After I Fall (9 page)

“Never mind,” he said as he interrupted himself. “I just feel really, really stupid.”

I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh and he joined me.

“I feel pretty stupid, too,” I admitted. “The first time I get up the nerve to ask a guy out and it ends up being an epic fail.”

“First time, huh?” Eric asked, his laughter fading into a grin. “Well, if you still want to go out, I’d…I’d really like that.”

I gave him a narrowed eyed look. “Are you sure? I don’t want this to be like a pity date. If you don’t want to go out I’d survive. I’d be disappointed, but I’d survive,” I assured him as I kept my tone light and teasing.

His smile remained in place.

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“When?” I asked.

“Is tomorrow too soon?”

“Tomorrow,” I said with a smile, “is perfect.”  

I pulled the door open, not at all surprised to see Eric standing there. What did surprise me was the cluster of pink, white, and red peonies that he held in his hand. The blooms were enormous and perfect.

My smile was instantaneous.

“Eric! These are gorgeous!”

He stepped inside and handed them to me.

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “They happen to be my favorite flower.”

His grin turned slightly smug.

“Wait, you knew that?” He shrugged. I frowned as I tried to figure out how he knew that about me. “Did you ask my mom?”

His smug smile slipped away. Apparently the thought of him going to my mom was as intolerable to him as it was to me.

“Nah. I noticed that you always stopped to look at the flowers at the country club. Especially these. I didn’t know they were your favorite. I just figured you liked them.”

“I do. Where did you find them? Mom tried to order a bouquet for my birthday last year but she couldn’t find a florist in town that carried them. Maybe they were out of season,” I said, more to myself than him.

He didn’t answer. I realized the tips of his ears were turning pink. He suddenly seemed extremely interested in checking out the pool house.

I lightly punched his arm to get his attention. He turned to me with a guilty look.

“Eric,” I said firmly, “where did you get these?”

I didn’t think he was going to answer. When he did the words spilled from his mouth in a big gush.

“You’re right. They don’t sell them anywhere. I called every florist in town. They could be special ordered but they said the demand in Roseville wasn’t high enough to have them as a regular option. It would take a few days for them to get here. I was going to go with another kind of flower but I don’t really know anything about flowers. I wasn’t sure what to get. Roses seem so generic, you know? And daises, they grow in ditches. How special can they be? They were the only other flowers that I could think of. I really wanted to get you something that you liked.”

He stopped talking and just looked at me.

I tried to keep the smile off my face. “You didn’t really answer my question.”

He slapped his hands against his thighs and blew out a breath.

“Fine. I stole them.”

This time I bypassed the smile and went straight to a laugh. It slipped out and I slapped my hand over my mouth.

“You did what?” I asked between my fingers.

“In hindsight, it may not have been my smartest move,” he admitted. “But I noticed that Lisa and Tim’s neighbor had a flower bed full of them. This morning I saw her leave so I ran across the road,” he shrugged. “I took a few. Actually, I guess I took a lot. She won’t miss them, will she? I mean, there were so many. They grow back, right?”

He eyed up the bouquet I held. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was suddenly overcome with guilt. He was looking at the peonies in my hand like he wanted to take them away from me. So he could bring them back to where they belonged.

I wasn’t going to let that happen.

I held them a little closer to my chest.

“I can’t believe you stole an entire bouquet of peonies for me.” I sighed. “That is seriously the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me.” Not only had he gone to great lengths to get them, but I was touched by the fact that he’d even noticed my adoration for them in the first place.

“You’re not mad?” he hesitantly asked.

“No, why?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seems like I was being cheap. I don’t have a lot of experience with girls. But from what I’ve heard, most girls like big expensive bouquets. Flowers stolen out of a yard don’t really fit into that category.”

“I think that’s a common misconception,” I told him. “I think most girls—well, maybe not most girls around here—but for most girls it really is the thought that counts.

“I’m going to go put these in water,” I told him.

I glanced over my shoulder as I headed to the kitchen.

Eric remained near the door, taking everything in.

My pool house had an airy, open floor plan. The entry led into the living room. The living room and kitchen were simply divided by a breakfast bar. A small dining area was to the other side of the kitchen. To the left was the master bedroom, with my private bathroom. To the right was another bathroom and a spare bedroom.

I pulled a vase out from under the sink. As I filled it with water I stole a glance at Eric.

“You get this whole place to yourself?” His expression was somewhere between awe and confusion.

Eric’s voice must’ve finally awakened Roscoe. He hobbled out of my bedroom, where he had another enormous dog bed. He glanced at our visitor, tail wagging, but Dad had trained him well. He kept his distance, though his curiosity was clearly eating him up.

“And you have a dog,” he said with a grin.

“He’s the reason I have the place to myself,” I explained. “It was a compromise.”

Compromise wasn’t exactly an accurate term. I had flat out refused to leave my grandmother’s house unless I could bring Roscoe with me. Mom had hated the idea of me living in the pool house. It probably ruined her presentation of a perfect family. It was Phillip who had suggested it. Roscoe was too old to be left alone for too long. He wasn’t used to being outside for long periods of time. There really was no other option.

Unless you counted putting him to sleep as an option, which I did not. Mom had suggested it and I’d flat out refused because to me, that wasn’t an option at all.

I knew he was getting up there in age, but I was sure he had a few good years left in him.

“Wow,” Eric said. “That dog is
old
.”

I frowned at him. It was as if he’d read my thoughts. Or maybe not. One look at Roscoe and he was just pointing out the obvious.

“He’s only nine,” I said with a frown. I placed the vase in the center of the breakfast bar and walked over to Roscoe. I crouched down to scratch behind his ears. “He could live to be thirteen.”

Eric made his way over to us, to Roscoe’s delight. When Eric began to scratch between his shoulders blades, Roscoe let out a groan of contentment. “Well, then, here’s to hoping that Roscoe’s got a lot of years left in him.”

When the back-scratching and belly-rubbing commenced, my dog made his way back to the comfort of his doggy bed.

“So,” Eric said, “I don’t know if you noticed but it’s starting to rain. Not bad, or anything, it’s more like a drizzle.” I nodded. “Lisa had mentioned a few things to do around town. But most of them are outdoors. She said there’s an outdoor movie? It’s shown at the old drive-in and you just bring a blanket to sit on…and whatever.”

“Right. That’s only on Friday nights.” I didn’t add that it had been my tentative plan for our non-date.

“We’ll have to try to catch one in the next few weeks,” he said.

I nodded, smiling. I liked the sound of that.

“Anyhow, I don’t know if this is lame, or something you would be interested in, but she has tickets to a play tonight.
Arsenic and Old Lace
? She said it’s a classic. If we want to use the tickets, they’re ours. She’ll just get another set for her and Tim next weekend.” He was looking at me quizzically. “I’ve never been to a play but she insisted I take them. She’s sure we’ll have fun. I guess it’s a comedy.”

He looked so unsure, it was kind of sweet.

“I haven’t been to a play since I was a little kid. I do remember I thought it was pretty awesome. It’s something different. I think it could be fun,” I assured him.

“You’re sure? What if you hate it?”

I laughed. “Then we’ll never go to another play ever again.”

That got a smile out of him.

“Fair enough,” he agreed. “We should go. The play starts at eight. I have a few ideas for dinner but if there’s somewhere you’d like to go, just let me know.”

“I’m open to anything.” Though the date had technically been my idea, I loved that he was completely taking charge of it.

“Even Mexican?”

“Especially Mexican! Let’s get out of here before the welcoming party decides to come greet you. Phillip, Mom, and the twins, I thought for sure one of them would be in here by now.”

He pulled my front door open and motioned for me to step out. “After you,” he said.

*   *   *

He had insisted on picking me up. I’d expected the beat up truck I’d seen him driving around. I wouldn’t have minded it at all. Instead, he showed up in a shiny black car. It was Lisa’s. He said she’d handed him the keys as he was walking out the door and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

I was anxious to meet this lady.

The restaurant that she’d recommended to Eric had a great atmosphere. It was a little chaotic, so unlike the Firelight Grill. I liked that it was a little noisy. In its own way, it was relaxing. There was no fear of speaking too loudly, or of people overhearing your conversation. No one cared if your napkin slipped off your lap and landed on the floor. It didn’t matter if at some point, you slobbered guacamole down your wrist because it slid out of your taco.

By the time the meal was reaching an end Eric and I were chatting like we were old friends.

“So I never would’ve guessed that Mason is like, Harvard bound or something,” Eric said.

“Oh, yeah, he and my best friend Clara are like super smart,” I said.

“It’s funny because he’s invited me over a few times to play video games. I would’ve pegged him as more of a gamer than a guy who spends his days with his nose in a book,” he said.

“Oh, no. That’s the thing. It drives Clara nuts. She studies really hard and for Mason, it just comes easy to him. I think that’s why she’s so determined to keep her class ranking above his. If she doesn’t study all the time, she’d feel like she was just handing the title of valedictorian over to him,” I explained.

“I can’t imagine that. Being that smart without trying.”

I nodded. “I know. I’m not saying he doesn’t study at all, but overall I think it does come pretty easily to him.” I wrinkled up my nose. “I don’t even want to think about school starting.”

He laughed. “Yeah, you and me both.”

“Are you going to keep working once school starts?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll have to find something else.”

That made sense since he was working for a landscaping company. I took another sip of my iced tea and leaned back in the booth. I’d eaten so much, I was slightly uncomfortable. I didn’t regret it, though. The food was delicious.

“Does this cushy job of watching your sisters last all summer?” Eric asked.

“Right up until school starts. Don’t look at me like that,” I said, teasingly when he gave me a smug smile and shook his head. “I know playing nanny is hardly a job. Last summer, though, I worked as a housekeeper at a hotel. So trust me, I’ve had my share of crappy when it comes to jobs. People can be disgusting.”

He laughed. “Until this summer, the only job I’ve had was bagging groceries. Talk about dull. I worked at the same place for three years. My uncle said he’d get me a job at the bar he works at, when I’m older.” He frowned. “Not sure if that will be happening now.”

“Your uncle?” He’d mentioned him before, but only briefly.

“Yeah. I lived with him the last year or so. He’s a bartender. He didn’t get home ‘til two, three in the morning a lot of the time. If he came home at all. That got back to social services and, here I am.”

“They wouldn’t let you stay with him?” I thought it was usually in the best interest to keep a kid with family. But what did I know?

He shrugged. “I’m not so sure he tried all that hard to keep me. To be honest, it was probably a relief for him to see me go.”

“Was this uncle your dad’s brother or your mom’s?”

“Uh…my mom’s. You know what? I should flag down our waitress. I need the tab so we can get going. Wouldn’t want to be late for my first play,” he said. He fidgeted as his eyes scanned the restaurant.

“Nope, wouldn’t want that,” I muttered.

Our waitress came over, gave us our bill and cleared away our plates. Eric insisted on paying, which I felt a little bad about since I’d invited him. The flipside to that was it gave me a reason to ask him out again, so I could pay next time.

Once we were outside, he took my hand and started to lead me toward the parking lot.

“Actually,” I said as I stopped walking, “the playhouse is only about four blocks away. Should we just walk?”

“Let’s do that,” he said. Then he paused. “As long as you know which direction we’re going?”

“This way,” I said as I tugged at his hand. There weren’t many people out at this time on a Saturday night. Most of the stores we walked past were closed for the evening.

“That was really sweet of Lisa to give us her tickets,” I said.

“Yeah, it was,” he agreed.

“Thank her for me, will you?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

“So,” I carefully began, “they’re pretty nice people?”