Page 76 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

She grabbed them and took a big whiff of them. “Thank you. They’re lovely.” Then she turned and extended them out to Arden. “Uh, dad, do you think you could put these in water for me? There are vases under the sink in the kitchen.”

“I suppose I could do that,” Arden said, then looked at Tristan. “I guess I’ll ask you about my intentions later.”

“You already know my intentions. You were there when I said them,” I replied.

Arden guffawed at me, but walked away nonetheless, taking the flowers with her. Aria stepped closer to me, and I leaned in. It wasn’t until halfway through the action that I realized she was probably just coming closer so we could walk back out the front door, but she didn’t pull back and my lips set gently on top of hers.

She grinned as I pulled back. “Getting the awkward kiss out of the way, I guess.”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

She nodded. “More than.” She looked back over her shoulder and muttered, “Wait for it,” then as soon as she heard water running, called out, “Dad! We’re leaving!”

“Not fair!” Arden called back. “You wait for me!”

“Go,” Aria said, pushing me towards the door.

I opened the front door and stepped aside so that Aria could walk out first, then we left, closing the door behind us. I held the passenger’s side door open so Aria could climb in, then got into the driver’s seat myself.

“What was that?” I asked. “The whole dad thing?”

“She’s actually been at my house since Thursday. She has trouble with her extended family because they’re hyper-religious and she’s gay, so she spent Thanksgiving with us. My mom had to work today and couldn’t be here to send me off, and I had disclosed to her that I was sad my dad couldn’t be here to meet you, so… Arden became my dad.”

“Oddly that makes sense,” I said. “That sucks about her family though.”

“It really does. I don’t think my mom would care if I dated a garden gnome so long as they treated me right. I can’t imagine being outcast like that.” As we pulled away from the curb, I took a risk and lifted Aria’s hand to my lips and kissed the back of it, then kept it gripped firmly in mine. An adorable blush rose to her cheeks and she looked away to keep me from seeing. “So. Where to today?”

“I’ve got a few things planned that I think you’ll like,” I replied. “It’s a surprise.”

The silence that fell over the car then was perfectly comfortable. We didn’t feel the need to fill it, and I just enjoyed seeing Aria out of the corner of my eye and feeling her hand in mine. We were really here. It was really happening.

Finally, we pulled up outside of our first destination and I walked over to her side of the car and opened her door. She stepped out and snuck a kiss in, which surprised me at first, but then sent me shooting to cloud nine. I laced her hand into mine and walked her into the building we’d parked at and when we got inside, her jaw dropped.

“Oh my god.” Dogs were running around in different rooms, and several families were walking around, petting and playing with the supply of animals. “A shelter!”

“Once a month they bring all the dogs out like this to try and get more of them adopted and raise money.” I pulled out the check for five hundred bucks that I’d coaxed out of my dad and dropped it into the donation bucket on the way in, and then Aria and I started our rounds.

We had a blast walking in and out of the different rooms and getting our fill of all of the dogs. One of the rooms in particular was just puppies, and Aria just sat on the floor and let them pile on her like a swarm of bugs, albeit the cutest, fluffiest ones around. I couldn’t help myself and took a series of pictures of her with the adorable animals. As cute as they were, they had nothing on the look of pure bliss on her face as she was overtaken.

Closer to the back of the shelter was where all the birds were stored, where I learned that Aria had a way with all animals, and where she learned that I had a slight fear of birds. She had a little too much fun letting the animals perch on her and watching me squirm as they perched on me. Then we snuggled some kittens on our way out, which nearly resulted in me adopting one because I’d found a little, fluffy white one that wouldn’t leave me alone.

“I might be back,” I told the shelter worker.

After playing with animals until we were covered in fur, I drove us not far to a boardwalk that overlooked a man-made lake, and we got froyo and walked and talked while the sun set. For the fact that I was actually afraid Aria and I may have trouble filling the void, there was no shortage of things for us to talk about. We spent a good amount of time catching one another up on what had happened in the time we were apart, then shifted to the many things we had in common. When my phone went off, the alarm reminder I’d set for thirty minutes before our dinner reservation, I couldn't believe so much time had passed.

On the other side of the lake we were walking around was a really nice dinner place simply called “Y.” Because of its closeness to the boardwalk and the beach, it didn’t have a dress code, but still had a romantic atmosphere. I’d made sure to reserve a table near the windows where we could continue to watch the sunset.

Aria’s phone buzzed in the middle of dinner, and she apologized, recognizing the specific ringtone as belonging to her mother and brought it up to her head. “Hey mama.” I set my head on my hands and enjoyed the perfect vision of her against the setting sun behind her. It was the kind of beauty one should have to pay to see. I still couldn’t believe I was actually out with her. “Okay, no problem. I’m out with Tristan now, but I’ll be home after that.” She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Arden is still there. She wants to gab about the date, so I’ll send her home after that. Okay. Don’t work too hard. Love ya. Bye.”

“Mom’s working late?” I said.

“Yeah,” Aria said, “but I lied. Arden already went home.”

Her eyes locked into mine and my heart slammed so hard in my chest I was shocked it didn’t cave in. “Oh. That is wonderful news. Can’t wait to see what we’ll do with this fortune.” Aria laughed at first, but then her eyes glossed over and her smile faded a little. “What’s wrong?” Was she not attempting to be spicy, so my spice applied unwanted pressure? “Uh, we don’t… If you don’t…”

“Oh, no,” Aria said. “Sorry, my mind was on something else.”

“Oh, good,” I replied, though I was still a little nervous.

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