Page 20 of Their Little House Colter
Blowing out a breath, he leaned over and laid his head on my shoulder. “What if tonight gets weird? I think Ari is nice and sweet, but what if it’s awkward?”
“Let’s just go and be ourselves with him. All three of us are on new ground here. If things get strange or we decide it’s not working, then we have to make a decision.”
“I don’t want to lose you, Dallas,” he said. The sincerity in his voice broke my heart.
“You won’t. No matter what, you won’t lose me.”
We stayed silent for a few moments until he got up and said, “I’m going to bring my clothes in here.”
He ran out and came back with his whole outfit, socks, shoes, and all. We got dressed together, in my room. We complimented each other’s outfits and laughed while we prepared for our date. We talked about Ari and how he might just be the perfect daddy if that was such a thing. Our shared laughter added a lightness to the atmosphere and relieved some of the nervousness I felt in my body.
That was, until the doorbell rang.
“That’s him,” I said, forcing a smile. Not that I didn’t want to see Ari. I did. But apprehension overshadowed my excitement.
“Are you ready?” my playmate asked.
“Yes. You look fantastic if I don’t get a chance to tell you later.”
His blush was remarkable. It truly suited him. “You do too, Dallas. But I prefer the jeans I first saw you in.”
“Me too. Me too.”
We descended the stairs together. Monroe had opened the door for Ari and let him in. I felt like a prince as I came down and Ari’s face lit up, his eyes darting from me to Colter and back again.
“Good evening to you both,” he said. My belly swirled with anticipation. All the hangups and what-ifs I’d been worried about dissipated in a breath.
Ari’s soft eyes met mine as Colter’s fingers laced with my own.
This was right.
No rhyme. No reason. It was just right.
He met us at the bottom of the stairs. “You two look very nice tonight. Shall we?”
Chapter Sixteen
Colter
I’d never been on a date with two people before. Heck, it had been a long time since I’d been on a date with one. I wasn’t sure how to even begin doing this.
When Ari showed up, he asked us if we wanted something fun or something romantic for our date. We both looked at each other and said, “Fun.” And that answered that.
We knew how to be fun together. We hadn’t figured out the romantic part yet, and for me, that made it a no-brainer. With Dallas, I wasn’t sure of his reason, but in any case, Ari seemed happy with our choice.
He took us to my favorite place—the carnival-themed restaurant/play area. The food was mediocre, but the games? The games were so much fun. And the best part? You collected tickets—or now virtual tickets that went on your card—but you collected them, and then you got to pick prizes. They were awful and cost a ton of tickets, but there was something so rewarding about knowing that you won it.
I wasn’t sure how to do this triple-date thing as far as etiquette went, and I was happy when Ari said, “Who’s sitting up front on the way there?” because it took all that pressure off. One of us would sit up front in each direction. There wasn’t going to be a third wheel, at least not in that way.
We pulled into the parking lot of our destination to discover it was pretty crowded, but that was okay because there was enough inside to keep everybody busy. Ari opened both doors for us, all gentlemanlike, and the three of us went inside.
There was no mistaking it—Ari was in charge of the date, which worked for me because my ability to make a decision when I was flanked by the two men who were driving me todistraction? Yeah, it was nonexistent. I was more likely to blurt out that I wanted to go find some dark corner to make out in than I was to have a rational idea.
Ari started by checking in at the restaurant to see how long the wait was. A good thing he did—because it was a two-hour wait. Ari put our names in and then handed us each a play card.
“You just had these in your wallet?” Dallas asked.
“No, I picked them up on my way over. Figured it would be easier than navigating the whole ‘I want to pay, you want to pay’ thing.”
