Page 215 of Finding Us

“Where did they go on their date?”

“Some Italian place downtown. She picked him up in her Lexus. He was all dressed up. I felt like I was sending my kid off to prom.”

Ryan and I shouldn’t laugh but we do anyway.

“Do you think they’ll go on another date?”

“Probably. They should’ve been home an hour ago, so if the date’s still going on, then I’m guessing it’s going well.”

“This is so strange. I don’t know if I can handle Frank dating.”

“You? You’re not the one living with him. What if he brings her back here and they go in his room? You know how thin the walls are in this house. I can’t listen to that. They’ll have to go to her place if they want to do stuff.”

“Ryan, don’t talk about it! I can’t think about Frank that way. We need to get off this topic. How’s Chloe?”

“Good. Did I tell you I bought a ring?”

“No! What the hell is going on there? Frank’s dating? You’re buying engagement rings?”

“Just one ring. Not plural,” he kids.

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not proposing to her anytime soon. I just saw this ring that I knew she’d like and I didn’t want the store to not have it when I’m ready to propose. So I bought it. It was expensive but it didn’t cost six figures like the rings some people have.” He says it jokingly.

“How do you know what my ring cost?”

“I asked Garret when I was out there in July. It’s a nice ring and I wanted to know how much something like that cost.”

“I didn’t want you to know.”

“Why? Garret’s loaded. It’s not like that was a lot of money to him.”

Ryan doesn’t know that Garret lost his trust fund and I can’t tell him because telling him would mean explaining why he lost it, which is a huge secret.

“You should marry Chloe next summer. You could have the wedding here in California on the beach like I did.”

“Chloe’s family is in Iowa so I’m sure we’ll be having it in Des Moines. But maybe a honeymoon in California.”

“So what do you think? A summer wedding?”

“Stop rushing me into marriage. Let me enjoy my bachelor years a little longer.”

“Fine. But Chloe may get tired of waiting and go find someone else. Then you’ll be stuck trolling the hospital cafeteria for women.”

“Worked for Dad. It could work for me, too.”

“I better let you go. You need to check on Frank and his date. You know how kids are on prom night.”

“I know. And I forgot to give him condoms. We might be getting a sibling out of this date.”

I laugh. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yeah, and hey, don’t say anything to Dad about this. I don’t want him knowing I told you. He’ll tell you himself when he’s ready to.”

“I won’t say anything. Bye, Ryan.”

As I’m getting up to go inside, I hear a noise out front. It sounds like the garbage can fell over. It’s a windy night and it tends to tip over since we never have much in it. I walk around to the driveway and see it lying on its side, empty. I turn it upright and wheel it closer to the garage.

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