Chapter 29 Dex
TWENTY-NINE
dex
On the way home from the reception, the girls talked a mile a minute about everything—getting their hair done, seeing Winnie at the salon, their fancy dresses, the music and dancing, the cake .
. . I was exhausted just hearing about it, but they were hopped up on so much sugar and excitement I worried they’d never fall asleep tonight.
It was already after eleven, and they showed no signs of slowing down.
We’d just gotten in the house when my phone vibrated with an incoming text. I glanced at the screen and saw it was from Winnie. At first the name made me smile.
Then I read her message and panicked. “Shit!”
The girls finally stopped talking and twirling around in their dresses and looked at me. “What’s wrong?” Hallie said.
I made a split-second decision. “Come on, girls. We have to go somewhere.”
“Where?” asked Luna.
“To see Winnie.” I grabbed my keys. “And we have to hurry.”
“Yay!” Both girls cheered as we hustled back into the garage and got in the car.
“Do either of you two know where Winnie’s parents live?” I asked.
“Hmm,” said Hallie. “Somewhere by that horse barn?”
“Maybe they live at the bakery,” Luna suggested.
I pulled over and made a desperate phone call to Chip.
“Hello?”
“Thank God you answered.”
“Dex? You okay?”
“Yes, but I need a favor. I’m really sorry to bother you so late, but I need to know Winnie’s parents’ address.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I have to see her tonight. I promise to explain when I can, but I really need that address.”
“Okay. We’re at Tyler and April’s, so I can ask. Give me a minute and I’ll text it to you.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
The wait seemed endless. Every fiber of my being was radiating with nervous energy. My leg bounced. My thumbs tapped the wheel. My stomach tied itself in knots.
“What’s the big emergency?” asked Hallie.
“I have to tell her I was wrong about something. But she won’t want to talk to me.”
“So how will you get her to listen?” Luna asked.
“Good question.” I looked at them in the back seat. “What would the ogre say to Princess Minnie to get her to forgive him?”
“Well, he has to rescue her cat,” Hallie pointed out. “And to do that he would have to face his fear of heights.”
“Okay, but let’s say he’s ready to do that,” I said impatiently. “Let’s say he’s ready to face his fear, climb the tree, and rescue the cat. What does he tell her?”
Hallie tapped a finger on her lips. “He’d fall to his knees and apologize for being a jerk.
He’d explain that he was only scared before but he’s going to be brave for her—like a knight.
Then he’d rescue the cat and ask for another chance to be her friend.
Because that’s what the ogre really wants—a friend. ”
“Girls,” I said. “I have to tell you something serious.”
“Is it that you’re in love with Winnie?” Hallie asked. “Because we already know that.”
I stared at them in disbelief. “You do?”
“Yes, we made it happen,” said Luna triumphantly. “With our noses.”
“What?”
“Winnie taught us how to cast magic spells,” Hallie explained.
“It worked for the cat.” Luna shrugged. “So we figured it might work on you guys. Although we weren’t supposed to say anything about it. Even Winnie doesn’t know.” She turned to Hallie. “Do you think we messed it up? What if it only worked on Daddy and not Winnie?”
Hallie shook her head. “We did it the same way for both. She has to love him.”
I was still staring at them in disbelief when my phone lit up with a text from Chip. “So you’re okay with it?”
“Duh,” Hallie said. “We love Winnie. And she makes you less grumpy.” Then she turned to Luna. “But I think we might need to cast another spell to get her to move back here.”
“I might be able to help with that.” I glanced at the address on my screen, typed it into my GPS, and hit the gas. “I’m at least going to try.”
The MacAllisters lived on a narrow side street lined with two-story brick homes and shallow front lawns. When I pulled up in their driveway, the house was dark. I took out my phone, praying she was still awake—I didn’t want to ring the doorbell, but I would.
“There aren’t any lights on, Daddy.” Luna sounded worried. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m texting her to see if she’ll come out.”
Winnie, I need to talk to you. Please.
Nothing.
I have things I need to say to you,
and I don’t want to do it over text.
Silence.
I’m parked outside your parents’ house,
and if you don’t answer, I’m going to
knock on the door and wake everyone up.
Do NOT do that.
Adrenaline surged—she was awake!
Then come out and talk to me.
I don’t want to see you, Dex.
That only makes it worse.
Give me a chance, Winnie. One chance.
Hear me out.
If I give you a chance,
you could hurt me again.
Then open your window, because I have something to say to you and
I can’t hold it in any longer.
Fueled by love and the fear of losing her, I jumped out from behind the wheel and ran onto the MacAllisters’ front lawn. Behind me, I heard the girls getting out of the car too. I glanced over my shoulder and saw them huddled against the passenger door, watching with rapt attention.
“Stay there,” I told them. Clinging to each other, they nodded.
“This is so exciting,” Luna said.
“I know,” Hallie agreed. “It’s even better than Mom’s wedding.”
Standing in the cone of light thrown by a streetlamp, I looked up at the dark second-story windows in front of me. None of them had opened, but I decided to go for it.
Forming a megaphone with my hands, I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“I love you, Winnie MacAllister! I love you, and I’m sorry I didn’t say it before!
I was stupid and scared. But nothing is right without you, and if I don’t try to get you back, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
” Remembering Hallie’s advice for the ogre, I dropped to my knees on the grass. “Please give me another chance!”
Breathing hard, I waited for a light to come on, a door to open, a sign that she still loved me . . . but the house remained dark and silent.
Crickets chirped.
I glanced over at the girls, who seemed just as distraught as I was. They looked at each other, and then back at me.
That’s when I heard a feminine voice come out of the darkness behind me. “Hey Winnie? Yeah, it’s Audrey. There’s some guy across the street yelling at the Wilsons’ house, but I think he’s talking to you.”
Oh, fuck.
Horrified, I spun around on my knees. A teenage couple stood under a front porch light at a home across the street. The girl was talking into her phone.
“Dude,” the guy called out. “I think you’re at the wrong house.”
Fuck. Me.
Behind the couple, the front door opened and a barrel-chested man came storming out the front door wearing jeans, a USMC sweatshirt, and a scowl. “What’s going on out here? Who’s shouting?”
“That guy over there is telling Winnie that he’s sorry and he loves her, but he’s at the wrong house,” said the girl. “I feel really bad for him.”
“What?” The man’s chest puffed out further and he squinted in my direction.
Then Winnie’s mom appeared on the porch, pulling a cardigan around her. “Is everything okay?”
No. Everything was not okay.
“Who is that guy?” her dad asked, and by his tone I could tell what he meant was, Who is that fucking idiot?
“Is it Dex?” Frannie leaned forward and squinted. “Is that you, Dex?”
“Yeah. It’s me.” I’d never wanted a sinkhole to open up and swallow me as badly as I did at that moment. If my kids hadn’t been there, I might have taken off on foot.
Just then, a car pulled into their driveway, and my stomach lurched when Winnie jumped out of the passenger side. Her friend Ellie got out of the driver’s side and looked back and forth between Winnie and me. “Holy shit,” she said.
“Dex?” Winnie started walking down the drive and stopped at the sidewalk, gaping at me kneeling in the spotlight from the streetlamp above. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Hi, Winnie!” Hallie and Luna started jumping up and down and waving like mad. “Hi!”
And then, because apparently there wasn’t a big enough audience, another car pulled up in front of the MacAllisters’ house, and a second teenage girl jumped out. “Bye!” she yelled, waving as the car drove off. Then she noticed everyone outside. “Oh, crap. Did I miss curfew or something?”
“No,” the first teenage girl said, hopping down from the porch.
“Omigod, Emmeline, this is amazing. Kyle was just leaving when this man pulled up, jumped out of his car, and starts shouting to Winnie that he loves her and he wants another chance—but he was yelling at the Wilsons’ house, not ours.
Not that it mattered, because she wasn’t even here. ”
“Audrey, be quiet!” Winnie put her hands on her head. “Dex. What is this? Why are you on your knees?”
“We told him to do that!” Hallie shouted proudly. “Because that’s what the ogre would do!”
“He was begging you for another chance, Win,” Audrey said eagerly. “Are you going to give it to him?”
“Audrey, enough.” Frannie put a hand over Audrey’s mouth from behind. But nobody else moved.
Reluctantly, I got to my feet, took both girls by the hand, and crossed the street. When we reached the sidewalk, I told them to stay put and moved closer to where Winnie stood frozen at the end of the driveway.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “This was supposed to be a big romantic gesture, but it turned into a demonstration of public humiliation.”
“Oh my God.” She wrapped one arm around her middle, bringing the other hand to her mouth.
“But I guess I’m too far in to turn back now, and you know what?” I shook my head. “I don’t want to.”
“Because he loves you,” Luna said from behind me. “Daddy, you have to say that part again, because she didn’t hear you.”
“Because I love you,” I repeated, looking her right in the eye. “I know I’m too old for you, and you could have anyone you wanted—someone with a bigger bank account, someone younger and smarter, someone with way less baggage.”
“Someone less hairy,” said Hallie.