Tears sprung to her eyes. "I want us to be forever, too, Travis."
He smiled gently and nodded. "Good." He brushed her hair back and rested his hand along her jaw. Every muscle in her body relaxed when his lips touched hers. They kissed passionately until they lost track of time.
"Ahem." Arden stood on tiptoe to look over Travis's shoulder. Mark was there in the doorway. "Not in my den, kids," he said.
Travis turned and grinned. "Sorry, sir," he said. Arden led him back to the family room where everyone had gathered.
For the rest of the day Arden kept quiet as Travis interacted with her family. He flirted lightly with her mother and aunt. He played a game of Sorry with her little cousins. He smoked cigars in the den with her father and uncle. Her father even promised to take Travis out for a round of golf when the weather got warmer.
As she drove him home that night, she was in awe of how easily he had fit in. And he hadn't had to change a thing about himself. She didn't stay with him that night. He had his hands full with the baby and she wanted to go home and reflect on her day in a peaceful, solitary hot bath.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Dustin sat stiff as a board on the couch in the living room of the Harris home. This was the ninth date. The ninth. And apparently everything he'd talked to Emma about on the sixth date had gone right out of her pretty little head.
The seventh date had gone well. Just dinner and a movie. Nothing fancy. But lots of talking and hand-holding. Just what he had wanted. No pressure. Just spending time with his girl, getting to know her. And then the eighth date came along and they went bowling with her parents and one other middle aged couple. It was horrible. Emma seemed perfectly at ease, but Dustin didn't know, nor care to know, any of these people. Not that they weren't nice. He just wasn't a social person and all he wanted was to be with Emma.
Now this ninth date. Family game night at the Harris home. They had just wrapped up a rousing game of Yahtzee and were now sitting back with coffee and fixing to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Emma handed him a perfectly prepared cup of coffee, cream, no sugar, just how he liked. And he wondered how the hell she already knew how he took his coffee. He set the cup on the table next to the couch.
Emma sat next to him and linked her arm with his. She was completely oblivious to his discomfort. Pastor Harris sat in his armchair with the remote. Mrs. Harris sat on the other side of Emma. Dustin felt like something was strangling him. Everywhere he looked there were bridal catalogs and parenting magazines laying on table tops or stuffed in the couch cushions like porn.
Dustin didn't know how he managed to sit through the whole movie, but after what felt like years, it was finally over. Emma was crying into his sleeve even though she'd probably seen the movie a dozen times. Mrs. Harris dabbed at her own eyes with a tissue.
"These women," Pastor Harris said to Dustin, "they cry at the drop of a hat."
Dustin forced a laugh. He started to put his arm around Emma's shoulders, but she had dried her eyes and was on her feet about to pour him another cup of coffee. "No, Emma...thank you, but no more for me."
She replaced the coffee carafe with a smile. "Would you like another piece of cake?"
"No, thank you. I think I'm going to head home." He stood before anyone could object.
Mrs. Harris stood with him. "I do hope you'll join us for our big family Christmas dinner. After all, you're practically family too, now, aren't you?"
Dustin smiled as politely as he could. "I'll see if I can make it," he said. Then he turned to Emma. "Would you walk me out?" he asked.
"Of course," she said.
Dustin couldn't believe the relief he felt getting out of that Stepford house. Everything was too perfect. Not that that was bad. He just couldn't figure it out. He needed to be able to explain it to Emma and he just couldn't put it into words.
He breathed in the cold winter air and reveled in the sting of it in his nose and lungs. It was so stuffy in that house. "Hey," he said, turning to Emma. "You want to go up to Rowdy's and have a drink?"
"To a bar?" Emma asked incredulously. "No, I don't think so. I don't think my parents would like that."
"Well I'm not dating your parents. I'm dating you."
"Yeah, but when you marry, you marry the whole family."
"Fuck, Emma!" he turned and shoved his hand through his hair. "I'm not talking about marriage. I'm talking about you and me going out for a drink and just hanging out. Like two normal people."
Emma stood there wide-eyed. "If you don't like my rules, then..."
"This has nothing to do with your rules. We'll go have coffee at Sweet Nothings, then."