"She was in a car accident with Plum. Somehow Plum made it out just fine. Not a single scrape, but Beth, she didn't survive. It was fast."
"And you were married?" Meadow asks.
"We'd been high school sweethearts. Knew each other most of our lives and we were dating senior year. She got pregnant. But we were young and in love and felt like we could do anything. So we did. We got married and our parents had opinions, but I've always been the kind of person who, once I put my mind to something, it's hard to dissuade me."
Meadow smiles. "That's a good quality. You know what you want. You know who you are."
"Yeah," I say. "What about you, Meadow? Do you know who you are?"
"For a long time I thought I was just the product of my parents. I didn't quite see myself as separate from my family, but now I do. Now I know that I have dreams that don't just consist of me singing songs with my guitar. I want to be settled somewhere. I want to put down roots."
The room goes still. Our voices hushed. It's just the two of us and hell, we can talk as loud as we want, but Meadow's energy is graceful, gentle. I feel like when she talks, it's a big old hug wrapping around me.
"I'm sorry if kissing you was too forward," I tell her. "I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. I know my life is a lot and..."
"No," Meadow says. She presses a hand to my chest. "I don't want you to apologize. That kiss was everything." She licks her lips now. "I think you're an incredible man and I think you're lucky to have such a great family."
"I like that family means a lot to you too.” I chuckle. “Your dad, he didn’t give me the fifth degree. I was worried he might. Those triplets though, they are a handful!”
Meadow smiles. “Yeah. They’re a handful.” She reaches into her tote bag and begins pulling out lettuce, peppers, an onion, and a bottle of wine. "They're crazy but I love them," she says. "They're the three Js."
"What do they play in the band?" I ask her.
She grins. "The banjo, the harmonica, and the ukulele."
"Eclectic," I say. I pull out the chicken from the fridge that I had been marinating for the last few hours and some vegetable kabobs. "You want to come outside?" I ask her. "We can fire up the grill."
A few minutes later the meat and vegetables are cooking and we're each holding a glass of red wine. I watch as Meadow tosses the salad. She tells me she made the dressing and I like that. She reminds me of my mom in that way. Clearly knows her way around the kitchen, but not just that. She is confident in a way that isn't loud or demanding. Like she's comfortable in her own skin.
"So," I say once the food's ready and we're sat down at my kitchen table. "Can I make a toast?"
"To what?" Meadow asks, lifting her wine glass.
"To first chapters."
"To fairy tales," Meadow says. She smiles softly and I know she's thinking about what Plum said this afternoon, about Rapunzel. Our glasses clink and we each take a drink before picking up our forks and beginning to eat.
"I kind of want to know everything about you," I say.
She laughs. "Okay. Well, I already told you my hobbies, something I'd like to make into a career. My family means everything to me."
"What's it like living in a RV?"
"It's awesome in a lot of ways. We get to see new places all the time. When my dad got laid off from work, I was probably like ten years old and my parents decided to heck with it. We were already being homeschooled and our life had always been kind of simple, so we just decided to hit the road as a band. We never looked back. When we got older, Nate married Jessica, that's my sister-in-law, and they bought their own RV so then we had two. And I don't know, we've just always been on the road."
"That's crazy," he says. "Not in a bad way, in a brave way."
"Yeah. I have a feeling my parents are just going to keep driving around this country for the rest of their lives. They love it, and I must admit, it’s a really cool childhood. I always got to see new places, meet new people. It helped me grow up. I never was scared of the unknown because every week or two, we’d be in a new place at a new campground, starting over. Playing music, enjoying music festivals and summer concerts. I feel pretty lucky."
"I want to take Plum camping this summer," I tell her. "We haven't done a proper camping trip yet and I think she's ready."