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“No, but those look easier to park and roomy.”
“Okay, so there are the hamster cars and then there are the toaster cars.” I explain as I pull up their websites. “They’re relatively the same size, the Scion one is the toaster and it’s roomier. Both cars are also not too expensive.”
“The hamster cars look too small, I think I like the toaster. What about a RAV?” She asks.
“Those are good vehicles, more on the SUV side.”
“I like those. Can we build one, that’s my favorite part of these websites?” She looks like a child excited for Santa.
She begins building her car and by the end of it, she’s fully satisfied and sighs.
“My perfect car.” She leans back.
“I would agree, except the color. You don’t want red, that color of car probably gets pulled over more than other colors.”
“But I like red, plus when peanut is older she might think it’s a fire truck.”
“Except it’s clearly not.” I deadpan.
We go back and forth joking and building different cars and enjoying each other’s company for a few hours, when I notice that it’s time to meet the guys for lunch.
Tatum and I walk hand in hand to the parking lot, we stop in front of my black Audi, and I open her door for her. I quickly round the car and am sliding into my seat within a minute and start the engine.
“We’re meeting at a sushi place, but they have a regular menu too.” He says as we pulled up.
“I’m nervous.” She admits.
“Don’t be. I’ll be with you and you already know Leo, just think of Mike as my friend not someone who looks out for my general well-being.” I try to assure her. She smiles and nods and I place my hand on the small of her back to lead her to the doors.
We approach Mike and Leo, with both of them standing once they see Tatum with me. Leo is first to greet her, he gives her a hug, says something in her ear and then releases her with a smile. She seems to have melted off the remainder of her anxiety, for which I mouth thank you to Leo as we shake hands. Mike is assessing Tatum quietly, pretending to be judging her. Then a large smile forms on his bushy face and he holds his arms out to her.
“Ms. Tatum. Max here has told me a lot about you, I’ve been begging him to bring you to one of our hang outs. To what do I owe this pleasure?” You can hardly see his smile through his beard, but I can tell by his tone he’s overly excited about this change up to our normal routine.
“I was at his office and he tied me up, put me in the trunk and here we are.” She quipped.
Mike belly laughs loudly as Leo and I show our appreciative smiles.
“I know you wanted to meet her, I want you to meet her, plus this is my circle here, and I want her to feel included.” This would be my first mention of my circle to her, she’s always been an honorary member, but I think the presentation of what the circle means to me will help with our conversation last night.
“You realize that you may need to call in for the rest of the day, right? And that I’ll only be talking to the pretty lady?” Mike jokes.
Tatum is quiet witnessing the back and forth with a smile as the waitress comes and takes our orders.
“What’s the circle? Is it like in Meet the Parents and the circle of trust or is it Lion King and the circle of life?” She asks.
“Trust. When I sponsor, I start from the ground up and we build a relationship from scratch, which evolves into different aspects, we’re family, we’re one and the same, both recovering alcoholics and truth is something that always happens at our tables.”
“So kind of like rule number three?” She turns to me.
“Exactly.” I answer.
“Rule number three?” Leo and Mike ask in unison.
“We have house rules we started when we first moved in together, and then we re-did once we became more to another.” She answers.
“So what’s rule number three?” Mike asks me.
“Always be honest.” Tatum and I say in unison. I turn to her and smile.
