Page 119 of The One I Want
“You’re seriously not going to tell me who you’re going with?”
Well, this gets my attention.
“Where are you going? With who? How have you not told us? Did you already propose to her?”
Oliver shoots me a look. “Vegas. Not telling. Because I haven’t. And no.”
Wes laughs. “I’m sorry, man. It’s just that you always tell us everything. You being secretive is throwing me off balance.”
“It’s no big deal,” Oliver said. “I met someone. She has an extra ticket to Vegas. She invited me to go. That’s it.”
Wes and I look at each other, clearly knowing that’snot it, but silently agreeing to let it go. It’s Oliver’s last day of school. No teacher deserves to be grilled on the last day of school.
“Well, I hope you have fun,” I say, leaning in to give him a hug. “Bring us back a souvenir.”
He smiles. “Will do.”
He and Wes do their man-hug thing before we head back to the car.
“He’s going to propose again, isn’t he?” Wes asks.
I snort. “He’s going to Vegas,” I say. “That man is going to come back married.”
The two of us laugh as we get in the car, all the kids anxiously waiting for us, and their surprise.
“Dad?”
Wes looks back in the rearview at Hank. “Yeah, buddy?”
“Can Markie come over and swim tomorrow?”
I laugh. I was told by Wes, and a few of the moms I’ve become friendly with, that summer break means a lot of snacks, and a lot of requests for activities. I didn’t realize this was going to be starting so soon.
“Probably not, buddy,” he says as he exits the parking lot. “We have Dr. Kelly tomorrow, but maybe the next day.”
He nods and goes back to whatever he was playing on his tablet. It’s a relief that the kids don’t moan and groan when the subject of Dr. Kelly comes up. Because that woman has been a life saver.
After Wes and I talked everything out, I immediately moved in. Was it the best move? Who knows? But we both knew it was inevitable. So, for the second time in less than a year, I packed my stuff and changed my address.
Only this time I’m pretty sure it’s permanent.
The kids were over the moon when I told them that not only did Wes and I make up, but that I was moving in. We knew that was going to be their reaction. What we didn’t know was how they were going to react when we told them that we thought it would be best for all of us to start talking to a family therapist.
Because as Wes and I both realized, not only do we each have some traumas that could be treated, but so do the kids. Cara did a number on them, whether they vocalize it or not. And we don’t want that to carry into their teenage and adult years.
Dr. Kelly has been amazing. Somehow she connects with Magnolia as much as she does with Wes and me.
It also helps that we go to The Joint for dinner after. Food is therapy as much as anything else.
“All right, Emerson, question time,” Wes says. “What are we most excited about this summer?”
“Disney. Definitely Disney.”
“That’s right!” I say, reaching back for a high five. Once I made mention to Wes that we should try to take a vacation, the kids immediately asked to go to Disney World. When I said that I’d never been, there was no further discussion on where we were going. Hank just wanted to make sure that we were also going to Universal to see our favorite wizarding world.
As if he had to ask.
“How about you, Hank?”
