Chapter 22
Opening Up
Andi
It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The bright sun was already beating down and temperatures were expected to climb into record highs.
I was glad we chose to spend the day inside, but I was freaking out at the same time.
Standing outside the Children's Museum, my niece Sammy was bouncing on her toes beside me, twirling and barely holding her energy in.
"Is she here yet? Is she here?" Sammy craned her neck, scanning the sidewalk for the hundredth time.
"Not yet. They'll be here." I checked my phone. I'd been so anxious that we ended up coming early.
"What are their names again? I don’t want to get them wrong," Sammy asked, tugging on my hand.
"My friend Gavin and his daughter Charisse."
"Oh. Yeah. Duh." She fidgeted and looked up at me. "Daddy said Gavin is your boyfriend and that he's going to meet him soon. How come you called him your friend?" Sammy asked with the directness only children possessed.
"Um." Lord, am I sweating? "Boyfriend has the word friend in it, right?"
"Yeah."
"And Gavin's a boy. So when I say he's my friend, it's like the same thing."
"Um—no, it's not Aunt Andi. I'm eight, not dumb." I bit back a smile, watching her little face scrunch up with indignation. Too smart for her own good, this one.
"Alright, kid, let's move on, yeah?"
"Fiiiiine. So, is Charisse going to be my cousin?"
"Sammy, what's with the interrogation? Are you trying to get into the CIA? Let's just have fun today and worry about all the other stuff another day, yeah?" I laughed awkwardly.
"What if she doesn't like me?"
I looked down at Sammy, who was bouncing on her toes, tongue poking through the gap where her front tooth used to be.
Her wild curls caught the sunlight as she fidgeted.
Tommy's only daughter, sandwiched between two rowdy brothers at home, she rarely got to just be a girl with other girls outside of school.
The way her eyes lit up at the prospect of meeting Charisse made my heart squeeze.
"She's going to love you. How could she not? "
"I don't know. What if she thinks I'm annoying?"
"Then she'd be wrong." I squeezed her shoulder. "Just be yourself, okay? That's always enough."
Sammy nodded, but I could see the nerves written all over her face. Which was fair, because I was pretty sure my face looked exactly the same. Meeting Charisse as Gavin’s girlfriend — not just someone who hovered at the edges of her life. My stomach twisted.
"Are you nervous?" Sammy asked, reading my mind like kids always could.
"A little bit."
"Why? You've met her before."
"Yeah, but this is different." I smoothed down my shirt for the third time. "Before, I was just... around. Now I guess I'm someone important in her dad's life. That matters."
"Does she know you're his girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Her dad told her."
"And she said it was okay?"
"She did."
Sammy considered this. "Then it'll be fine. Kids always know when grown-ups are lying. If she said okay, she probably means it."
I laughed despite my nerves. "When did you get so wise?"
"I've always been wise. Mom says I'm like a ninja, quietly brilliant.
" My sister-in-law, Rachel, had the right of it with this kid.
Sammy had the kind of magic you wanted to bottle and save for a rainy day.
I bent down and planted a kiss on her curls, wrapping her in a hug that made her giggle.
"Love you, squirt," I whispered, and she squeezed me back with those little arms that somehow held the strength of a tiny superhero.
Two figures rounded the corner of the block. Gavin and Charisse. My heart did that stupid fluttering thing it always did when I saw him.
They walked toward us, Charisse skipping a little ahead—skinny legs in jean shorts, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a Red Sox t-shirt that was probably her dad's at some point.
"That's her!" Sammy whispered, suddenly shy.
Gavin met my eyes as they approached. He smiled—that soft, private smile that made me feel like we were the only two people on the sidewalk.
Then Charisse was in front of us, looking between me and Sammy with open curiosity.
"Hi, Andi," she said.
"Hey, Charisse. This is my niece, Sammy. Sammy, this is Charisse."
The girls stared at each other for approximately two seconds before Sammy blurted out, "I lost my front tooth yesterday. Want to see?"
Charisse's eyes went wide. "Yeah!"
Sammy displayed her gap proudly. "I got ten dollars from the tooth fairy. How much did you get for yours?"
"Five, I think."
"Wow. Inflation, probably." Sammy said it so seriously that I had to cover my laugh with a cough. Where the hell had she heard that from?
And just like that, they were off, leaving us to follow. Sammy was loudly explaining the cool factor of tooth fairies, and both of them talking over each other about which teeth were the best and most expensive.
Gavin fell into step beside me. "That was fast."
"Kids are easy. It's the adults who make everything complicated."
He reached for my hand, and I let him take it. "You doing okay?"
"Nervous."
"You? Nervous?" He squeezed my fingers. "It would be a crazy day where you didn't shine. Why are you nervous?"
"Gavin. Meeting Charisse like this matters." I looked at him. "What she thinks of me matters."
His expression softened. "She already likes you. She told me this morning she was excited to see you again."
"Way different to meet as your dad's girlfriend than someone you know in passing."
He stopped walking, turning to face me. The girls were already at the entrance, and while still within reach, I found myself keeping them in my periphery. "Charisse knows you're important to me. And she wants me to be happy. So she's going to give you a chance. That's all you need."
I took a breath. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay. Let's do this."
Inside, the museum was controlled chaos—kids everywhere, parents chasing after them, the sound of laughter and occasional crying echoing off the walls. Charisse and Sammy immediately pulled us toward the bubble exhibit.
"Can we go there?" Charisse asked, tugging on Gavin's sleeve.
"Sure. You girls stay together, okay?"
"We will!" They took off running.
I watched them go, these two kids who'd just met but were already acting like best friends.
"See?" Gavin said. "Easy."
We followed at a distance, staying close enough to keep an eye on them but far enough to let them have space.
At the bubble station, Sammy created a massive bubble, then immediately popped it. "Science!" she announced.
Charisse laughed. "That's not science."
Sammy waved her arms with authority. "Everything's science if you're condiment enough about it. You know, when you're super sure."
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. "The word is confident, sweetie."
She nodded emphatically. "Yeah! That's what I said!" I turned away, pressing my lips together to suppress a laugh. This kid—she was something else entirely.
They took turns with the giant wands, Charisse showing Sammy how to make smaller bubbles last longer, Sammy trying to make one big enough to fit inside.
"She's good with other kids," Gavin observed.
"Sammy or Charisse?"
"Both, I guess!" he leaned against the wall beside me. "But I was talking about Charisse. She's usually more reserved with new people."
"Sammy has that effect. She makes everyone feel comfortable."
I caught Sammy looking over at me, then whispering something to Charisse. Both girls giggled.
"Your boyfriend is looking at you like my dad looks at pizza," Sammy announced loudly enough that Gavin definitely heard.
"Sammy!"
"What? It's true. He's got the same face. Super focused."
Gavin's laugh came with a flush of red at the tips of his ears.
I watched Charisse watching us, her eyes taking everything in.
But instead of the annoyance I'd feared, her lips kept curling upward at the corners.
The knot in my stomach began to unravel, tension seeping out of my shoulders with each giggle the girls shared.
We moved on to the construction exhibit. The girls immediately started building something together—Charisse directing, Sammy executing.
"We should use three supports, not two," Charisse said.
"But two looks cooler," Sammy countered.
"Cool doesn't matter if it falls over. Function over fashion. That's what my dad says."
"Your dad builds houses?"
"Not houses. Like bigger stuff, but he says smart stuff sometimes, too, so I’m sure he could do houses."
"My mom asked if I wanted to bring you to Sunday dinner," I said to Gavin, not looking at him.
Gavin went still. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I told her, maybe. That I'd ask you."
"This weekend?"
"Yeah. If you want. Charisse is invited too." I finally looked at him. "Fair warning—it's going to be loud. And chaotic. And my brothers will probably try to interrogate you."
"Sounds perfect."
I blinked. "Really?"
"Really." He turned to face me fully. "Andi, I want to meet your family. I want Charisse to meet them. I want to stop keeping us separate."
"It's a lot of people at once."
"I can handle it."
"My dad's going to ask you about your intentions."
"Then I'll tell him my intentions are to make his daughter happy for as long as she'll let me."
My chest felt tight. "Okay. Sunday dinner it is."
"Dad!" Charisse called from across the exhibit. "Come look at what we made!"
We headed over to find an elaborate structure made of blocks and PVC pipes and what looked like a small pulley system.
"What is it?" Gavin asked.
"A marble run!" Sammy's words tumbled out. "Charisse designed it and I helped build it, and that lady—" she pointed over to one of the workers assigned to the exhibit, "helped us pick stuff and we had to make the bottom part bigger so it wouldn't fall over and—"
"Whoa there, speedster," I said gently. "Save some oxygen for the rest of us."
"Can we test it?" Charisse asked, laughing and just as excited as Sammy for this.
"Absolutely."