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“You ready?” I look over my shoulder, starting the truck and pulling out of the driveway. I wait until we are on the way before I speak to Colson. “So you know Sofia’s husband, Matty?”
“The hockey player?” he asks me, and I nod. “He’s sick. I watched the highlights this morning, and he did something with the stick and the puck, and you didn’t even see it go into the net,” he gushes over Matty.
“That is him.” I look in the rearview mirror. “Well, his sister came to stay for a couple of weeks, so I invited her to come with us today.” I watch to see if he’s going to have a reaction, but he doesn’t.
“Cool,” he says, totally unfazed by the fact I’m bringing a woman with us, maybe because she’s family, I have no idea. He’s never seen me with a woman before. I vowed I would never introduce him to anyone I didn’t see a future with, which has been no one. Until now, which is a catch-22 since she is leaving in two weeks.
I pull up to the house, and he’s already unbuckled by the time I put the truck in park. I meet him in front of the truck, and he looks up at me with my matching eyes. “Ready?” I ask him as we walk up the steps, and I knock on the door instead of walking in.
The door opens right away, and I’m speechless or breathless or whatever it is that you are when you think you’ve seen the most beautiful woman in the world, but then you look again, and she’s even more beautiful than the last time you saw her. “Hey.” She smiles at us. “I’m ready.” She slips her black vest over her big white knitted sweater before wrapping a long scarf around her neck. She’s wearing another pair of tight black pants, but no high heels this time. Instead, she wears hiking boots.
“Colson,” I say, turning to look at my son, “this is Miss Zara.”
She comes over and holds out her hand for my son. “Colson, it’s so good to meet you.”
“Ma’am,” my ever-polite son replies to her, and she gasps.
“No ma’am needed,” she teases him. “Save that for the older ladies.” She winks at him, making him laugh.
“Go get into the truck.” I squeeze his shoulder. “I’m going to make sure Miss Zara locked all the doors.”
“Got it, Dad.” He runs back to the truck as I step into the house.
“I locked all the doors properly.” She sighs as I step in and move to the side so Colson won’t see me leaning down and kissing her lips.
“Hi,” I say after I have her pushed up against the wall, and she looks at me with hooded eyes. “Did you miss me?”
“No,” she answers, and I know she’s lying, or at least maybe I hope she is.
“You’re cute when you lie,” I tell her, and she pushes me away.
“None of that in front of your son,” she warns. “You will be on your best behavior.”
“Scout’s honor,” I say, holding up my fingers as she walks out of the house in front of me.
“What level did you get to?” she asks over her shoulder, her hair moving side to side at the same time as her hips.
“The first one, and then I quit since it was boring,” I admit. “Besides, when you have a father who served in the military as a Green Beret and takes you on all these cooler trips, it was not my thing.” I smirk when I stop at the passenger door, opening it for her. “But for two days, I was the best Scout there was.”
“I bet you were,” she mumbles as she gets into the truck. “So where are we going?” she asks when I get into the driver’s seat. She looks at me and then in the back at Colson, who is about to tell her, and I hold up my hand.
“It’s a surprise,” I say, winking at Colson, who loves playing surprise games.
“Yeah,” he mimics me, “it’s a surprise, Miss Zara.”
“Okay,” she relents, buckling her seat belt, “but I’m going to need hints and clues.” She goes along with the game. She spends the whole hour ride trying to come up with questions about where we are going, and each time, she is wrong. Colson is so excited that when we get close, he’s about to cave and just tell her where we are going.
I pull into the long driveway that leads to a big red barn, similar to the one near Sofia’s house, but this one is different. “It’s colder here,” Zara observes, looking at me. “There is some snow on the ground.” She points to the side of the path where Christmas trees are lined up, and the twinkle lights are lit even though it’s sunny outside. We pull into an empty parking space, and she looks around. “I still have no idea what we are doing,” she says, looking around. “Are we going hiking?”
“Nope, Miss Zara,” Colson says, almost snickering from the back. I put the truck in park, and he snaps off his seat belt. “When can we tell her, Dad?” he asks me as he leans between us. “Before or after the hot chocolate?”
“Maybe we should tell her before; put her out of her misery.” I look over at Zara who watches the two of us.
Colson turns to look at her. “Are you in misery, Miss Zara?” he asks, concerned.
“I’m almost there,” she admits to him, “but I think I can wait.” She smiles big, making him smile even bigger.
“Then let’s go, Miss Zara,” he urges, opening the back door and jumping out of the truck before opening her door and holding out his hand. She puts her hand in his as they walk to the back of the truck, where I meet them. “Let’s go, Dad.” He pulls her with him, wanting to let her in on the big secret. The sound of Zara laughing along the way to the red barn only stops when she reads the sign on top of the barn and gasps.
