“Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without your help, though. Both of you.” I watched a smile appear on Anna’s face, one that I knew was mirrored on my face as well.
I loved how perfect this moment felt. Having dinner with both Margie and Anna felt right. It was comfortable and fun, exactly the way it should be.
“Will you eat here a lot?” Margie asked.
Anna laughed and looked at me.
“We would love to have you over more often if you wanted to do that,” I said.
“I would love to eat dinner with you guys again.”
I had not told Margie about meeting Anna’s parents quite yet. I wasn’t sure how to introduce the idea of that to her. I was planning to tell her in a couple days. I figured that would allow her time to adjust to meeting Anna before I brought up the idea of meeting even more people.
I loved how Anna had made sure Margie was comfortable with her. I made a mental note to ask her about the story she told Margie from when she was little.
Chapter Ten
Anna
The night had been absolutely amazing. Dinner was delicious, and I was so happy that they included me in making it. I never had that much fun cooking before, and Justin’s meatballs were to die for. I thought of asking him for the recipe, but I wondered if it was a secret family recipe or something. That could be a discussion for another day, though.
I went with Justin and Margie into her room for story time before she went to bed. She picked out The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
“It’s my favorite,” she told me.
“Wow,” I said with excitement. “That’s crazy.”
“Why?” she asked.
“This was my very favorite book when I was little. In fact, if you don’t tell anyone, it’s still my favorite book,” I gave her a small wink and watched her eyes light up.
“It’s my dad’s favorite book, too!” she said.
I looked at Justin, who was smiling at both of us.
He started reading to her and getting her nestled into her bed. I was studying them. I couldn’t help it. I loved how they interacted with each other, and I could tell his daughter was his entire world. It made my heart melt. He kissed her goodbye, and she asked a few questions about the boogeyman. I figured it was just normal kid stuff. I remembered being afraid of the dark as a child. He gave her a few extra kisses and hugs, and she even asked for a hug from me. I was honored, and I bent down to wrap my arms around her.
When Margie was asleep, which wasn’t much longer after story time, I followed Justin back into the kitchen area.
“Do you want some help cleaning up?” I offered.
“Sure, that would be nice,” he said.
I helped him gather the plates and put them in the sink where he began to rinse them off and hand them to me to put in the dishwasher. We fell into an easy rhythm with him rinsing and me loading.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?” he asked as he handed me a red bowl.
“For inviting me to dinner and for letting me spend time with Margie,” I said.
“No, thank you,” he said.
I gave him a confused look. “For what? You’re the one that did most of the cooking.”
He laughed. “For spending time with Margie. It really meant a lot to me that you spent that kind of time with her. She laughed a lot. I can tell she likes you.”
I smiled. I was happy to hear that. I had been so nervous before I got there because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it seemed like we all really clicked. Even cooking and cleaning up with Justin was easy. We were working so well together. He would hand me a rinsed dish, and I would put it in the dishwasher in total sync. We were effortless.