“That’s a good life lesson,” I said.
“That’s what he said too. But in the end, he did let me watch it, so that was nice.”
Again, this was another indicator that Matt was taking great pains to not raise a spoiled kid. I really respected him for it, and was pleased to hear that although he had strong principles, he didn’t let them turn him into a hard ass. He taught Will the importance of being patient, but still let him watch the movie that the boy really wanted to see.
It was the perfect balance, and the sort of thing that made for a great parent.
I settled back into the couch and watched as Will started going through the list of new releases, but was too distracted by how impressed I was with Matt to really provide much input.
ChapterSix
MATT
It wasn’t that I had anything against the idea of Stephanie sitting down to watch the movie with us.
It was obviously what Will wanted, and so I was happy to make an exception to our ‘no guests’ allowed rule. Still, there was a part of me that was surprised by how quickly he invited her into our little ritual. I couldn’t help but feel slightly threatened, but I quickly pushed those emotions down and focused on the positives.
The fact that he invited Stephanie meant that he had already really connected with her, and she’d been here less than a week! That was an objectively good thing. And to her credit, she did try to her best not to impose on our night, which was another point in her favor. There were a lot of pros and not too many cons, so I chalked the whole night up to being a net positive and moved on from my bruised ego. I finished up with dinner right on time, and then asked Will to help me get everything set up at the table. We didn’t actually eat at the table on movie nights, that’s just where we laid out the plates and the assembly line of food. After getting everything we wanted, we would then take our meals into the living room and eat while watching TV. Something my parents hadneverlet my brothers and I do.
Stephanie seemed a little surprised to see that’s what we were doing as well, but pleasantly so. When she came into the kitchen and saw how everything was organized, she smiled and grabbed a plate. “I love me a good TV dinner,” she said. “And this looks a lot better than the frozen ones my grandmother used to have.”
I laughed. “If it’s not, then something has gone horribly wrong.”
I got in line behind her and watched as she filled her plate with pasta, salad, and bread, not afraid to take as much of each as she wanted. She really was making herself at home, and I was so glad to see it.
Once our plates were full, the three of us adjourned into the living room and Will got the movie started. It was a cartoon about a family fighting to save the world. I hadn’t seen it before, but apparently Stephanie had. Will had watched part of it at a friend’s house but didn’t get to catch the ending. It was funny, and goofy, but with some real jokes in there for adults to appreciate. At the halfway point, Stephanie leaned forward in the chair she was sitting on and put her plate down on the coffee table. Our eyes met for a second and she smiled at me.
I felt my heart beat a little faster inside my chest.
God, she was pretty.
She sat back and trained her eyes once again on the TV, so I did the same, though it was hard to stay focused on the rest of the movie. My mind kept wandering back to her, and my gaze would every once in a while disobey my brain and lock onto her profile. Inappropriate thoughts raced through my mind as I tried my hardest to push them away, and then before I knew it, the end credits were rolling and Will was asking me what I thought.
“It was good,” I said. “I, uh, was surprised by what happened at the end.”
He frowned. “You didn’t think the good guys were going to win?”
“Wha—I don’t know. Sometimes they don’t.” I checked the time on my watch. “Would you look at that, it’s almost eight! That movie was longer than I was expecting. Why don’t you go up and get ready for bed?”
“But my bedtime on Fridays isn’t until 9:15.”
“I know,” I said. “But I figured you’d want to read a little before then.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
“So go up and brush your teeth and put your pjs on and then you’ll have a whole hour to read. Sound good?”
He smiled. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
I kissed him on the forehead and ruffled his hair. “I’ll be up in a little bit to check on you.”
“Alright,” he said. “Goodnight Stephanie!”
“Goodnight,” she said, smiling at him as he ran up the stairs. “Sleep tight.” Once he was gone, she got out of her chair and started collecting all our plates.
“Oh please don’t,” I said.
“It’s the least I could do,” she said. “You made dinner, let me clean up.”