Page 126 of Fire and Icing

“I thought people were going to have to make do?” I say around a bite of warm biscuit.

“They will. I’m just makin’ enough that I don’t have to hear too much complaining over supper.”

I glance over at Dustin. His eyes are shut and he’s savoring the bite in his mouth.

“Good, huh?” I ask.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten a biscuit like that in my life.”

Gran beams.

Dustin and I finish our biscuits. I only eat half of mine and insist he eat the rest. I could have eaten two whole biscuits, but I was enjoying his reaction too much not to let him have more.

I run upstairs, take a quick shower, put on my makeup and my dress, then I dry and curl my hair. When I come down the stairs, Dustin is sitting in the front room on the sofa. There’s no sign of Gran. She must have left. His eyes land on me and a smile fills his face.

“I love that dress,” he says.

“So you said.”

“You think they make green wedding gowns?” he says as if he's asking about the weather.

“Are you getting married?”

“Not this week.”

“Well then, we have time to figure that out.”

It should freak me out the way he jokes about babies and marriage. He’s constantly saying something about growing old or what we'll do when we’re on our vacation with our kids. I think he’s trying to wear me down. Maybe he’s half serious.

The crazy thing is, I can picture it. When he talks about the future in his casual way, I see it all. And I don’t mind what I see. He’s not in a rush. I know that. I kind of love the fact that he’s thinking about life together for the long haul. He’s definitely not got one foot out the door.

Dustin holds the truck door open for me and then he leans in to place a soft kiss on my cheek.

“You look beautiful tonight, Emberleigh.”

“You look handsome, too.”

“You like it?” He steps back and spins on the sidewalk.

I like it way more than I’m going to say right now.

“I do,” I tell him.

He jogs around to his door and once he’s in, we take off for our tour of Waterford. I take him by the house where I grew up. He sits in the driver’s seat hunched forward so he can get a good look out over the dash at the place that holds half my memories.

Then I take him by the elementary school. He insists on getting out and walking onto the playground so he can push me on the swings. After a few pushes, Dustin gets into the swing next to me. It’s a sight. He’s three times as large as the weight limit, I’m sure.

“You’re going to break this whole swingset!” I squeal through my laughter.

“Nah. I’ve got this.”

He pushes off and swings. The whole frame creaks. I’m dying. I don’t remember a time I’ve laughed so hard as an adult. He propels himself skyward and leaps onto the rubber padding under the swings.

After the elementary school, we drive by the middle school and high school.

“I bet every boy wanted to date you and every girl wanted to be you,” he says.

“You’d lose that bet. Syd and I hung out with our good friends, but we weren’t the popular kids. We liked baking and county fairs. Syd had a thing for rescuing animals. Some of our friends were in musical theater. Some were in sports.”

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