Page 53 of Revived

“My cousins live far away.”

“I know. But that just means you have to make the memories count when you do get to see each other.”

“Yeah, we make sure to play as much as possible,” Brooklyn chimes in.

“That’s perfect. My cousins and I used to go camping with my grandpa every summer, and we continued that tradition even after I moved away. Those weekends are some of my favorite times to look back on,” she says wistfully.

“I didn’t know that,” I add.

Turning to face me, she tips her head to the side. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“What’s camping? I’ve never been camping. We should go, Daddy!” My son declares, pulling the conversation back to include him.

“Well, we would fish and hike, sleep in a tent, and play in the dirt. But my favorite thing to do was look up at the stars at night through my grandpa’s telescope.”

“What’s a telescope?”

Rachel sweeps her arms out wide in excitement. “It’s like a giant magnifying glass that lets you look far out into space and you can see millions and millions of stars up close.”

“Wow!” His eyes grow wide before he turns to me. “Daddy, can we get a telescope?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “Maybe one day, bud.”

“Awww…” he wines, slinking back into his chair.

“So can you identify any of the constellations?” I ask, trying to learn more about this woman. My family seems to be eating up her story too.

She nods, chewing on a bite of pasta salad. “Yes, quite a few actually. Although it’s been a while. He died when I was sixteen. Gosh, it’s been almost ten years now. Wow.” She looks down at her plate and I can tell she’s getting emotional, so I reach out for her hand, resting mine on top of hers in comfort.

I can feel everyone’s eyes on us, and then I realize that Grayson might be watching as well. As far as he knows though, I’m just comforting Rachel because she’s sad. But internally, all I want to do is hug and kiss her right now.

“That’s amazing, Rachel. I’ve always found outer space to be so fascinating. There’s actually an author I discovered recently who writes stories of women who work at NASA. They are wickedly humorous and steamy. Her name is Sara L. Hudson. You should look her up.” She winks at all of us as her revelation eases some of the tension at the table. A chorus of chuckles breaks out amongst the adults while the children look on dumbfounded.

“My mom is a big romance novel junkie.” I lean over and whisper to Rachel as she grins back at me.

We finish up dinner and leave around eight, past Grayson’s normal bedtime, but it’s in rare instances like these where we get to see family that I bend the routine willingly.

“That was fun,” Rachel says as I plop down next to her on the couch, kicking off my shoes and lifting my feet up on the chase. She snuggles in next to me as I wrap one arm around her.

“It was. My family really likes you.”

“I like them too.”

“You seemed to hit it off with my sister…”

“Oh, gosh! I did! I really love her, Luke,” she exclaims as she sits up. “She’s so sweet and funny, and she gave me great advice about school. She also says she’s friends with one of the elementary teachers at a school in the district and can give me a recommendation when I apply for a job once I’m done.”

Stroking her face with my palm, I can’t help but study her excitement as she speaks. “You’re going to make a fantastic teacher, Rach.”

“Thank you. I can’t wait. School can’t come fast enough. I never thought I’d say that, especially after how long my master’s degree took. But I’m glad I didn’t get my credential in New York, because I’d just have to do this here in Oregon anyway.”

“Yeah, not all of them are transferable, huh?”

She swivels her head. “No. Most states have their own licensing requirements.”

“Well, you’ll be done before you know it, and then Grayson will beg to be in your class.”

Her lips stretch open so fast with those words. “I know. He’s not going to know what to do when I don’t see him every day.”

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