Helena
As soon as Ali returned, the tension had broken and I managed to get a grip on myself. Dominick looked as sheepish as I felt, and we were able to put aside our mutual attraction and instead focus on a day of wholesome family fun.
"Guess what!" Ali called after we'd all been in the splash pond a while. Dominick and I looked down at her as she headed over, presenting us both with some sort of soggy flyer she'd found.
"What's this?" Dominick asked.
"Must be that new waterproof kind of paper," I said, looking at Ali. "It doesn't seem to work very well, does it?"
"Just read it," Ali said, rolling her eyes at my joke. "Can we? Can we?"
"No," Dominick said suddenly, startling both of us. We turned to him in surprise, and then he smiled. "We can't read it, because it's all wet."
Ali gave us both an exasperated look, as if to say these jokes are terrible, please stop trying to be funny now.
"Hey, you're the one who wanted a dad," I teased. "That means having to suffer through some dad jokes, I'm afraid."
"But you already say stuff like that all the time!"
"Yes, and now you'll hear twice as many of them," Dominick answered.
"Let that be a lesson to you," I said, and the two of us burst into laughter while Ali looked like she was contemplating who to headbutt first. "Okay, okay, fine. We're listening. But seriously, the paper is unreadable. What'd it say?"
To answer, Ali grabbed us both by the hands and practically dragged us out of the fountain with more strength than a girl that size had any right to have. "Here!" she said, letting us go and pointing to a stand with more flyers.
"You could've just called for us to come over, you know," I pointed out.
"I tried," Ali said. "But you guys seemed busy."
"Busy?" I asked, not sure of what she could mean. "We were just playing in the pond."
"Nuh-uh," Ali said, shaking her head. "You two were hardly playing at all. You were just staring at each other."
Dominick and I both blanched, making the same sort of awkward nothing-to-see-here cough as both of us tried to act innocent in the most guilty way imaginable. Thankfully Ali didn't seem to notice, and went on. "It's been hours!"
"Well, now I know you're just being silly," I said, checking my watch. "We only got here a few minutes ago, and—"
It was quarter to three, and we'd been here the better part of an hour.
That's impossible, I thought to myself, at a loss.
Thankfully Dominick knew exactly what to say. "So, what's this about?" he asked, grabbing a fresh flyer from the stand.
"They're showing a movie here tonight!" Ali said excitedly. "I ran into Sarah and Lenore, and they're going to be here for it. Can we watch too?"
Dominick tilted the paper towards me, allowing us both to read it at the same time.
Picnic Film Festival
Free Movies at Dusk, All Summer Long
This week:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
You Bring the Blanket
We Bring the Popcorn
"Can we?" Ali asked, grinning from ear to ear.
"I'm not sure," I said. "Dusk isn't for a long time, and I'm sure Dominick has other things to do today. We can't take up all his time, you know."
"Actually I do," Dominick said, and my heart sank. Despite having just said that we couldn't take all of his time, part of me had been hoping to do exactly that.
Ali looked as disappointed as I felt.
"I need to buy a nice thick blanket, for example," Dominick said coyly. "And snacks. And a picnic basket. And—"
As soon as Dominick said picnic basket, Ali squealed. "You mean we can do it?" she interrupted.
Dominick nodded, and Ali burst into a flurry of hyper excitement that—for once—I completely approved of. I couldn't jump around like that without a lot of confused looks and raising a whole bunch of questions, but at least I could let my daughter celebrate for me.
"You don't need to buy all that stuff, you know," I said. "We can make do. You've already spent so much, it doesn't seem right at all."
Dominick laughed, shaking his head. "Don't worry about money," he said. "Professional athlete, remember? I make more than enough. Besides, you guys have been keeping me out of trouble lately. I'm actually spending less than I used to."
"Still," I argued. "The principle…."
"The principle," Dominick said in a low voice. "Is that you've been paying for everything since the start, and I'd like to help."
"We both signed a contract. You're under no obligation to pay," I whispered. "You don't have to do this."
"I don't have to help you, but I'd like to. Isn't this what guys do for their families?" Dominick asked, his eyes locking straight onto mine and making my already-racing heart beat even faster.
He'd said something like that before, but that was different. Then, he'd been talking about being a father to Ali. Now, he was talking about me. Ali was his daughter, but what was I? Where did I fit into this family he was picturing?
Dominick had said we were keeping him out of trouble, but I didn't know if the reverse was true. Standing there and looking into his hungry eyes, I wondered if he was about to drag me into a whole world of trouble.
Glorious, wonderful trouble.
The kind I'd spent my entire life carefully avoiding.
The kind I'd spent every night this week longing for.
Trouble.
With a capital T.