Damn. I feel the emotion welling up in me and I push it back down for later. "Thanks, Preston. I appreciate–"
"No need to thank me. Just wanted you to know that I’m dealing with the board situation, okay?" And with that, he gives me a pat on the back and walks off.
**********
I ask Evie to stay with me on Friday night. I have an idea that I hope will make her happy. Not only did we never get a chance to do the normal stuff kids do, but we never got a chance to do the things young couples do – all the things we might have done just for fun if we had actually gotten a chance to date when we were young and carefree. If we had ever been young and carefree. I’m also going to satisfy something in me from a long, long time ago. I’m going to buy her a dress and take her dancing. It still won’t top dancing with her under the stars in an empty park, which, despite shaking with nerves and stepping on her feet, was the best dance of my life so far. Two foster kids dancing together in the park because they didn’t have the right clothes to wear to a dance. Completely pitiful. But completely magical.
My mind goes back to that dance so many years ago and I can’t help smiling. It had been so awkward, yet so intense, one of those memories that seems to be scalded into the very fiber of my being. Funny, I don’t remember the songs that were playing, my head was so filled with static at her closeness, how good she smelled, how she moved against me. If I asked her, I wonder if she’d remember the songs. Those are the types of things I long to ask her, to reminisce about. Our memories. Some of the only good ones I have.
When I open my door for her on Friday, she looks beautiful but tired. That won’t do. I scoop her up and tell her I’m going to run a bath for her so she gets a second wind because I’m taking her dancing.
She fights me a little bit on the dancing plan and gives me an exasperated look when I tell her I bought her an outfit. But she marches toward the bedroom to see what I picked out for her so I think that’s a good sign.
I follow her back to the bedroom and watch her as she fingers the silky material of the dress and checks out the Jimmy Choo shoes. The saleswoman at the department store had put several in front of me that she suggested for the dress I chose, and I had noticed that one of the pairs was more than the fourteen hundred dollar price tag that Gwen had shrieked about after Evie spilled caviar on them. I had automatically chosen those. It was petty and superficial, I knew, but it made me smile to know that Evie would be wearing better shoes than that snotty bitch.
Finally, she turns to me with a smile. "I love it. Thank you. Did you really pick this out?"
"Well, I had some help from a saleswoman. But I did give her the color scheme I wanted, and I looked at the clothes you left here for your size."
"Peacock blue, huh?" she raises an eyebrow.
I shrug, grinning. "I like the color. Just don't ask me to take you anywhere near the zoo."
She laughs and I head into the bathroom to start her bath.
I make her some pasta as she’s getting ready and when she emerges from the bedroom, I almost start drooling on myself. Holy shit, she’s gorgeous. I’ve seen her body in nothing at all and I know it’s perfect, but that dress highlights her best assets, her perky tits, flat stomach and firm little ass, without showing too much skin. "You’re stunning." I’m not sure if I want to take you out in public in that. I momentarily regret not picking up that black, oversized sweater that I passed on the way to the eveningwear department.
"Thank you. I have a personal shopper who's well acquainted with my figure." She raises her eyebrows, but smiles.
Once she’s sitting down eating, I decide to unveil the t-shirt I had made at a mall kiosk I passed when I was buying her laptop, just purely to make her laugh. I take off my long sleeved pullover and nonchalantly turn toward her so she can see written across the front in bold, black print, World's Greatest.
She almost chokes on the bite she's chewing, and brings her napkin up to her mouth, fighting back laughter.
"What?" I ask, innocently.
She points at my shirt. "World's Greatest what?"
"Oh, this?" I point at my shirt. "It's all inclusive. World's Greatest Guy, World's Greatest Lover, World's Greatest Cook. You name it, I'm the greatest."
"Ah. Well, I do appreciate your confidence. But you know, you've left yourself wide open now for your critics to test you." She raises an eyebrow.
"I only care about one critic. And I'm looking forward to being tested. The more testing, the better. Lots of testing would be good." I wink.
"You're completely ridiculous, you do realize that, right?" she says, shaking her head, but grinning.
I laugh. "Finish up. I'm going to go change while you're eating and then we'll get going."
"You're not going to wear your World's Greatest shirt to the club?" she yells after me.
"You don't really want me to advertise all over town, do you?" I call back. I can hear her laughing as I open my closet door.
I change in to some dressier clothes, and ten minutes later, we’re headed downtown.
**********
I take Evie to a club called Igby’s that’s relatively new and I’ve heard has an amazing interior that was completely gutted and re-done to resemble a New York City loft.
After we’ve gotten a drink, she mentions her friend Landon, the guy who was shooting death glares at me over the Gwen incident at the autism benefit. I know he’s someone important to Evie, and I’d like the opportunity to make a better impression, so I suggest that she ask him to meet us here. She looks hesitant for a minute, but then agrees and about an hour later, he and his friend, Jeff, join us.