My Real (27 page)

“What is this?” I ask opening the envelope and taking a stack of papers out.

“It’s my divorce papers. It’s finalized.” He whispers, so Emerson doesn’t hear. Emerson knows what is going on, but we don’t like to talk about the divorce in front of her. I’m still trying to be as nice as possible when talking about Jessica when Emerson is around. I know it’s best if Emersion has some kind of relationship with her. It’s just really hard to encourage it.

I look down at the papers and give him a glowing smile. I hug the pile to my chest and squeeze my eyes. This is the best present a girl could get. I look over at Andrew, and mouth “Thank you.”

Andrew turns the car on and mouths, “You’re welcome” to me.

We’re finally on our way when Andrew turns on the radio. Ella’s parents used to own a chain of record stores, so Ella knows her music. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. The wheels start turning as my smile turns devilish. I turn around and give Ella a wink, so she knows to play along. This was a special code we use with each other all the time in school. Ella nods and I start to lay the ground work by singing along to “Fastest Girl in Town” by Miranda Lambert.

“Ah. Are you ready for a rematch Bailey?” Andrew asks.

“Sure, best of three. Loser buys lunch,” I agree.

“You’re on,” he says.

The first song to play is “Ten” by Jewel, and I know it right away, but I let him call it out just faster than I do. I glance back at Ella and see that she understands where I’m going with this. The next song that Andrew guesses is “Pontoon” by Little Big Town. In school, all I play is the country station on Pandora, and I have been caught singing and dancing to both of these songs in my room.

“Honey, you’re off your game today. Chocolate on the brain? Country is usually the only station you can take me on, and Jewel is your favorite,” Andrew gloats.

“I think you’ve been studying up on country music behind my back. Alright, the next song is coming on. You’re going down,” I threaten.

When the next song comes on, I almost choke on the water I’m drinking. “When the Stars Go Blue” was playing in the bar when Andrew kissed me. He jumps on the advantage of me choking and yells out the lyrics before I can swallow.

“I win! I win! You’re springing for lunch,” he celebrates.

“Double or nothing, you pick the station?” I offer.

“You’re on, name the wager,” he says.

“Best of three, new station each time, loser buys the other three in the car a shopping spree in Chocolate World.”

Emerson starts cheering. “Do it Daddy! I win no matter what.”

“Last stipulation, you’re playing Ella,” I add.

Andrew looks in his review mirror to see Ella shaking her head.

“Don’t bring me in on your wacky games. I hate country,” she scoffs.

“Oh, come on Ella, I’ll even let you pick the first station,” Andrew baits her.

She hesitates for a second; she could have been an actress. “Alright, I guess I’ll give it a try, but when I lose, you are splitting the bill with me Bailey,” Andrew asks.

“What kind of music do you want Ella?”

“60s,” she replies.

“Hmm. The 60s, I like it.” Andrew flips through the stations and stops one before the 60s station and says. “Ready?”

“As I’m going to be,” she replied rolling her eyes.

Andrew flips to the next station and three notes don’t fill the air before Ella is singing the lyrics to “My Girl.” Andrew’s jaw drops. Literally drops.

I start laughing. “I think I’ve been played. Alright,” he says recovering quickly, “next station is my pick. The 70s.”

Again, Ella sings the lyrics to “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac before Andrew can take his hand off the knob.

“Alright, what gives? Who’s the music wiz in the back?” Andrew pouts.

“Ella’s parents owned a chain of record stores. She worked in the stores from the time she was twelve until she graduated from college and got her teaching job. There is no way you are coming back from this one,” I laugh.

Andrew just shakes his head. “Played. For a chocolate shopping spree. Okay Miss Expert. Is there any station that I might have a chance in beating you?” he questions.

“Not really, but your best bet might be the teeny bop kid music. I can’t stomach that crap,” Ella explains.

Andrew starts flipping through channels. “Okay, ready?” Ella nods and Andrew flips one last time. This time it takes a few seconds before all three girls in the car start singing “Blurred Lines” word for word. Andrew is clueless.

“I thought you said I had a chance,” he groans.

“No, I said I couldn’t stomach it, not that I didn’t know it.”

“Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.” Emerson starts chanting in the background.

“You’ve created a monster!” Andrew says as he just continues to shake his head. We keep the station locked to the kids’ bop station and sing pre-teen songs about love and break ups he rest of the way there.

“Bailey, can I ride with you?” Emerson asks as she bounces up and down.

“You bet sweetie.” Bailey answers as she reaches for Emerson’s hand.

“You guys go ahead. I’m going to go to the bathroom quickly before we go on any really good rides,” I announce as I back out of line.

“Are you wimping out on the first ride?” Bailey kids.

“No, but someone made me get up at a horribly early hour so we could be first in line when they opened. That required me to drink two very large cups of coffee.” I kiss Emerson and Bailey both on the forehead.

“Hey, where’s mine?” Ella complains.

I shake my head as I turn away. I have only a few minutes to get everything together for my proposal. Jake is waiting for me by the Kissing Tower when I round the corner.

“Hey, man. You nervous?” Jake asks as he starts unloading the bags.

“Not at all. I can’t wait to see her reaction. Did you meet up with the manager yet?”

“He’s going to meet me here any minute, and he said he already has plenty of volunteers.”

“Great, and you still have the ring?” I ask.

Jake’s face drops, and he starts patting all of his pockets.

“Tell me you didn’t forget the ring,” I ask, worried. Jake smiles and pulls it out of his back pocket.

“Chill man, everything’s going to be perfect,” he says, smirking.

“I’ll hand it off to you at the snack shack. Relax Andrew, you’ve thought of everything.”

“Okay, buddy, I’ll see you in an hour.”

I run back to the ride just as the girls are getting off. I figure we have time for two or three rides before I have to push her in the direction of the Kissing Tower. Emerson comes running up to me and jumps into my arms.

“Daddy, you missed a great ride!” Em squeals.

“I know baby, but I’ll ride the next one with you. Where to girls?”

“This way,” Bailey announces as she pivots on her heel and bounces down the road with Emerson at her side.

“She really loves this place doesn’t she?” Ella asks.

“Yeah, I remember her dragging us all here on spring break our senior year. Dave got so mad because he wanted to go to the shore. But that didn’t bother her. She had a ball all day long.”

“Is everything ready?” Ella whispers.

I smile and fall into line behind our fearless leader. I have to admit, Bailey knows her stuff. There are no lines on any of the big rides. Maybe because she made us sprint, yes sprint, to the very back of the park as soon as we walked through the turnstiles.

The next hour flies by in no time at all.

“Who’s getting hungry?” I ask everyone. After hearing a chorus of ‘me’, I volunteer to go get some snacks.

“Why don’t we slow it down for a few rides? You guys go get in line for the Kissing Tower, and I’ll meet you there with some snacks.

“Emerson, did you know that if you ride the Kissing Towers with someone you really love and you get to the top, you should kiss them and make a wish your wish, then will come true.” I explain as we wait in line.

“Who am I going to kiss when I get up there?” Emerson asks.

“Your daddy of course. He’ll help make all your wishes come true.”

Andrews’s arms come around my shoulders and hug me tight. “I hope to do the same for you as well.” My heart skips a beat, and I sigh leaning back into him.

It’s our turn to get on. Emerson sits down on one side of me and Andrew’s on the other, holding my hand. We slowly start to spin as we rise in the air. About half way up the spire, Andrew starts handing out the goodies.

“A Hershey with Almonds for Ella because she’s a nut. A Krackle bar for Emerson, because you Krackle me up.” Emerson rolls her eyes and giggles. “And a Hershey’s Special Dark for my special girl,” he finishes as he leans in to kiss my nose.

“Not yet.” I yell as I back away. “We’re not at the top yet. If you don’t do it at the top your wish won’t come true.” I wait a few seconds until we stop rising then turn to Ella who is uncharacteristically quiet at the end of our group. I lean in and kiss her cheek.

“What’s your wish?”

“That I can find someone to settle down with,” she admits. My eyebrows rise at this. Settle down? Ella? Interesting.

“Emerson, your turn. What’s your wish?” I ask.

Emerson waits for a second then looks at the candy bar in her hand. “I wish we could all just eat our chocolate now.”

Andrew leans across me and takes Emerson’s head in his hands and kisses her forehead as everyone laughs. All eyes are now expectantly on me. I turn in my seat to face Andrew who is staring at me. He has a smile on his face that makes me smile in turn. Oh, the things this man can do to me.

“I wish we could eat our chocolate too,” Andrew says with the smile still planted on his face.

“You guys have no imagination,” I mumble.

“Bailey, open the damn candy bar,” Ella grits through her teeth making Andrew laugh nervously.

“Alright, I’ll eat my chocolate. I start to rip into the packaging when I notice it isn’t a normal Hershey’s bar. I take off the wrapping and see that the candy bar is wrapped in a second piece of paper. On baby blue paper is printed “Look Down” in pretty cursive writing.

“Look down?” I look down at my feet. The ride stops at that moment which freaks me out a little, because it’s not supposed to stop. It slowly spins and rises, then pauses at the top to allow you a beautiful 360 degree view of the park, before slowly spinning its way back down. In all my years of riding the Kissing Tower, it has never stopped at the top.

“Down there,” Emerson giggles as she points out the window of the ride.

I stand up from my seat and look out the Kiss shaped window. Down on the ground are people holding up signs with letters on them. They all start running around and mixing themselves up. The signs go down while the people continue to move. Then, once all the people are standing in even rows, the signs start popping up again, one at a time.

B-A-I-L-E-Y-M-A-R-R-Y-U-S. The second R pops up, and I gasp. Once they are all up, I turn around and Andrew and Emerson are both down on their knees with boxes in their hands. Ella is standing next to us taping the whole thing on her iPhone.

“Bailey, I know I have a mommy already, but I was wishing that you would be my second mommy. I love you like a mommy already.” At this point, tears are streaming down my face. A stranger next to me hands me a tissue. I get down on my knees with Emerson.

“Nothing would make me happier than if I could be your second mommy. Thank you so much for asking me.” I swoon, pulling her into a hug.

“I picked this out for your bracelet. Now you’ll have a charm from me, and you can remember this day for always.”

I open the box. In it is a mother daughter charm, two tiny interlocked hearts.

“Oh Emerson, I love it,” I choke out a sob.

I grab her and hug her tight.

I feel Andrew’s hand on my shoulder. “My turn.” He takes his hand in mine and raises it up, so I stand. He stays kneeling in front of me.

“I knew from the moment I met you in college that you were the most beautiful woman in the world. I quickly fell hard for you when I got to know you more. We went our separate ways, and I will never forgive myself for the time I spent away from you. Now that I’m with you, now that I am so close to you, it’s unbearable to be away from you. I don’t want to wait to start my eternity with you.” He starts to get choked up. His next words come shakily. “You have opened my eyes to so many things. You have opened my heart again when I thought I’d never love again. You have opened your heart to my daughter. I would love nothing more than if you would be my wife. Be my real.”