Page 100 of If This Was a Movie

I move closer to the window, tentatively, before looking down at the sidewalk below, my Nate standing on the sidewalk.His truck is double-parked in front of some other car like he couldn’t waste the time to move around back and park in my little lot. Sophie is beside him waving both arms. Both have identical wide smiles on their faces.

Lifting the window, I stick my head out and shout,” What are you doing here?”

“Come down!” Nate yells.

“Yeah! Come down!” Sophie concurs.

“Why–”

“Just do it, Jules. Please.” There’s something white on the ground, stacked next to his feet among the piles of snow from the storm, and Sophie is jumping up and down, clearly overexcited. No matter what, I need to go downstairs to hug my girl and kiss my man, and maybe tell him I made a mistake and want to go home with him.

Three nights a week, my ass.

Nate is mine, and I’m his. We’ve already covered that, but the reality is Sophie is mine too. The way she snuck into my heart and stole it is obvious. I want to be in their family, I want to be Nate’s, and I want to be whatever version of a mother figure Sophie is comfortable with me being. I always knew I wanted kids one day, and Sophie is everything and more that I’ve dreamed of.

I don’t even bother to close the door to my place as I slip on a pair of slippers, running down the flights of stairs to get to my front door. I’m panting when I finally get there, swinging the door open to see Nate on my doorstep, with what I think is a boom box in hand.

“Where did you get that?” I ask as he lifts what looks like an ancient artifact, and he smiles somehow wider, beginning to look like it might crack his face in half.

“My mom has everything. You should see my old room, it’s just piles of junk,” he says. “But shush.”

“Shush?” I ask, my head moving back.

He puts a finger to his lips, then hits play on the machine before setting it down, the sound of Christmas caroling coming through the shitty speakers. My confusion goes up a notch, but while I’m looking at the boom box, trying to decode what’s happening, Sophie grabs what I now see are large white cards and hands them to her dad.

Nate holds them high and proud.

You cry at that movie even though it’s creepy

The first card reads in bold black, familiar writing that isn’t neat. Instead, it’s sprawled there like he was eager to get it done, like he was in a rush to get…here?

That card drops, and I read the next one.

This is how it’s done, Jules, if you really want to win the girl over.

My mind is still racing, trying to put together pieces that are somehow familiar, but in the chaos and overwhelm, I can’t seem to identify what’s happening.

But then I read the next one.

You are perfect.

Love Actually, the scene with Kiera Knightly that Nate said was a little creepy and weird.

What’s more romantic, this or meeting your dream girl in a bar on New Year’s?

The card drops, and I read the next.

Not just to me, but to everyone you meet. It drops a few moments later.

“You’re funny and kind and independent in a way I hope Sophie can learn from you.” My lower lip starts to tremble as I read it, my eyes shifting to the little girl who is jumping up and down still, her excitement palpable.

I knew from the beginning you were meant to be mine. My first mistake was not chasing you.

The first tear drops, and I move to look at Nate, who shakes his head and nods, the card dropping and showing the next, like he knew what would happen.

You’re such a crybaby.

“You’re the worst.” I sniffle as he drops that card, revealing the next. Absent-mindedly, I hope none of them drop into the snow and get damaged because I want to keep them forever.

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