Chapter 26 #2
“Oh, we will,” Vera called out and then whispered something to Bernie that set all three women off in giggles.
“What are they laughing about?” Willa Rose whispered. “They couldn’t have planned to be here at the same time we are, could they? We didn’t even know this was what we were going to do until we were on the road.”
***
Tripp pictured the mistletoe lying on his nightstand and then visualized Bernie doing some kind of secret ritual over it before she hung it on his porch. There was no way that little sprig could pack such good luck without a little extra juju attached to it.
“I wouldn’t put anything past Aunt Bernie,” he replied. “She will do anything to be able to claim that her matchmaking skills got us together.”
“We could have a big, public, fake argument about that hundred-dollar bill in your pocket. I could yell at you and say that our relationship is based on a bet, and none of it is real. Then I could storm out and demand you take me home,” Willa Rose suggested. “That should teach her a lesson.”
“No, ma’am. I’m so excited to be able to spend time with you that I’ll let her have the win. I wouldn’t want to waste a single minute of it on a pretend fight. And don’t you believe for a minute that the feelings I have for you are not real.”
“That may be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said,” she whispered.
“It shouldn’t be, and I promise to do better in the future,” Tripp said.
“What does that mean?” Willa Rose asked.
“I should have told you before now that you look gorgeous tonight, but I was more than a little thunderstruck when you came out of the guest room.”
Before Willa Rose could reply to that, a middle-aged lady rushed up from the other end of the place to the counter and said, “Sorry about that. I was delivering an order to some friends and didn’t see you up here. What can I get y’all?”
Tripp gave her the order and turned to Willa Rose. “Anything else?”
She shook her head, but the teasing and flirting light in her eyes had gone out.
“That will be all,” Tripp answered the woman and ushered Willa Rose to the side room and seated her in a back booth. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, and thank you for the compliment.”
He had heard that same tone from his mother when she and his dad disagreed. He sat down and played the events of the whole evening in his mind. From the time they left the house until the moment he told her that she looked beautiful, things had gone great.
He reached across the table and took her hands in his. “Tell me what’s wrong, because it’s very evident that you are not fine.”
“I want to go home. I feel like there’s a rock in my chest. I shouldn’t have left Nicky.”
“Why?”
“I need to see him, to be sure he’s alright.”
“FaceTime with Ivy. She can let you look at him as often as you need to all evening.” Tripp brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“It’s normal for any parent who leaves a child with a sitter the first time.
I bet your mama felt the same way the first time she left you or Erica.
My dad said that when he and my mother had a date night after Brodie was born and after Knox and I were adopted, she called the sitter every fifteen minutes.
Go ahead and call Ivy. We’ve got plenty of time before our food arrives. ”
She jerked her hand back and shook her head. “I was raised in a different world than you were. I never had a babysitter. Mama took me everywhere with her, and when Daddy was home, we went as a family—even to the grocery store. Please, take me home.”
“Okay,” Tripp said. “But you need to get over this, Willa Rose. If there is going to be an us , we will need time together as a couple. It will get easier each time we go out, I promise.”
“I’m going home even if I have to hitch a ride with Bernie,” she declared.
“I will take you back to Spanish Fort. I’ll go tell the lady to make our order to-go.”
“Don’t talk to me in that tone. I’ll be waiting in the truck.” She stormed out of the Dairy Queen.
The lady behind the counter whipped out a paper bag. “I assume you’ve changed your mind and want this to go.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a forced smile.
“Problems?” Bernie called out.
“We decided to eat in the truck,” he answered and hurried outside before she could ask another question.
He handed off the bag to Willa Rose, set the two milkshakes in the cupholders on the console and started the engine. “You can go ahead and eat on the way.”
“I’ll wait,” she said and stared out the side window the whole way to Spanish Fort.
When he pulled into the driveway to his house, Willa Rose got out of the truck and was on the porch before he could even open his door.
He picked up the bag with the burgers and the now cold fries, and had one milkshake in his left hand and the second now in his right one.
He closed the door with his boot, took two steps toward the house, and dropped the bag and chocolate shake on the ground.
The food survived. One of the milk shakes did not. Chocolate splattered across both the legs of his jeans and his freshly shined boots. So much for a romantic first date.
You aren’t getting any sympathy from me. Brodie’s voice was so clear in his head that he whipped around to see if he had come home from his honeymoon early.
Ivy seemed to appear out of nowhere and picked up the bag of food. “Willa Rose said for you to take me home. What happened? I wasn’t expecting y’all back until ten o’clock.”
“Willa Rose happened,” he answered. “I’ll take that bag and this shake inside and come right back.”
Ivy reached out and took the cup from him. “I think y’all need to take a few minutes to slow your roll. I’ll take this into the house and be right back.”
Tripp grabbed a couple of paper napkins from the glove box and wiped away as much of the mess from his jeans and boots as possible before he got in behind the steering wheel.
“The first fight is a wonderful thing. It’s good that you got it over with early in your relationship,” Ivy said as she got inside the warm truck.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because now you can kiss and make up,” she grinned.
“Romance books teach all of us that you cannot sit down on a blanket under a shade tree and fall in love. If life gave you nothing but rainbows, butterflies, and unicorn farts, how would you know if your relationship would survive something catastrophic? Divorce lawyers make millions on people who never have an argument and can’t survive the relationship when they do.
You need to have your disagreements, make up, and go on with life. ”
“How do you know that?”
“I have a notebook full of stuff from what I read and all the online self-help programs I see and the podcasts I listen to so I can learn how people react in different situations. I have to know what makes them tick if I’m ever going to be a famous romance writer like Mary Jane.”
“Have you ever considered being a psychologist instead of a novelist?” Tripp asked.
“Nope. My heart is set on writing books, and I can’t wait to go to public school for the social experience to help me understand that age group. I plan to start out with young adult romance books and have several ideas already.”
He parked in front of the house. “Think you will ever change your mind?”
Ivy shook her head and got out of the truck. “No way. Thanks for the ride home. Willa Rose already paid me. I told her that she didn’t have to give me anything, but she insisted. Call me if you need me again.”
“Sure thing,” he said and watched her until she was in the house.
But don’t hold your breath, he thought as he put the truck in reverse.