Second Chance Baby

I turned around and saw Frank walk in. His eyes were angry, and they immediately locked on Mason. He stalked toward the bar and slammed both hands down on top of it.

“Do you have anything else to say to me?” he asked. “The night’s young. There aren’t many people here yet. Nobody will miss you—come on outside with me and we’ll settle this once and for all.”

I braced myself. Now would be the moment when primal Mason would return and I would have to deal with that nonsense again. He stood there staring at Frank for a few seconds, then turned and walked away from the bar.

“You’re just going to walk away?” Frank demanded. “You’re just going to punk out like that? How about that, Ava? That’s the kind of guy you get into bed with? Why don’t you call out for the night? Come home with me and I’ll make you forget all about him.”

I didn’t even give him another look. I followed after Mason and found him standing at the edge of the back parking lot. He turned toward me and looked like he was about to say something, but I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

“I’m proud of you,” I said.

“Really?” he asked.

“I am. And I also think we might just have to ban Frank.”

“You’re not going to get any argument from me on that one,” Mason said.28Mason“I don’t know, Jesse. Sushi Night doesn’t sound like that good of an idea,” Matt said as I walked into the bar.

He and Ava were sitting at their usual places, looking down at plates in front of them. Jesse stood on the other side of the bar, looking at both of them with expectation.

“I think it sounds delicious,” Ava said. “I love sushi.”

“Yeah,” Matt said. “But sushi made by people who know what they’re doing. I mean, you realize the people who make this stuff have to, like, go to school for it. It takes them something like years to learn how to make rice.”

Jesse swiped the plate away from him and stomped back into the kitchen. I laughed and shook my head. Taking Ava’s hand, I helped her down off the stool.

“Come on,” I said.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“We are taking the night off.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we are taking the night off,” I repeated. “You and me. I have plans.”

“Do they involve puffer fish?” Matt asked.

He had turned his attention to the plate in front of Ava and was poking the sushi.

“No, it does not involve pufferfish,” I said.

“Very mysterious,” Ava said. “Just give me a minute. I promised Jesse I would try these things for him.”

She tasted each of the bits of food arranged on the plate and gave my brother her evaluation. By the time we were walking out of the bar, I was certain sushi night was not going to be on the list of our themes coming up. Ava seemed to enjoy most of the offerings, but nobody else was enthralled by them. In fact, I didn’t see anybody else even willing to taste them.

We got out to the car, and Ava turned to me with a curious look in her eyes.

“Okay, now are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “You’ve never just come in and declared that we were going to take the night off before.”

“No,” I said, turning the key in the ignition and smiling at her as I pulled out of the parking spot. “I also haven’t come to celebrate a month of being back together with you before.”

“A month?” Ava asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s been a month since we reconnected after the whole Tom incident. Can you believe it?”

“No,” she said. “Time really is going by fast.” She sat silently for a few seconds, then turned to me. “Wait, why didn’t we celebrate a month back together the first time we got back together?”

I laughed. “An oversight. But I’m not having any more of those. Like you said, this is real. And it deserves a celebration. So, we’re going to go out to dinner, just the two of us. No rushing so that we can get to the bar. No worrying about anybody else. Just us enjoying some time together.”

“Now that sounds amazing,” she said.

I brought her to one of my favorite restaurants in town. It was a place that didn’t exist before she left, so we didn’t have any memories of it. That felt appropriate in a way. Like we were starting fresh. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere was romantic. When we were done, I didn’t want the evening to end. I wanted to linger in the feeling of celebrating and enjoying being together.

“How about a walk along the beach?” I asked as we walked out of the restaurant. “It’s not far from here.”