A Second Chance at Love

After I dropped Raina off, Mike and I headed out. He drove his car. We ended up at a Lincoln dealer in South Jersey. I wanted to get her something safe and something I knew she would like.

Mike just laughed and told me to buy the biggest SUV on the lot. We ended up leaving there and looking at a Chevy place. Mike insisted that the Tahoe was a nice truck. It was cheaper than the Lincolns, but I knew Raina would love the one we picked. It was maroon and had tan leather interior.

We paid for it and waited while they were writing everything up. Mike suggested lunch so we headed to Friday’s once we were done. He ordered two beers and we sat down in a booth. “So how are you holding up man?” he asked.

“I’m actually good. The more I think about it, the more I’m happy about it. I talked to Syl and it seems like that drama is over with for the time being. Raina’s a good mom. She’s taken to my boys like they are her own. I love her Mike. Simple as that.” I looked to him for a response.

“I gotcha. It’s completely understandable. She was a wreck yesterday. She was so worried about upsetting you. You know she feels the same way.” He smiled and ordered another beer.

“So what the heck are you two gonna do about living arrangements? He asked.

“I don’t know. I have five bedrooms, she only has four. If we put the twins together in a room, and Carson and Ryan in a room it will work. Claude actually made a good point about him moving across the street and her moving in. I don’t know if she will go for it though.”

“So when you two getting married man. I know its gotta be running through your mind. “ he asked me smirking.

I nearly choked on my beer, not because he was wrong, but I didn’t expect him to bring it up. “I don’t know honestly. Her and I haven’t even discussed it. I don’t even know if she would do it.“

He laughed. “Come on man, really. Throw convention out the window. Who cares if you haven’t been together that long. If you love her and she loves you…… you belong together. You are both adults. Both finally know after bad relationships what you want in life. You are gonna have 2 more beautiful kids, probably boys to make your family hopefully complete.“ .

We finished the drinks. “So we are really going to do this then? I wasn’t trying to push you into anything. Just trying to make you see what I truly believe you are thinking.” I looked at him.

“I was thinking it the whole time. I just didn’t want to hear people’s reactions after what happened with Sylvie.” He drove into Center City, towards Jeweler’s row and I followed him. We got into the store and looked at each other and cracked up. There must have been a million different choices.

“Man, I have no idea of what she would like. She isn’t very flashy, that is for sure. “ I commented, looking up and down the rows of diamonds. I finally settled on a platinum setting with rectangle shaped diamonds either side. I made Mike help me pick out the center stone. He wanted smaller than I did and we settled on a three carat center stone that was rounded. The jeweler just laughed at us. We had basically no idea what we were doing.

We had to wait a while he finished putting the ring together. We called Jeff and decided to stop by his Center City apartment. He sounded hesitant but told us to come over. We walked to his place and went up to his floor. The cute red head was leaving as we got on his floor.

We knocked on the door and he answered. He looked worn out and we teased him considerably about it. “Dude you have no idea….she is gonna kill me this one. We were in bed six times since last night when she came over. She isn’t interested in money, doesn’t care how many goals I score……. The only thing she cares about is me being with her only- which I can accommodate.”

Mike just laughed, “yeah right- you not being single, haha not happening.”

Jeff looked up quickly and threw Mike an evil glare. “Really bro------- you must not know me well- it already has”, and he held up his left hand.

Mike started to freak out. “Listen, Imma let you two talk this over. “ I yelled over Mike’s loud lecture. I walked back toward the store. I wondered if I had enough courage to ask her. I knew what I wanted, I though she may think it was too soon.

Notes

Sorry only one tonight... im exhausted. Thank you for the comments!