“Aw, look at her.” I frown. “She wants to go with us.”
Xander bends and pets her. “Sorry girl, not this time,” he tells her. “We’ll be back soon.”
She looks at us sadly but pads over to her bed and lies down, like she knows exactly what he said.
“We should stop off on our way home and bring her some T-R-E-A-T-S.” I spell out the word, because Prue already knows what that word means, and if I say it out loud she’ll expect one right this second.
Xander smiles and swipes his keys from the kitchen counter. “We should,” he agrees, taking my hand and leading me out through the garage and to the driveway.
He unlocks his truck and opens the passenger door for me. I slip inside and he closes the door, jogging around and sliding into the driver’s seat a second later.
He grins over at me and says, “You know, I never actually thought we’d end up here.”
“Married with a furbaby?” I ask, raising a brow.
He laughs and puts the car in reverse. “Well, that too, but I meant going on a date.”
“Man, we do everything ass backwards.” I laugh and bend down to adjust the strap of my heel.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
When I look over at him, he’s grinning from ear to ear, and I can’t help but smile back. “Yeah, I wouldn’t, either,” I admit.
“You know—” he clears his throat “—I wanted to take you on a date long before this.”
I lean my head against the headrest. “Really? And when was the first time you thought about it?”
He shrugs and keeps his eyes on the road as we exit the neighborhood and head for the highway.
“Come on,” I plead. “Tell me. I won’t be weirded out.”
He wets his lips and glances at me quickly. “I was sixteen and you were thirteen and you were going out for pizza with that weird kid that only wore polo shirts. I have never been so jealous of a dorky-braces-wearing-kid in all my life. I felt like shit for feeling the way I did. You were practically just a kid and I was … not.”
I laugh lightly and glance out the window. “That’s the summer you basically ignored me.”
“Yeah, well, I was afraid I might do something stupid.”
“I wouldn’t have minded, you know? If you’d done something stupid.”
He smiles crookedly. “That so?”
“Hey,” I say defensively, “crushing on your brother’s best friend is nothing new and you’re hot, who could blame me?”
He shakes his head. “So you still think I’m hot?”
“I did marry you.”
“So you married me because you think I’m hot?”
“No, I married you because I wanted to.”
The words slip out so quickly and there’s no way for me to take them back. It’s the first time I’ve admitted the part I played in us getting married, and the fact that I remember more than I originally thought.
He chooses not to mock me for what I said—like I might him in this situation—and instead, reaches for my hand.
We arrive at the restaurant soon after, and I marvel at the niceness of it. I’ve never been here before, and I wasn’t lying when I said I’d be happy with McDonald’s but something tells me this is going to be much better.
Xander pulls up to the front and hops out, handing his key to the valet before turning to grab my door and help me out.