Authors: Christopher Smith
“So,” she said.
“Dinner and a movie tonight?”
I couldn’t help feeling a rush of expectation.
I’d been waiting for this day for too long now.
“Tonight’s the night.”
“What do you want to see?”
“At this point?
I think a comedy is in order.”
“Agreed.
What about next week?”
There’s a next week?
“Whatever you want.”
“Good,” she said.
“Because I want next week to be special.”
She pointed down the hall, where Alex was leaning against his locker and talking to another guy his age.
“That’s not what I think it is, is it?”
“I totally found him the perfect guy.
He’s sweet and he’s smart.
They have things in common, like sports, working out, watching ‘True Blood,’ hiking, you name it.
Alex is a pretty secure guy, but it wouldn’t hurt if they knew they have some support in this school, which is why I think it would be per
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fect for all of us to go out together.”
“Perfect.
So, it’s a double date with Alex and…?”
“Brian.”
“Alex and Brian.
I’m in.”
“I want him to be happy,” she said.
“So, do I.”
The bell rang.
I leaned down to kiss her again and whispered in her ear how proud I was of her.
She took my face in her hands and said something I never thought I’d hear while I was still in high school.
“Alex’s new friend is cute and all, but I’ve got the hottest, nicest, sweetest boyfriend in school.”
“Did you just call me your ‘boyfriend’?”
“Did you just turn the color of chalk?”
“Hardly.
You just made my day.”
*
*
*
Before our date that night, I felt I needed go to Jim’s, where everything was being removed from his trailer and packed into a truck.
I wanted to make sure things were going as smoothly as possible and to see if I could lend a hand if the movers needed one.
When I arrived, Paisley was there supervising the move.
She reached out her arms as I approached and gave me a hug.
“You look good,” she said.
“In fact, you look like you’re glowing.”
She winked at me.
“Girlfriend?”
I nodded.
“Jennifer.”
“I like that girl a lot.”
“She loves you.
I think she wants to spend an hour in your closet.”
“Just the hour?
That can happen, but I don’t see her wearing half my clothes around town.
She’d be labeled a slut within the first five minutes.”
I looked in the truck, which was packed.
“How much more to go?”
“Another truckload.”
“What about his cats?”
“I chose two.
I can handle two.
The rest I’ve found homes for.”
“What we need are three cats.
There are three here that are among my favorites.
Tammy, Tammy and Tammy.
She needs to let me have them, then I’ll shut up and be happy.”
Jim came around the truck and gave me a quick hug.
He held out his hand and I shot a beer into it when none of the movers was looking.
“Are all your cats named Tammy?”
“Sure.
Easier to call them that way.
They all come running.
Quite a sight.”
I still couldn’t believe he was here with us.
That night, when we fought Darien and his witches, I thought Paisley meant that Jim was gone when she actually was referring to Darien.
Her tears weren’t for Jim, but for the man who lost his way and never found it back.
“Do you think you two are going to be able to live together?” I asked.
“Hell, no,” Jim said.
“Not without crates of scotch as old as me,” Paisley said.
“I see nothing but a shitload of trouble ahead of us.”
“I see frogs and boils, earthquakes and hurricanes.”
Jim caught my eye and held it.
“I also see a room for you, Seth.
Paisley and I discussed it and we’d like to have you live with us, if only until you go to college.
And only if you agree to help keep us sane.
No pressure, but we’d sure love to have you come along, son.”
Looking at them, I saw something beyond the show they’d just put on for me and the gratitude I felt was as humbling as it was overwhelming.
I saw love.
I saw acceptance.
I saw a chance for something lasting and meaningful.
And then the weight of what Jim just proposed struck me.
I also saw my new family.
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BOOKS BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH
Fifth Avenue:
Book One in the Fifth Avenue Series
Running of the Bulls:
Book Two in the Fifth Avenue Series
From Manhattan with Love: Novella Three in the Fifth Avenue Series
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher Smith is the international best-selling author of “Fifth Avenue,” its sequel “Running of the Bulls,” as well “From Manhattan with Love.” For fifteen years, Smith was the film critic for a major newspaper in the Northeast. For eight years, he appeared weekly on NBC affiliates, and two years nationally on the E! network. He has written over 4,000 reviews and he was named Best Critic for 2010 by the MPA. He has published two previous books in his Netflix “Queued” series, which are compilations of hundreds of his film reviews, and his he a scathing collection of those movies he’d rather never see again, “Your Movie Gave Me Hives.” He lives in Maine.