“OK, come up here” I said to Vanessa as she crawled up to the front seat with me, “Conference time”
“I didn’t even do anything”
I laughed as I pulled her on my lap, “You need to be on your best behavior ok? Because Justin is very busy and you need to behave. Understand?” she nodded her head, “Say it sweetie. If you’re bad we’re going home without any pizza and we won’t get pizza for a whole month”
“I’ll be good. I promise” she said seriously, all I really had to do was threaten no more pizza and she’ll be an angel. I know she’s a good kid and she’s not going to act up but I don’t want to have to yell at her in front of Justin.
“Alright” I kissed her forehead, “Let’s go” I grabbed onto her hand and walked into the restaurant that is not exactly a pizza place. Well, they have pizza but it’s a little high class compared to the Pizza Hut we’re used to. I fixed her hair as we walked in and saw Justin waiting for us, I feel very underdressed for this.
“Are you hungry Vanessa?” Justin asked as we sat at a table
“Mmmhumm” she said as she started looking through the menu as if she could read it.
“I feel very underdressed,” I said as I looked around at the fancy restaurant
“Nah” Justin smiled, “Nobody’s dressed up. It’s just a restaurant. The cod is amazing”
“I thought we were getting pizza” Vanessa said as she dropped the menu
“You are getting pizza. Please don’t throw your menu” I said as I picked it up, “Do you want lemonade?”
“Orange soda”
“Lemonade or water?”
“Fine, lemonade”
I gave her a look and she stopped with the attitude. Justin let out a slight chuckle, “Do you want some wine?”
“Sure, but I don’t know much about wine so it’s all you”
“Alright then” Justin smiled as the waitress came to the table, “We’re going to have a lemonade for the little one and a bottle of the Cabernet Rose, and do you have any crayons or something?”
“Um… yeah I can find something” the waitress smiled as she walked away
“So are you in school Vanessa?”
“Yeah. Kindergarten. Today, I painted a butterfly but it’s cool because it’s on one of those things”
“Oh wow, cool” Justin smiled although he obviously has no idea what she’s talking about
“Yeah, so it’s cool. Right? Mommy, what’s it called? Those things?”
“A coffee filter Babe”
“Ooooooh yeah, one of those. And paint. And then you fold it in half” she clapped her hands together, “and then you open it up. And then you get a butterfly!’
“That’s awesome, maybe you can help me make one sometime”
“Yeah!” Vanessa said with a big smile, she’s really excited about it, “We could make a big one, like THIS big” she pulled her arms out
“Whoa, that’s pretty big Vanessa” I smiled
“I know, it would be scary huh? We could put it on the window, and people would drive by and be like ‘oh my god, there’s a big butterfly in the window! AHHH!”
“That would be pretty scary” Justin laughed
“They might call the big bug guy to come and get it, and then he’ll come in” she giggled, “and try to catch it but then he’ll find out it’s just a paper one and then he’ll laugh” she continued talking as did Justin but I just sat there, looking between the two of them. He’s really so good with her. I’ve never dated a guy that actually wants to spend time with her. I mean, I haven’t dated a lot of guys in general but the few that I have in the past 4 years have no wanted anything to do with her. One would pretend he’d care but then take us out to dinner and he’d just ignore her completely and roll his eyes if she said something that didn’t make sense.
Justin is different. I’m pleasantly surprised every time I see him. The sound of a glass breaking woke my from my thoughts, and I looked over to see Vanessa with her hands covering her mouth and lemonade all over the table and Justin’s lap.
“Vanessa” I said as I grabbed my napkin and started to wipe it up, “You need to be more careful”
“I didn’t do it on purpose” she made a face like she was ready to cry
“It’s ok sweetie, don’t worry about it” Justin said as he stood up and helped wipe up the mess on the floor, “It happens all the time”
“Mommy, it was a mistake”
“I know Booboo, it’s ok, just be careful” I said as I looked over at Justin who was just standing up, with a pile of wet napkins in his hands, and a wet lap, “Oh gosh, she got it all over you” I said with a chuckle as I grabbed another napkin and wiped his leg
“It’s alright, I was hot. You cooled me off, thanks Vanessa” he said with a smile, which made me smile. He’s so cute with her, “So what did you say your favorite animal is?”
“I saiiiidd… the panda”
“You know what? They have the coolest panda at the San Diego Zoo. We should go, they have such cool animals and every animal you could ever imagine”
“Do they have bunny rabbits?”
“Yeah, they sure do, and monkeys and penguins”
“Penguins?” she asked as her face lit up, “Real ones?”
“Yeah, it’s the biggest zoo in the whole world. They have everything” Justin said as he looked over at me, “Do you want to go sometime? I’m sorry, I should have asked you first”
I smiled, of course I would love to go to the zoo with him but I’m afraid he doesn’t really want to. How could he want to spend a day at the zoo with a five year old? “You really want to take us to the zoo?”
“I really do” he laughed, “It’s quite sad how much I want to. I haven’t been in… forever and I would love to take you girls. Please?”
“Really?”
“Really” he smiled
“Really, let’s go!” Vanessa shouted and we both laughed
“Babe, calm down we’re not going now”
“Tomorrow I have to work for a little bit and this needs to be a whole day thing so how about Sunday?”
“Yeah, that sounds good” I couldn’t stop smiling.
We finished dinner and he walked us to the car, “It was so nice to meet you Vanessa”
“Wanna come over and play Barbie’s?”
“Nessa…”
Justin chuckled, “I would love to but I can’t tonight, maybe some other time”
“Promise?”
“Of course sweetie”
“Thanks for dinner Justin. Nessa, did you say thank you?”
“Thank you” she said as she climbed into the back seat
“Thanks”
“It’s not a problem, thanks for coming” Justin smiled, “I’ll call you tomorrow then about the zoo?” I nodded my head, “I don’t have your number” he chuckled
“Oh, that could help” I laughed as I gave him my number, “Thanks again, we had fun”
“Yeah, I had fun too. Thanks for coming”
“Sorry about your pants”
“It’s not a problem” he chuckled, “I’ll call you tomorrow” I nodded my head and he moved in and gave me a quick kiss. The first kiss. I felt my knees go weak. I saw the fireworks. I didn’t think that was possible, “Alright,” he smiled, “I’ll call you”
“Bye. Thanks”
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