"What?"
"I'm afraid to go back. I'm afraid of how I'll feel when I get there and see all the places I used to go with them."
"I'll be with you. You won't be alone."
"Which is another reason why I want to do this. I don't want to be two hours away from you. I don't know if we'll live together or not, but I at least want us to live in the same city."
I shove my chair back and stand up next to the table, wearing a huge grin. "Get over here."
She gets up and I pull her into my arms.
"I couldn't have done this without you. I'm serious, Nash. I wouldn't have been able to."
"I didn't do anything. You did this on your own. You just needed a little push to get you there."
"I'm still going to need that. Sometimes I go in my house and I feel like...like I'm slipping back."
"That's okay. It's normal. And I'll be right there to help you when that happens."
She squeezes her arms around me. "I love you."
"I love you t—" I stop when I see Lou. I glanced up and there he was. I had my head down, hugging Callie, and didn't see him walk in. "Hey, Lou."
Callie spins around and backs up against my chest as my arms go around her waist.
Lou is carrying two dinner plates and staring at us. "Did you two just say..." He quickly shakes his head. "Must've heard you wrong." He notices my arms around her. "But why are you and him..." His forehead wrinkles as he tries to figure this out.
"I think we should tell him," I say to Callie.
"Yeah." She moves to my side but I keep my arm around her. "Nash and I are dating. And we're kind of...in love."
"Kind of?" I say.
She smiles at me. "Not kind of. We are. We're in love."
Lou sets the plates down on the counter. "When did this happen?"
"I don't know the exact moment, but it happened, and here we are."
I lean down and talk in her ear. "If we ever get married, remind me to never let you tell the story of how we fell in love. That was horrible."
She smacks me and I kiss her.
"Anyway," she says to Lou. "You didn't need to plan a big elaborate set-up to get us together, because we already are."
"Oh, Callie...I'm so happy for you." He's beaming as his short, but fast legs make their way over to her. I step aside as he hugs her, practically knocking her over.
She laughs. "We should probably eat. We don't want the food to get cold after you did all that work making it."
"I'll get it," I say walking over to get the plates from the counter. "You should join us, Lou."
"I don't want to intrude. This is supposed to be a romantic dinner."
"I'm not taking no for an answer." I set the plates on the table, then grab a chair for him. "Callie and I can have a romantic dinner some other time. Come on. We want you to join us."
He winks at Callie. "We picked a good one."
She smiles at me. "Yeah. We did."
"I'll go make up another plate." He hurries back to the kitchen.
The three of us have dinner, and then dessert, which is a red velvet cake Lou made just for us. It was nice of him to do all this. He really cares about Callie. I know she'll miss him when she moves, but we'll come back and visit him.
"Thanks for dinner," I tell him as we're leaving.
"Anytime." He points to Callie. "It's late. Make sure she gets home safe."
"I'll be right behind her." I hold her hand. "So Callie said you like playing cards. Would you want to play sometime?"
He smiles. "I sure would. What's your game?"
"I play most anything. Gin Rummy. Poker. You name it. I played a lot of cards with my brothers growing up."
"Call me when you've got some free time and we'll set something up."
"How about this week? You free on Friday?"
"Friday would be just fine. I'll make dinner."
"You don't have to do that."
"He likes to," Callie says quietly to me.
"Then sure. We'll plan on dinner. I'll bring Callie along, if that's okay. I know she eats a lot but—"
"Hey!" She laughs.
"I'm looking forward to it," Lou says, and I know it's true. The guy's lonely, and I don't like people being lonely. Callie and I need to spend some time with him before we go back to Chicago, even if it's just for dinner and card games.
The next night, I tell Callie I have to work on the house and that I'll be over to see her later. But I'm not actually working. I'm getting myself ready to take her out. On a date. A real date, because we've never actually had one. Having dinner at each other's houses isn't a date. I want to take Callie out on a real date at a nice restaurant, so that's what we're doing.