“Dad?”  Vanessa called when she opened the front door, catching Jesse’s front paws as he jumped at her, excited at her arrival.  “We’re home.”  She stopped short in the living room.

“That’s a good way to get run over,” Gram said.  “What in the hell’s going on in here?  Do you think your dad is trying to get lucky?”

Both women scanned the room while Riley watched from the shadow in the hallway.  Riley focused on Vanessa’s face and had to fight the urge to run to her.  He saw her take in the room full of flowers.  Candles danced their light around the room.  A small table had been set up in the center.  Two place settings awaited service of her favorite meal from the local Mexican restaurant.  She looked at the ice bucket to the left that chilled two Dr Peppers and a pint of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. 

“Daddy,” Vanessa called.  “What did you do?”

“He didn’t,” Riley said, stepping out of the shadow.  “I did.” 

Vanessa closed her eyes and took about three deep breaths. 

“Damn, Nessie, who’s the hunk?”  Gram, all of five-foot nothing, walked right up to Riley.  “I’m Vanessa’s grandmother,” she said, taking his arm.  “But you can call me Gram.  Everyone else does, even the ones at Bunko.  You know, some of those bitties are older than I am and they still call me that?  Probably think it’s my name or something.  Gosh, some of ‘em are so stupid.  If my mind wasn’t going, I’d give ‘em a piece of it.”  She tapped her temple.  “But from what they tell me, I ain’t got much to spare.  I gotta keep all I can.”

“Gram!” Vanessa tried.

“I’m not too dim to see that you’re a catch.  Whuddya want with my Nessie?  You wanna get in her pants? ‘Cause if I were her, I’d let you.”

Vanessa gasped.  “GRAM!” She walked toward her grandmother and gently guided her toward the hallway.  “Remember, you said you wanted to watch your trashy show?”

“Oh yeah, that’s where I’ve seen you.” She brushed past Vanessa and stood next to Riley.  “You were with my Nessie in that picture they flashed on TV the other night.  You’re the one my son was so upset about.”

“Yes,” Riley conceded.  “That would be me.”

Gram squinted her eyes at Riley, as if to read his face.  “So, I’m betting you already got in her pants and you want some more.  Hey, don’t let me stop you.” 

Gram grabbed Jesse’s collar and started down the hall, but she turned back to Riley.  “Hey, weren’t you in that movie with all those boys taking off their clothes, shakin’ your goodies?”

Riley laughed.  “No, ma’am.  That was…”

“Yeah, I think it was you.”  She walked around the back of Riley, surveying his body.  “Well, maybe not.  I’d never forget a butt like that.”

Vanessa covered her face with her hands.  “Oh my God, GRAM!  ENOUGH!”

Gram turned to face Vanessa.  “Jeez, that could have been awkward.  We would’ve both seen your Honey’s naked tushy.”  Vanessa groaned.  “You go ahead, Nessie.  He’s too studly to pass up.”  Riley jumped and let out a laugh when she patted Riley’s butt and waddled down the hallway, following Jesse, shut her door after his tail cleared the doorway.

Riley watched Vanessa watch her grandmother disappear into her room.  He became a little impatient when she didn’t turn to face him or even look at him.  He stepped gingerly toward her and reached out to grab her hand.

“No,” she stepped away and held her hand up. 

“No?”  He blinked, thinking he misheard her. 

“Don’t.  And don’t speak.  I appreciate that you came all this way, but I just can’t.  Please just go.”

“Really?”  He waited again, hoping she would say something else.  He decided he’d try lightening the tension and try to get her to smile.  “I was just sexually harassed and molested by your grandmother.  You kinda owe me at least eye contact.” 

She didn’t answer.  He waited, but she didn’t even move.

“You’re serious?”  Riley could feel his emotions rising to the surface, just not the ones he expected to feel tonight.  “This is how you are going to play this, Vanessa?”  He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.  He almost backed down when he saw the surprised, almost fearful expression on her face, then he thought of how they ended up here, and he got angrier.  “You are going to hear me out, Vanessa Lynn Taylor.”  He let her go and began pacing.  “Now you’ve really pissed me off.  I tried all these lame romantic gestures,” he motioned toward the table, “but I see they did no good.  Why?  Because you are so friggin’ stubborn.  You will believe what you want to believe.  But know this:  I have given you NO reason to think the worst of me.  Charles, who I fired right before I punched him in the nose when we figured out what he said to you, does not speak for me.  You didn’t even give me a chance.  You didn’t wait for me to tell you that he was totally wrong.  You didn’t ask.  No.  You just left.  So I guess I just came to tell you that you broke our deal.  The one where we PROMISED to never believe the worst of each other again.”

“You really didn’t expect me to…”

“I didn’t expect for you to tell me to leave!” he screamed.  Then his pacing started.  “It doesn’t matter how perfect we are together, does it?”  He paused briefly to look at her, surprised that she showed no emotion.  “It doesn’t matter that we fit, that we are comfortable.”  He stopped and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him.  He softened his features and continued.   “It doesn’t matter that I think about you every second of the day, or that I can’t sleep or eat.”  He released her chin and grabbed both hands.  “It doesn’t matter how amazing I think you are.  All the other times I told you what you meant to me, it didn’t matter, so why should it now?”  He dropped her hands and continued pacing.  ”No.  YOU get to be selfish!  YOU get to run away.  To hell with MY feelings!  To hell with ME!”  He jammed his thumb in his chest.  “Look around, Vanessa.  Does THIS look like the workings of a man who doesn’t give a FUCK about you?”  He waved his arms around the room.  “Granted, I had help with the details, but if I truly didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here at all.  I would have let you walk away forever, even though I KNOW you are in love with me.”  He threw up his hands and lowered his voice.  “But no.  I had to have some harebrained scheme to come here to convince you that I love you, too.”  He focused on her face.  Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes widened and eyebrows raised.

“Oh.  My.  God.”  Vanessa breathed.

“What?  You can’t be shocked by that information.”

“Melvin Riley Tate.  You cursed.  Your momma would be so pissed.”

He looked at her disbelievingly.  He looked around the room at the ridiculous attempt he had made to woo her.  He looked back at her face, and it deflated his anger. “I sincerely hope that’s not all you heard.”  He saw a change in her expression, but she quickly covered her face with her hands.  When she turned away from him, he added, “Do you really not have any faith in me?”  She didn’t answer.  “Well then, I see this was a really bad idea.”  He took a step and reached out for her but dropped his hand quickly.  If he saw that she was crying, it would kill him.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly like she had done countless times before. 

“You might want to have a talk with your dad,” he said finally.  “Oh, yeah.  By the way, I met him, and you know what?  The world didn’t end.  And he seems to believe that I love you.  And it took less than ten minutes to convince him.”  He swallowed.  “Talk to him.  You two have a lot to discuss.”  He paused, reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of folded up pieces of paper.  “Here, I think it’s time you had my number.  Please make sure you look at it.”  He walked over and dropped the paper on the table, then headed toward the door and opened it.  “You know, you didn’t tell me goodbye when you left, so I’m not going to say it, either.  Vanessa, when you allow yourself to believe what I just said, you can come find me.”  He looked back at her one last time.  “I really hope to hear from you soon.”  He took two steps, then paused and ran his hands over his face in exasperation.  “Please, God, just believe that I love you.”  He walked out and gently closed the door.

He walked toward where he parked the car behind the house, and found Emily, Darby and Officer Taylor sitting on the back porch. 

“Come on.  We’re going home.”

Darby stood and walked toward the car.  “Without Vanessa?”

Riley opened the car door.  “Yes.”

“I think I should stay here to talk to Vanessa,” Emily said.

“If you want to stay, fine.  But please don’t try to convince her of anything.”

“But you said that…”

“I know what I said, but it’s not going to work right now.  She will resist anything you have to say.  Anyway, I don’t want to have to convince her that I love her.  Either she has faith in me,” he started the car, “or she doesn’t.  She has to figure it out on her own.”

“I don’t know, Riley.  She’s pretty stubborn,” Emily said skeptically as she climbed into the back seat.  “Are you sure you want to leave?”

“I think he knows my daughter better than I thought,” Robert Taylor added, obviously impressed. 

“Just so you know, Mr. Taylor, I told her you had some things to tell her.  Please tell her what you told me about you and her mom.  I think it will help.”

Officer Taylor shook Riley’s hand, and Riley closed the car door and drove away.

***

Never had Riley been so glad to walk into his home.  The real-life emotional roller coaster was bad enough, but reliving it for Darby and Emily was equally no fun.  The explanation came with doubts that he handled things correctly and fear that he made a huge mistake.  Then after almost three hours waiting in the Houston airport, two flight changes, getting recognized four times, one of which did not end well, and taking both Darby and Emily home, he was completely exhausted.  At almost six in the morning, he walked straight to his room.  He considered diving into bed, but something about airports and airplanes and the grime associated with both convinced him to shower quickly.  He dried off, turned off his alarm and fell into bed without bothering to get dressed. 

He’d hoped for restful sleep, but his hopes were dashed.  He tossed and turned, dozing intermittently; the dreams were horrible, whether they were good or bad.  If a dream was good, he’d wake up disappointed that it was a dream.  If it was bad, he’d wake thinking it was real.  Finally, he decided to take a shot of tequila, a trick he used in college when he had an exam the next day he worried about failing.  But this time, he took a double shot to really get the job done.  And then two more double shots.  It worked like a charm.  By seven, he finally passed out, unsure he ever wanted to wake up.