Page 71 of A Better Place

“Mmmygsh,” Lauren mumbles with a mouth full and lets her eyes roll back in her head as she leans back in the seat.

“You’re so gross.” Christine laughs as we watch Lauren pick a crumb off her shirt that fell from her mouth.

She points to the muffin in her hand then back over to Christine before she shifts her gaze on me. “Best. Ever. You need to have her genius in your kitchen for dessert,” she tells me.

“This is something I already know,” I confirm.

“What?” Christine asks, seemingly surprised.

I shrug. “Like you don’t know that you have some of the best baked goods in the state of Michigan. I had already planned to ask you if you wanted to help as the pastry chef for Balance.”

“He speaks truth, girl,” Tess says as she plunges her fork into the flaky cinnamon roll.

“We’ll talk. But later. Now I need your help. All of yours.”

“I’m all ears, for both. Now and with Balance.”

I nod at Christine, thankful she’s willing to help.

“What do you need our help with?” Lauren asks, finally not talking with her mouth full. She sighs happily and pats her stomach then winks at Christine.

“Carly. She finally said yes,” I say and can’t help but let the smile take over my face.

Complete silence is all I receive back from the ladies. The fork Tess is holding falls to the plate with a loud clank, then I hear three grown women squeal like high school girls.

Lauren and Tess stand up and do the cabbage patch while Christine does the running man. They throw their arms up in the air and jump around then hook their arms together like they’re about to play ring-around-the-rosie. I look around, embarrassed for them since they don’t seem to have an ounce of dignity left among the three of them. Which, after the show they put on in El Charro last night, shouldn’t surprise me. I stand up and start walking away, partly to screw with them, the other part because, as I mentioned, they’re doing 80’s dances in the middle of Dreamin’ Beans.

“I’m outta here, weirdos.”

Christine grabs my arm as I’m walking past, all three of them falling in a heap together onto the couch in a fit of laughter.

“No-no-no! You can’t leave now!”

“We’ll be serious, James. We promise,” Tess tells me, giving me the look that ensures she’ll get whatever she wants. She perfected it on Dean and me before she could even walk.

I sit down, and they shift back to their original seats, all of them smiling widely.

“She said yes?” Christine finally says. The fact that I don’t have to explain what she said yes to tells me that they know plenty.

“This morning.”

“You were there this morning?” Lauren asks, waggling her eyebrows.

“Yeah. After I slept on the couch. You know, to make sure that she was okay after the three enablers poured liquor down her throat all night,” I tease.

“We didn’t know!” they all shout at the same time.

I smile in their direction and continue on. “As you can imagine, I didn’t really want to wait very long for this date to happen. I’ve been wanting this yes from her since the moment we met. But I have no idea what to do.”

“What do you mean?” Lauren asks.

“It’s been years since I’ve been on a date. Years. I don’t want to screw it up. And she deserves the best first date in the history of first dates. I want to give her everything she could possibly ever want and need. I want to make her feel like she can be herself, and that she’s safe with me. I want her to be comfortable and calm. Happy. That’s what I want. But tonight I need to give her a glimpse of that. To show her what it will be like for us.”

I look around at all three of them: Tess with tears in her eyes, Lauren with a goofy smile on her face, and Christine with a soft smile, her hands tucked under her chin.

“I love you, big brother,” Tess says, leaning over to give me a hug.

“Love you, too, goober,” I say and kiss her on the temple. “You guys gonna help me or not?”

---