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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DATE NIGHT

JAX

F lowers are probably too much, especially since I’m picking the girls up from school, but I couldn’t resist the bouquet of small sunflowers when I saw them at the grocery store. I have to make some changes to our date night, so I’m hoping that these begin to make up for it.

Emma had some work to get done in the library after school, and offered to keep the girls with her for a bit while I ran some errands after work. After being buzzed into the school, I lift a hand in greeting to Mrs. Owens, who smirks at me from behind her desk, her voice calling from behind me. “Your girls are in the library.”

They sure are.

All three of them.

Alice sees me first, meeting me at the door with a hug.

“Hey kiddo,” I ruffle her hair and press a kiss to the top of her head. “Where’s Ms. Mitchell?”

“Putting books away,” Alice leads me over to the table she’s sharing with Mackenzie, who waves in greeting, fully engrossed by the work in front of her. Before popping her headphones back on, Alice tells me, “Check science.”

With flowers in hand, I wander toward the back set of shelves and find Emma with her shoes kicked off, hair piled in a bun at the top of her head, and a cart full of books nearby. I hang back and watch as she picks a book from the cart and carefully reshelves it, the skirt of her dress – same style as the star patterned one from our date, only this one is covered in pumpkins and fall leaves – swishes as she moves along the shelves.

With a quick scan of my surroundings to make sure no children or principals are around, I step closer to her, the cellophane on the flowers alerting her to my presence, a smile tugging at her lips as I close the distance between us. Slipping a hand around the nape of her neck, I pull her toward me for a kiss. She’s soft and warm against me, sinking one hand into the hair at the back of my neck and deepening the kiss.

“It’s good to see you.” Emma breaks the kiss, and settles her hands against my chest, a light blush creeping into her cheeks.

“You too,” I grin, soaking in her warmth. “I’m here for my girls, but I also need to ask about our date tonight?”

“I understand if you need to cancel…” her face falls and my heart sinks. I reach out and tilt her chin up to face me, meeting her gaze and giving her a soft smile, but I can feel the tension radiating off of her.

“I’m not canceling, Emma. Just asking if we can change plans. Mom and Dad are spending the weekend at Jake and Penelope’s while they’re home for a stretch in between playoff rounds, and Mandy has a cold that she doesn’t want to expose the girls to.” My other option is Lee and Elaine, but they’ve already got plans for the night. So, instead I’m hoping that she’ll be up for a date with me and the girls.

“What are you thinking?” Her smile is encouraging.

“I was thinking the four of us go for mini golf and tacos? And then once the girls are in bed we could do a movie? Or baseball game, or…I honestly don’t care, I’m just a little greedy for time alone with you.”

Emma laughs, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing a soft kiss to my lips. “Sounds like a great plan. I’ll run home and change and meet you at your place?”

“Perfect.” She points at the flowers, all but forgotten in my hand. “Are those for me?”

“They are,” after passing Emma the flowers, she presses a kiss to my cheek and slips her shoes on before making her way toward her desk at the front of the library where Mrs. Owens stands with the girls. Mrs. Owens quirks a brow at me but doesn’t say a word as Emma and I emerge from the rows of books, her smirk says more than enough and if her fidgeting is any indication, Emma sees it as well. She dashes behind her desk and busies herself on the computer as I help the girls pack up to leave for the day.

“Goodnight girls,” Elaine hugs the girls before stopping at Emma’s desk, a soft smile quirking her lips in the face of Emma’s panic. “Goodnight, Ms. Mitchell.”

The girls make quick work of packing their backpacks and shrugging on their jackets. I hang around until Emma is packed and ready, holding out her coat for her to slip her arms into. We walk side by side down the hall and into the parking lot, the girls a few steps ahead of us. Emma stops at her car, reaching out to squeeze my hand as I continue on to my own car and help the girls get situated inside.

“Dad,” Alice chirps from the backseat, and I meet her gaze in the rearview, “Did you bring those flowers to Ms. Emma?”

“I did.”

“Okay,” she nods and throws a look at her sister as I force my attention back to the road.

“Dad,” Mackenzie, this time. “Are you and Ms. Emma dating now? Or still just having dinner as friends?”

Oh boy.

“Uncle Jake gave Aunt Nelope flowers before they were married.”

“And Uncle Marcus picked wildflowers for Auntie Jay,” Mackenzie muses.

“Yeah, and we all know how that turned out,” I laugh.

“He wasn’t following the rules!” Alice exclaims.

“Leave it better than you found it!” I chorus with the girls. Among Jenna’s many trail rules, including not eating things you can’t identify, petting wildlife, and leaving the trail, we have also been reminded to leave the trail better than we found it; don’t leave anything behind, and don’t take anything with you. The day that Marcus picked some wildflowers from along the trail, we all got a lecture on the way back to our cars. And then Jenna dried the flowers and replanted the seeds later. Marcus learned an important lesson that day: Don’t do something stupid on the trail if you don’t want a lecture later.

The question forgotten, I drive home listening to the girls reminisce about family hikes, their first time meeting Penelope, which feels like a lifetime ago, and their excitement over participating in three family weddings.

“Dad?” A tentative voice calls up to me from the backseat and I meet Alice’s earnest gaze in the rearview mirror. “If you marry Ms. Emma, would Mackenzie and I get to be in your wedding?”

“Ms. Emma and I are dating,” I panic and answer the safest of the two questions. “In fact, I was supposed to take her on a date tonight while you were at your aunt and uncle’s.”

“Aunt Mandy is sick, though.” There’s a note of disappointment in Mackenzie’s voice. “So what are you going to do?”

“I have a plan,” I assure them, and that settles the issue for now. For the rest of the drive, they discuss their school day, and their excitement for Halloween next weekend. After arriving home, I send the girls to their rooms with instructions to drop off their backpacks and change into clothes for playing mini golf, while I try to do the same.

It may be a casual date, but I can still dress to impress, right?

After finding my nicest pair of jeans, I reach for a flannel shirt, and with my brother’s voice in my head, I roll up the sleeves just to my elbows, and unbutton the top two buttons. I think James would approve, and judging by Emma’s roving eyes when I open the door to her twenty minutes later, she definitely approves.

“Hi,” her eyes stray to the open collar of my shirt while I do my best to pick my jaw up from the floor at the sight of her in skinny jeans that hug her legs, and a deep purple sweater that drapes off one shoulder. She lifts a canvas grocery bag, “I brought snacks for later.”

Emma unloads her bag into the fridge and once the girls are ready, we’re on our way to the mini golf course.

There’s a slight chill in the air as we set up on the first hole, with Alice taking the first shot. Emma keeps score for me and Alice, while I keep track of scores for her and Mackenzie; Emma hovers over my shoulder, making sure that I mark the correct number of shots as we move along the course.

“What would I have to do to convince you to forget about that last hole?” Emma asks, wrapping her arms around my waist from behind as I mark down her six, yes six, shots on what is likely the easiest hole out here. I would change her score right now if it meant she’d keep holding onto me like this, but what kind of example would that set for the children?

“I’m not changing your score,” I laugh as she fakes a pout and sets up to start the next hole, with plenty of encouragement from Alice and Mackenzie who offer tips for how best to navigate the obstacles in our way. As Emma sets up for her swing, I position myself behind her, helping to adjust her stance and grip on the putter. “Don’t swing back quite as far,” I whisper in her ear, “and gently tap the ball.”

The ball rolls slowly toward the hole, stopping just short enough for her to tap it in, giving Emma her lowest score of the night, and earning me a celebratory high five. After eighteen holes, with Mackenzie as our winner, we pile into the car and make our way to the best little hole in the wall restaurant in town. As soon as I open the door, I can smell the fryer oil from the kitchen, cumin and chiles perfume the air, and my shoes stick a bit to the tiles in the entryway, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s late when we arrive home and I send the girls to their rooms to get ready for bed. Emma kicks off her shoes and heads to the kitchen, making herself at home in a way that is strangely endearing and kind of wonderful. She pulls two bottles of iced tea from the fridge and cracks them open, passing one to me. I use the time it takes to take a sip of the crisp, slightly bitter tea to gather my thoughts so that I don’t accidentally ask her to stay the night.

We agreed we’d go slow. And that certainly wouldn’t be slow.

I’m saved from the slightly awkward silence that hangs between us, by Alice coming into the kitchen with a book in her hands, ready to be tucked into bed. But she passes me by and makes a beeline to Emma, holding out the book to her.

“Ms. Emma, will you read to us tonight?”

Emma’s eyes meet mine as if asking for permission. Alice can be persistent, but if Emma isn’t comfortable doing the bedtime thing, I totally understand, and I’m not going to push the issue. Emma accepts the book from Alice’s outstretched hand and follows her down the hall to Mackenzie’s room, where she’s waiting, a wary expression on her face.

“Dad’s not tucking us in?” She asks, eyes flickering between me and Emma.

“I don’t have to,” Emma says softly. “I don’t want to intrude.”

A mix of emotion plays out on Mackenzie’s face as she deliberates. This is a lot different than the night that Emma watched the girls, and after the conversation in the car after school, I can only imagine what Mackenzie must be thinking right now about Emma and her place in our lives. But soon, she softens and slides over in bed, making a place for her sister, and leaving enough room at the edge of the mattress for Emma to sit down and stretch out her legs.

Emma opens the book to where I left off last night and begins to read to the girls. I don’t know my place in the scene that unfolds in front of me; I’d love to climb in on Mackenzie’s other side, and bookend the girls between Emma and me, but that feels too…intimate isn’t the right word with my girls in the room, but it’s the only way to describe it. Too intimate. Too…familial.

As Emma reads, my mind drifts to the possibility of more nights like this. And of nights that could have been. I do my best not to dwell on the past, not to live in what we lost when Angela left, but as I watch the girls with Emma, my heart squeezes with longing for something they’ve never had. It’s almost overwhelming to watch as Emma closes the book and climbs off of the bed, helping Mackenzie get situated under the covers and bidding her goodnight. Emma follows Alice to her room, and Mackenzie lays in her bed watching me.

“You good, Kiddo?” I ask, stepping into her room and kneeling at the side of her bed, smoothing her hair away from her face.

“I’m good,” Mackenzie yawns and sinks into her pillow. “It’s nice having her here.”

It sure is.

“I love you, Mackenzie.”

“Love you, Dad.”

I kiss Mackenzie goodnight and turn out her light before stepping down the hall to Alice’s door, where I find Emma tucking Alice into bed with her favorite stuffed animal and blanket. That’s a rite of passage in this house; no one outside of the family has had a smooth tuck in with Alice. Emma steps past me into the hall with a soft smile and a squeeze of her hand on my shoulder as I trade places with her.

“I love you, Dad,” Alice sits up and hugs my neck, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, baby girl. I love you, too.”

I find my way back to Emma and note a look of unease on her face. She’s back in the kitchen, leaning against the island clutching her bottle of iced tea to her chest.

“I hope you didn’t feel pressured to do that…”

“No,” she straightens, a panicked look on her face. “That’s…that’s not it at all. I was just thinking about my mom, and all the nights that she’d read to me and Molly.”

Silence hangs between us, long and heavy and charged.

“I had a really great time tonight,” she whispers, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“Thank you, ” I draw her into my embrace and she sighs into my arms. “Having you here tonight has been wonderful.”

I press a kiss to her forehead, the corner of her mouth as her lips pull into a smile, and soft skin just behind her ear. I could spend the rest of the night like this, wrapped up in her sweetness. Her arms tighten around me as she tilts her face toward mine and I claim her lips in a kiss. Her fingers twist in the hair at the back of my neck and she presses closer, deepening the kiss.

Emma breaks the kiss, eyes dancing as we catch our breath. I put a little bit of distance between us so that I can’t grab her and kiss her again. Not tonight. Not while we’re still just getting to know each other.

“I promised you snacks,” Emma says, throwing a wink in my direction as she opens the freezer and grabs out two pints of ice cream. She passes me a spoon and a pint of butter pecan ice cream. “And I keep my promises.”

With ice cream in hand and baseball on television, we settle into the couch, and Emma leans against my side, fitting against me perfectly, like the final piece of a puzzle.