Page 94 of Finding the Pieces

“Great, then come with me. Wait, let me get these off first.” Once we’re both back in our regular shoes, Ellie drags me over to the photo booth, just like all those years ago.

I smile at the memory of the first time we were here together.

“Come on, Momma,” I say, patting my thigh in the tight booth.

She squats, barely resting her body on my leg. Can’t have that.

“Get over here, baby,” I say, pulling her flush against me. She turns to me, a look of surprise on her face, and she wraps her arms around my neck when the first flash goes off. I kiss her before I hear the next click. Then she rests her head in the crook of my neck, before the final photo snaps. We stay like that for a moment and it feels like I’m the same man from years before, in disbelief of the gift in my arms. The perfect, sunny woman in my arms.

I can’t reconcile the two emotions hitting me. It feels like yesterday that I held this incredible woman in my arms, the future unknown but full of possibility and hope. Almost everything has changed, but not the important things.

I reach around Ellie to grab the photo slip from the printer. She takes my hand in hers and I laugh knowing what’s next.

***

“I hope you know none of this embarrasses me. In fact, I love it. I’m going to wear it all the time,” I say, pulling the hem of my T-shirt away from my body so I can once again admire the image of me and Ellie in the photo booth. The picture is massive and spans the full width of the T-shirt with a massive red heart around it.

Fun fact: the roller rink has a T-shirt printer. Years ago, when I took Ellie on this very same date, on my insistence, we had shirts made, screen-printed with a photo of us from the roller-rink photo booth. We wore them to dinner at the same restaurant we’re sitting in now. The small, family-owned restaurant’s Greek food is as incredible as it was years ago.

She rolls her lips, biting them before letting her smile grow. “You know none of this embarrasses me, either, right?”

I roll my eyes. “Please, our friends never let me live down the stories from our first date. Admittedly, it’s a miracle I didn’t scare you off.”

“It was refreshing, actually. To be with a guy who didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. Who lived as big as I wanted to. Who didn’t let nervousness stop him from enjoying himself and making sure everyone around him felt that way too. I don’t think I had ever met anyone who laughed as much as you.”

“That had everything to do with the beautiful woman who let me drag her around a roller rink and then wear my face on her chest the rest of the night.”

“It’s a cute face.”

“Okay, if the shirt didn’t embarrass you…” I say, voice trailing off.

“Neither did this,” she says, standing and reaching a hand out.

I take my hand in hers and join her, standing next to our booth. I lift our joint hands and wrap my other around her waist, pulling her close. She doesn’t hesitate, leaning in to rest her cheek on my chest before we start swaying side to side, slowly circling ourselves in the narrow space between tables.

“Do you remember what you said when I asked you to dance with me?” I ask.

“I have no idea,” she says with a laugh.

“You said we couldn’t because no one else was dancing.”

“Because onlyyouwould insist on dancing mid-meal in a place clearlynotmeant for dancing.”

I shrug, continuing to rock us back and forth in small circles, catching the eye of our waiter, who smiles at us as he walks toward the kitchen.

“Some occasions call for dancing, no matter the circumstances. I didn’t want to go one more minute without you in my arms. I wanted to feel your hand in mine. Your pulse beating alongside mine. Your smile against my neck.”

“How can you tell?”

“I can always tell, Mrs. Moretti.”

“Cocky.”

“Confident.”

She laughs and I hold her tighter against me.

“Does it feel different? Being here with me now?” I ask, curious to know where her head is tonight.

---