Chapter 20 Des #2
“Salutations!” Kyle bellows louder than he needs to, announcing his arrival. “This must be the mysterious Tanner. The man who finally tamed the wild and crazy bachelor.”
“Nothing is impossible,” Tanner says. He’s classier than me and shakes Kyle’s hand, whereas I want to pounce on this putz.
“This house is so cute.” Kyle takes a look around, the word cute drenched in all kinds of acidity.
He lives on a cul-de-sac in one of those bougie gated communities.
When he had coworkers over for a Memorial Day BBQ one year, he gave tours of his house on the half-hour.
“Probably a rough adjustment from your swanky riverfront condo, Des.”
He pokes me in the rib with his elbow. And again, I resist the urge to put him in a headlock.
Kyle’s family all gets in line as if on cue. “This is my wife Marissa.”
“Stan, a pleasure as always. We need to have a pickleball rematch.” Marissa shakes his hand, then flops her hand in Tanner’s almost like she expects him to kiss it.
“I’m game.” Stan mimics some pickleball moves.
Kyle points to his oldest spawn. “My son Wesley, currently top player on his lacrosse team.”
Wesley steps forward and gives Stan a hardy shake. He looks about Davy’s age, though his hygiene seems much better. “Good to see you again, sir.”
“And my twins Cayleigh and Brynleigh.”
I half-expect these girls to say “Come play with us, Danny.” They look about seven or eight. They take a step forward in unison, doing little to dispel their Shining aura.
“Hi, Mr. Stan.” Also said in unison. They turn to Tanner. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Tanner.”
Fear crosses Tanner’s face. He’s a scaredy cat when it comes to horror movies and possessed doll movies.
“Y-you, too,” my husband says. I squeeze his hand. “My kids are playing in the backyard. Why don’t you join them?”
“We’d love to,” Wesley says. He takes a hand of each of his possessed doll sisters and they nearly skip out the sliding door.
“Don’t worry. They’re gone. They can’t hurt you,” I whisper to Tanner, who stifles a laugh.
Kyle watches his children of the corn with a twinkle in his eye.
“I love ‘em. It goes by in the blink of an eye. But you know all about that, Stan,” Kyle says.
Tanner and I get the adults their cocktails as the pre-dinner chatter flows. Kyle’s already circling like a shark, zeroing in on Tanner and me with predatory interest.
“So…” Kyle sips his drink. “The whirlwind romance. How did you guys meet?”
“High school. I was new and when I joined the hockey team, this player loved pranking me.” Tanner shoots me a wink. “What he didn’t expect was that I could prank back just as good.”
Tanner may seem all sweet, but the man has a dark talent for team pranks. He could be a total savage when he wanted to.
“I wasn’t sure what to make of you at first. Once we got out there on the ice, I thought, this guy’s okay. It’s like he can read my mind. Our passing is so quick and in sync, people think we have a secret language.” A nostalgic feeling pulls at my stomach.
‘“I can tell that about you, Tanner,” Stan says. “It’s always the quiet ones.”
“It’s always the quiet ones what?” he asks.
“It’s just always the quiet ones.” Stan laughs into his drink.
“I second that.” I clink my glass against Stan’s.
“Hockey is a very violent sport,” Marissa says in between cocktail sips.
“Aggressive, not violent,” I say.
“So, are you divorced, Tanner?” Kyle asks as he spreads cheese on a cracker and shoves it into his mouth.
“Widowed.”
I cock an eyebrow at Kyle. That’s what you get for trying to stir shit. He shrugs it off in stride.
“So you’ve been friends for a while. And then you just realized you were meant to be husbands? Romantic,” Kyle says, with no feeling.
“It was,” I reply smoothly, but Tanner cuts in before I can spin corporate-level PR.
“We’ve known each other forever,” Tanner says, his voice steady, easy. “Sometimes, it just takes you a while to see what’s right in front of you.”
I glance at him, startled. There’s a softness in his eyes I didn’t expect—a quiet warmth that feels too genuine, even for this elaborate performance.
“And you…decided marriage was the logical next step?” Kyle probes, fishing for inconsistencies.
“Wasn’t about logic,” Tanner answers, still smiling, hand brushing casually along the small of my back.
“I don’t know. I mean, it’s sweet and all. But you have small children. To suddenly marry…how are they handling it?” Kyle asks in his most concerned voice, the kind politicians use when they talk about wanting to protect the children.
“Our children are doing just fine,” Tanner says, a sheet of ice behind his tight grin. “They’ve known Des since they were born. He held each of them in his arms before they were a week old. He’s always been a part of this family.”
“Lena peed on me. I still won’t let her live it down.” A wistful pang floods through me. I can’t believe those tiny peanuts I once held are running, thinking, talking children. The time really does pass quickly.
“Imagine having twins. I thought I would get buried under dirty diapers,” Marissa says, her voice softer. She’s not trying to compete, but commiserate.
Kyle ignores her and turns back to me. “So none of this felt rushed to you?”
I want to yell at him to shut up already, but Tanner stops me from saying anything.
“I can’t speak for Des, but it’s funny how natural this all felt.
Usually going into a relationship with someone, there’s an adjustment period.
It’s two lives meshing. But we didn’t have that.
Des just fit like Cinderella’s glass slipper when he married me.
For years, we were always friends and that was that.
And then when we started to see each other as more, that also felt weirdly natural.
Like it was something always meant to happen.
” He looks up at me, his eyes the slightest bit wet.
He’s so beautiful I don’t know if I can breathe.
“I know it’s fast and unorthodox, but nothing has ever felt this right.
They say the best decisions are made in the blink of an eye. ”
I take his hand and massage his palm. “I agree.”
Damn. He’s good at this. Too good.
I feel the ground tilt slightly, not because we’re lying, but because suddenly, part of me wishes we weren’t.
I open my mouth to contribute when a bloodcurdling scream from the backyard shatters the evening.