Page 37 of Finding Forever

“The pleasure is all mine. Gina and Mycah have nothing but good things to say about you. And I can’t wait to spoil your Penny rotten tonight.” She lit up with the words she spoke, like it really was her pleasure to extend love to someone her daughter approved of.

“Thank you for agreeing to watch her tonight. Gina has given you my number in case of an emergency, right?”

Malina nodded, but didn’t look worried. “It really isn’t a problem. We’re going to watch a movie and they’ll be asleep in a couple of hours, anyway. You two go out and enjoy yourselves. We’ll be fine here.”

With that, she started shoving us towards the front door and I chuckled at her obvious attempt to send us on our way to our first date without the children.

After saying goodbye to Penny and Mycah, Gina and I slipped out of the door holding hands and walked to the car like two happy teenagers headed to prom. I felt ten feet tall with her on my arm. And I had a good feeling about tonight.

∞∞∞

“Remind me to send your mother a big bouquet,” I told Gina, who was seated across from me at the Japanese restaurant.

We were seated in a private room. We’d left our shoes at the door and were seated on cushions surrounding a low dining room table.

Gina had picked the place earlier this week and any expectations I’d held in my head about a Japanese restaurant had been exceeded from the second we walked in.

“Don’t give that woman another reason to swoon over you,” Gina teased, her eyes rolling heavenward.

On the drive over, she’d pretended to be embarrassed by her mother’s obvious approval of me.

“Aren’t you glad she likes me? Would you prefer it was the other way around?”

“It wouldn’t change how I feel about you,” she admitted, her voice taking on a serious quality. She snapped out of it just as quickly, returning to her light tone, and picked up the bottle of wine.

Gina began pouring in her glass, but then stopped. “I just remembered I never gave you an update on my parents!”

Waiting for her to continue, I easily extracted the wine bottle from her fingers and finished the honors.

“So, you remember last weekend when my dad showed up in town randomly?”

I nod and placed the bottle on the center of our table.

“My parents were acting so weird, and I honestly thought they were having an affair.” She huffed out, folding her arms across her chest as she settled into the story.

I assumed it was an affair, too. Why else wouldn’t he tell his wife about his whereabouts?

“It turns out that my dad had a health scare. He thought he had the Big C and came to see a specialist in Winter Bay while we were out of town. This doctor is supposed to be the best. That’s why he came all this way.” Gina pursed her lips.

I smirked at the show of disapproval, but said nothing.

“He claims he didn’t tell my stepmom because she has a tendency to overreact, but he did a terrible job of covering his tracks, so she freaked out anyway.”

“And your dad? Is he okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” Gina waved her hand in the air. “He’s okay. That’s why he stayed that one day in Winter Bay. He got his good news and then left. My mom went with him because he’s a big baby.”

It was funny to hear her talk about her parents like this. They sounded like great friends despite having not ended up together.

“I’m glad that he’s okay.”

Because Victoria was my ex, it always escaped me that not all divorces were bitter and ended with both partners seeing each other as sworn enemies. Some people were mature. Or so it seemed.

Gina looked at me through narrowed eyes and asked, “How come you never speak aboutyourparents?”

My chest tightened as the old wounds ripped to the surface. Gina was right. I tended to not speak about my parents. Thinking of them hurt too much. I wondered if talking about my parents was proper first date etiquette. But that uncertainty was quickly overcome with the absolute trust that I had in this woman.

“They were on their way to my university graduation when they died in a multi-car accident. There was an oil spill on the highway and…” I stopped, too overcome with the guilt that risen whenever I think about my loving parents. They had been the best in every way. I was sure my eyes were glistening as well. I cleared my throat.

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