Page 52 of Truth or More Truth
Emily’s head bobs up and down, making her red curls bounce. “I do. He’s nice.” She thinks for a minute before continuing, “I think I’d like it if he was my daddy someday.”
“I bet he would make a great daddy.” I truly mean it, and for both Emily’s sake and Andrea’s, I hope he doesn’t keep fighting his feelings.
twenty-one
. . .
“Spill every last one of your beans,” Wendy demands as I watch Emily pull Bobby onto the dance floor.
My eyes can’t leave the two of them. He’s so sweet with her, I can barely stand it. Then I register what song is playing, and I feel like my heart is going to explode. He had to have asked the DJ to play “Hey Baby,” because the timing is too perfect for a coincidence.
Wendy’s fingers snap in front of my face, and I turn to look at her as her focus shifts back to the dancing, and the hand that was just in front of my face is now pressed over her heart. I look back at the dance floor, where Bobby has picked Emily up and is now dancing her across the floor as they have an animated discussion. I’m pretty sure I know what they’re discussing.
“Look at them,” Wendy says.“Look at them!”
“I’m looking.” I move to the nearest table without taking my eyes off Bobby and Emily, and I plop down into a chair.
“That might just be the most precious thing I have ever seen in all my years,” Wendy states as she drags a chair next to mine and takes a seat.
“I …,” I have trouble finding the words to describe what I’m feeling. “I’m floored by the way he interacts with her. It’s like he’s known her forever. Until tonight, I never had one thought of Bobby interacting with a small child, butlookat him. He’s going to make a great dad someday.”
“Mmhm,” is Wendy’s only response.
As we watch them in rapt silence, their discussion seems to turn serious, and my eyes fill with tears when her little head lays down on his shoulder and he rests his cheek on her hair.
“I’m pretty sure every woman in the room is getting pregnant just from watching that,” Wendy says, breaking my reverie.
I burst into laughter. “That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard you say. And you say some weird stuff.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Wendy says as she turns to face me. “Okay, now spill.”
I shrug. “In a nutshell, we stopped fighting our feelings.”
Wendy’s hands shoot up to cover her mouth as she screams, and then she leans over to wrap me in a hug. “Yesssss! I knew it!”
“I don’t want to move too fast, though,” I say. “We both need to share the things we’ve been holding back from one another. I know you said I can handle whatever he’s going to tell me, but you might not know everything. And what if he doesn’t like what I have to tell him about what happened with Jeremy?”
Wendy places a hand on mine. “I think he’ll be understanding about everything, but you won’t know until you lay it all out there. And you’re right, I probably don’t know all the details of what he’s keeping from you. But I think if you keep an open mind and remember what you know about the kind of man he is, it’ll work out. There might be some bumps—who am I kidding, therewillbe some bumps—but if you think he’s worth it, you can get through it.”
We look back at Bobby and Emily. He has now set her on her feet, he’s twirling her around, and her head is thrown back in laughter.
“I can’t even take it!” Wendy says dramatically with her hand pressed to her chest again. “They are so totally adorable.”
When the song ends, Bobby takes Emily’s hand and escorts her to Randall, who is sitting at the table next to ours talking to Diego. I wonder how much of our conversation the two men overheard.
I don’t have much time to contemplate it, though, because Bobby then comes directly to me, holds his hand out and says, “Let’s go get some air.”
As I stand, Wendy says with a snort, “Air. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Then she laughs like a hyena as we walk away, shaking our heads at her.
Bobby wordlessly leads me out into the lobby and checks out the options. An open door leads down a hallway toward the kitchen, but it’s not private. Another short hallway leads to the bathrooms. Our only other option inside the building is a closed door. Bobby looks around to ensure we’re alone before trying the knob. It opens, and he pulls me into the dimly lit space before shutting the door behind me.
We’re in an office with a small window. I don’t have time to notice anything else before Bobby turns and presses my back against the closed door. He dips his head so he can look directly into my eyes.
“Last chance to back out,” he says gruffly with his lips mere inches away from mine. He moves his hands so they’re braced on the door on either side of my head. Being trapped has never felt so good.
“I’m not backing anywhere,” I say as I crook my index fingers into his belt loops and pull him into me. “I dare you to kiss me.”
But he doesn’t.
