Page 45 of Reformation

He doesn’t say anything before coming around and opening my car door for me. “It is. I figured Italian and steak is a can’t-go-wrong choice. Plus, I remember you saying you wanted to try it.”

I said that once, in passing, as we were driving to the beach to do trash pickup. “You remember that?”

He places his hand on the small of my back, leading me into the lobby of the restaurant. “I remember everything you have ever said to me.”

I can’t respond because we’re taken back to our table where Mark and Charlie are waiting for us. Even if I could have, I wouldn’t have known what to say.

Lucky for me, I don’t have time to dwell on his words. Not when Mark and Charlie are dining with us. The wine and conversation are flowing, the laughs are never far away and before I know it, I have eaten every bite of the mind-blowing, four-cheese ravioli that I’d most definitely request for my final meal if I were on death row.

I even had a chance to ask the question that’s been on my mind for months.

“Can I ask why Garrett likes to use horrific pickup lines?”

“He still uses those?” Mark says, slamming his hand down on the table before laughing for a good minute. “Holy shit, brother. I thought you would have abandoned those years ago!”

“Bad pickup lines?” Charlie asks. “Now you must tell. I need to know everything.”

“Yes, Garrett, please enlighten us,” I say, trying my best to give a serious yet teasing look. “Please tell the table why you greeted me tonight asking if there was an airport nearby?”

And for the first time since I’ve known him, Garrett Dixon blushes.

If I wasn’t completely smitten with the man before, I absolutely am now.

“It’s actually this asshole’s fault,” Garrett says, pointing to Mark. “When we were growing up. I heard him say one to Jenny Damon. She was the prettiest girl on our street.”

“Translation: she was the first to get boobs,” Mark adds.

“Well, that too. I heard him use one on her, and then they were going out, or whatever version of that is when you’re in seventh grade. So I figured since it worked for my brother, why couldn’t it work for me? So I found thePlayboyarticle that Mark got his from and tried one on a girl in my grade.”

“And did it work?” Charlie asks, completely invested in this story.

“It actually did. And it worked on every girl I asked out in high school. Little did I know, until my senior prom date told me, that the only reason she and the others were saying yes was that the lines were so terrible they felt bad for me. I countered back that they said yes, so my mission was accomplished.”

“So you realize they are horrible, yet you continue to use them?” I ask.

He looks over at me, a fire in his eyes that is burning me in my seat. “Worked on you, didn’t it?”

I immediately blush, because darn it, he’s right. It did, without a doubt, one hundred percent worked on me.

Garrett gives my leg a squeeze under the table before raising his wineglass.

“A toast,” Garrett says as our desserts are put in front of us, which I don’t know how I’m going to eat.

“A toast?” Mark mocks. “So formal.”

“Will you shut the fuck up and let me be serious for a second.”

Charlie swats Mark’s arm and raises her glass. “Yes, Garrett. What would you like to toast to?”

“I just want to say thank you to all of you. I know dinner and a few bottles of wine aren’t enough to show just how much you three have helped me since… well, since everything changed. I know I didn’t say much at the time, but I was scared as hell after my embolism. Knowing that Dad died because of a clot and I… it was a lot to have on my mind. You three are the reason I’m where I’m at today. And I just wanted to say thank you. For everything.”

I can feel the tears forming in the corners of my eyes, which isn’t helped by the fact that Charlie is full-on sobbing. She bolts from her seat and makes her way around the table, wrapping Garrett in a hug so tight that it makes me want to cry more.

“We love you. So much,” Charlie says, but when she stands up, her face immediately changes from sad to a death glare.

“Oh hell the fuck no!”

At Charlie’s words, all of our eyes snap to the direction she is looking.

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