Kylie
A week later, I walk with Ben through a local park. “You’ve been picking all these dates and surprises; I figure I better up my game,” I say, trying to look casual in my black cotton T-shirt and blue jeans. “You’ve suffered through multiple dealings with my family. Time to pay the piper.”
“Am I the piper, because I know how I’d like to get my payment?”
We’re out in public, standing by a tree, and he still grabs a handful of my ass in these designer jeans.
“Nice,” I hear his sister bark as she uses one hand to cover her son’s eyes. “You can’t afford a room with all that money you have?”
“Bianca?” he coughs out, quickly stepping back from me. “What are you doing here?”
“Apparently showing up at an awkward moment.”
“I invited them. And they invited a few of your buddies. We’re hanging at the park this morning. A picnic. Toss the ball around. Normal people stuff.” I reach into my bag and pull out a foam football.
“We’re celebrating something?” Ben looks excited but confused.
“Nope. I just thought it would be a nice way to spend the day. Was I wrong?”
“It’s perfect. You packed a picnic? I have a big family and loads of buddies.”
“Yeah, so I discovered. I hired some help. I figured they are more up to the task than I am.” I lead him down the small hill toward a huge set of tables covered with crisp red and white checkered linen. It’s a fancy setup for a picnic but it’s beautiful. “It’s Mr. and Mrs. Dias. They were excited to bring the Barista Bungalow food to the park.”
“An homage to our first date.”
“How am I doing so far?”
“If you can survive my sisters you’ll win the Most Amazing Date contest.” He pulls me in and kisses my forehead. Two of his sisters laugh at us. “Seriously, you ready for them?”
“They care about you. They should scrutinize the people in your life.”
“It’s more like they enjoy watching me suffer and love finding new ways to embarrass me.”
“I do feel like I’m owed some dorky childhood photographs of you. Penny showed you mine.”
“You can count on that. Plus, some of my friends have known me since elementary school. They’ll have plenty of salacious stories about my awkward years.”
“Can’t wait.”
I do the rounds with the sisters, and they’re not nearly as bad as I thought. They’re polite, but protective of their brother. Understandable. I see them throw a couple thumbs up Ben’s way when they think I’m not looking and take that as a good sign.
“These are the guys,” Ben says, exchanging handshakes and fist bumps with three men in shorts and T-shirts. “Sean, Mitch, and Dan. I’ll refrain from using their nicknames in hopes they’ll pay me the same courtesy.”
“Fat chance, Biscuits.”
“That’s not your nickname,” I chuckle, clutching his arm sympathetically. “Tell me it’s not.”
“He came by it honestly,” Dan announces. “Won a county fair contest and everything.”
“So much for no nicknames,” Ben says, punching Dan’s shoulder. “I was much better to you when you brought Sally around for the first time.”
“You were pretty good to all our wives,” Sean admits. “We should go easy on him. He made a great groomsman too.”
“You were in their weddings?” I picture Ben in a tux standing at the end of the aisle and feel my stomach flutter with excitement.
“Always the bridesmaid,” Ben says pitifully.
Bianca comes around and hugs each of them as though they’re family. A tight, familiar embrace with little jokes between. Another sister, Becky I think, comes by and hands out some beers. They all resemble each other, and I’m working hard to keep them straight. The sun is bright and the conversations are loaded with old stories and endless belly laughs.
Dan, Mitch, and Sean are all lounging around the now-cleared picnic table, nursing beers and ribbing each other.
“So Kylie, you don’t mind dating a nerd?” Dan asks, looking perfectly serious.
Always quick with a quip, I dive right in. “I had my reservations but my computer jammed the other day and having a nerd around turned out to be pretty handy.”
“I wasn’t such a nerd that time you started a bar fight in Dallas. I saved your ass.”
“I’ll give you that, you’re always good when punches start getting thrown.” Sean clinks his beer against Ben’s. “If you weren’t already named Biscuits we might have called you Slugger.”
“Should we really get into names McGroin?” Ben gives a smug smile as everyone seems to surrender.
The kids are chasing bubbles and screeching each time they’re successful in catching one. You don’t usually get any sort of warning when you’re about to do something for the last time. There’s no party. No parade. No acknowledgement at all. I rarely get nostalgic. But today with the sounds and sights of an easy day at the park, I try to replay some of the memories of my “last times.”
“You did well planning this date,” Ben whispers into my hair as he slings an arm over my shoulder. The goodbyes begin and much to my surprise I get hugged by just about everyone. More hugs than I’ve allowed in years. But it’s nice.
“Everyone seemed really nice,” I say as we drive back toward the Tower.
“They are nice. We should meet some of your friends sometime.”
“When I make some I’ll invite them.” I rest my head on his shoulder and laugh. “You really trust them?”
“Do I trust my family and my oldest friends? Yes.”
“You’d trust them with what?”
“With my life. My family. Anything.”
“Like your bank account numbers and pin codes?” I ask as though it’s laughable, but he doesn’t hesitate.
“Dan is my financial advisor, and I give him access to anything he wants. I got sick of putting all the information together so he goes in and gets it himself.”
“You’re not even the least bit worried by that?”
“No.”
“How?”
“Because three years ago my sister Becky and her kids were in Florida. A hurricane came through and it was bad. Fifteen people were killed. Flooding. Becky’s husband was on business and not supposed to meet them until the weekend. Power was out, and we couldn’t reach them.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“It was. I didn’t know it, but Dan was in Georgia visiting his in-laws. He heard the girls were down there and called me when he was halfway there. I had been trying to get a private flight anywhere even close. I kept striking out and was planning to start driving that way from Boston if I had to.”
“He just went? You didn’t even ask him to go?”
“I didn’t have to.”
“And he found them?”
“The hotel was flooded and evacuated. It took him four more hours to track them down. They lost all their suitcases in flood water; they were scared and tired. Dan scooped them up and drove them back to his in-laws in Georgia. They took them in for the rest of their vacation and made it special.”
I don’t reply because I don’t know exactly how to marry my skepticism with that obvious act of love.
“Mitch’s dad was diagnosed with colon cancer. It didn’t look good for him. My sister’s husband works at the hospital and got him into a clinical trial. Saved his life. We’ve all been through our shit. There is almost always something you can do to help if you try. It’s nice to have people who keep trying.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Mitch, Dan, and Sean are good men.”
“You fit right in.”
“I’ve been successful, but I know if that wall crumbles, my life will be full. They’ll still be there.”
“That must be a nice feeling.”
“Kylie, you can absolutely make it through life alone. You’re living proof of how successful you can be on your own. But I think it’s important to know you don’t have to. It’s not a fork in the road where you have to choose one way or the other. It’s not self-preservation or loyal friends. You can have both. As a matter of fact, you can find people who are watching your back so every now and then you don’t have to have your guard up.”
I want to tell him that is pie in the sky, magical thinking. But I believe him. In spite of myself and all my life experiences up to this moment, I believe him. And that scares the hell out of me.