With the amount of creative things in his house, from the toys to the refinished furniture that seemed to have all been personally redone by Addison, I’d expected something creative. But he seemed very confident in it, so I smiled. “That sounds incredibly hard but that excited expression says you’re ready for the challenge.”
He beamed even wider, barely holding back his wiggles. “I liked lots of stuff when I first went to college, and it was so overwhelming I panicked and stopped after the first two years. No one in my family had gone to college before, and they weren’t any help either.”
Shrugging, he didn’t seem to blame himself or anyone else as he explained what had happened. “But then I had a basic degree and no plan and the only jobs I could find were office work and that just wasn’t me. So I started waiting tables and I’m really good at that.”
I bet everyone loved him.
“So why did you decide to go back and get more education?” I wasn’t judging the decision. I was honestly curious.
“I can’t see myself waiting tables forever, and I really don’t like business jobs. They’re… they’re boring. I liked fixing up the stuff in my house but I wasn’t sure I could make a full-time living at that either.” He shrugged again, looking slightly apologetic. “It just took me a few years to figure out what I wanted to do. Decisions are hard.”
