An Innocent Thanksgiving

“I was going to offer to cook dinner for you and Fern,” I told Maggie, “but it seems you already have company.”

“I think that’s an amazing idea,” Jenn said before Maggie could open her mouth. “But there are so many wonderful restaurants in the Nashville area. Did you know it’s really up and coming as a foodie place?”

“Jenn’s work requires her to go out with clients a lot,” Maggie said, as if apologizing for her friend’s behavior. “She’s a music producer.”

“My mom was… well I don’t like to name drop but feel free to use Google if you want.” Jenn winked at me. “I grew up in the music industry.”

“And is a fantastic singer in her own right if…”

“…but I don’t like the limelight I told you I get stage fright…”

This sounded like a fond and well-worn argument between the two. “The point is,” Jenn said as Maggie tried to interject again, “I have to go out and eat in fancy places a lot and I know a lot of excellent restaurants you two could try. And Maggie hasn’t had a night out in years,” she added, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Well that’s a shame,” I said. I could understand why, though, if Maggie was the only caregiver for Fern. And once you had a kid… I couldn’t imagine that the idea of casually dating sounded so appealing anymore. Maggie didn’t seem the type to casually date in general before that, but, you never knew.

But would it really be all right to take Maggie out, without Fern? That sounded like a date and hell yes, I wanted to take her out on a date, but it didn’t seem conducive to proving that I was here to be a good dad to Fern. My focus should be on Fern just as much as Maggie, perhaps even more than. Maggie had made it pretty clear that she didn’t want a relationship with me but there was still a chance that I could have a relationship with Fern, and that was what I should be focusing on.

But Maggie… Maggie wasn’t currently shutting me down or saying that it was a bad idea. She looked… nervous, but she wasn’t pressing her lips together in that way that guaranteed she was annoyed.

Hmm.

Before I could ask Maggie what she thought, Jenn leaned around all of us and yelled out to Fern. “Hey, buttercup, you want to do a slumber party with me tonight? Just the two of us? Get in some good Auntie Jenn time?”

“Yes!” Fern cheered, sounded absolutely delighted. She clearly liked her ‘Auntie Jenn’ and I couldn’t blame her, Jenn seemed like a fun person. And I was glad that Fern had good people in her life who were looking out for her besides just her mom. Maggie shouldn’t have had to go all of this alone, and knowing Jenn was there for her made me breathe a little easier.

“Sounds like it’s settled to me,” Jenn said, folding her arms triumphantly and looking over at Maggie. “I’ll take care of Fern tonight.”

Maggie opened her mouth, then closed it again, her face still flushed. “Sure,” she said at last, shrugging, a little defiant. It was actually kind of adorable and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold in my smile.

Well, if Jenn was determined… I certainly wasn’t going to say no to a night alone with Maggie. “I’ll pick you up around six?” I suggested. That should give me plenty of time to find a good restaurant she’d like and then get ready.

“I’ll be ready,” Maggie replied. She sounded less like we were discussing a date and more like we were going to be undergoing a strategic mission of some kind.

“Great.” I smiled, trying to look reassuring and not giddy. This wasn’t anything like what I’d been expecting when I’d come over, but fuck if I wasn’t going to take advantage of the chance to impress Maggie and sweep her off her feet. All of the years we’d known each other, we had never been in a fancy setting together, never been in a proper romantic, date scenario. This was it, and I wouldn’t waste it. “I’ll see you then.”

If I remembered correctly, Maggie was a fan of burgers and steak. There was this great steakhouse in the heart of the city that seemed to have rave reviews, and since it was only a Tuesday night, not a typical date night, they had a reservation open. Perfect.

I didn’t have a whole lot of suits, just because I didn’t wear anything other than ratty clothes for doing art in—no sense in wearing something nice only for it to get covered in paint—but I did have a couple that I used for art shows and gallery openings, that sort of thing.

For the first damn time in my life, I was nervous about how I looked. I had been a bit of a gangly kid, all too-big hands and feet, but it wasn’t something I’d really thought about. It was just who I was. Then when I’d gotten older and people had started giving me attention, flirting with me, I’d kind of realized, oh, at some point I grew into myself. Great. I accepted that I was good-looking and left it at that.