"Not a chance. I asked you to dinner, made you cancel your plans, and I'm paying." I tell her.
"But you came into the city, so I should pay," she pouts.
"I was here anyway, meeting with a supplier, and there was no way I was passing up a chance to hang out with you."
"Okay, but I'm buying ice cream," she says.
"Deal," I agree.
We always go for a walk after dinner and end up at the handmade ice cream place, where we get a cone and eat it while walking the rest of downtown.
I love our little routines and look forward to them.
Walking downtown tonight, with the air cooling off, and the lights on Main Street, shining in the dark, reminds me of the promise we made to each other a few years ago.
Every day we were watching her mom die a little more from cancer, and it was the worst time in both of our lives. Her parents were like a second mom and dad to me, so it was hard to see. Because her parents started a family late and were older, when the surprise pregnancy happened, she was their only child.
One night, Kaylee said she wanted to start a family young and have a few kids. I agreed with her, and at that moment, we made a promise. If neither of us were married by the time we were thirty-two, we'd marry each other and start a family within a year.
She made me promise and gave me a huge list of reasons why I should agree. What she didn't know was I didn't need all of those reasons, because I'd have agreed the moment it came out of her mouth, if she had let me. That night, Kaylee sealed her fate.
I have been in love with this girl for as long as I can remember. Her going off to college put space between us, but I think it was for the best. We were both still young, and I was taking over the family ranch, while she was getting her degree. At that time, I don't think it would have worked out.
But then, we made that vow her senior year, and she became mine that night, even if she doesn't know it. Though really, she has always been mine, but I promised myself that night I'd make sure of it. She had things she wanted and desired to do, and I needed to get our life set up for us.
As we eat our ice cream and walk, I fight the urge to take her hand in mine and to lick the ice cream off the corner of her mouth. She has made it clear that she has friend zoned me, and I'm good with that for now. Neither of us is ready to settle down just yet.
But she has always been mine and always will be.