Forget Me (Hampton Harbor) (12 page)

Wear the black dress this time.

Smile and call his parents Mr. and Mrs. Davey.

Remember, no alcohol.

No boys in the house.

I laughed loudly at the last part once I had hung up the phone.
Yes, I am definitely starting to feel like a sixteen-year-old girl with my
first boyfriend.

The black dress we bought at the mall is a simple sheath dress. It
has an older, more formal, silhouette to it, and I can see why Marie wants me
to wear it. The dress is appropriate enough for a dinner party with Will's
family, but casual enough for every day summer wear. For all I know, the women
in his family will be wearing shorts, so I don’t want to overdress. I curl the
ends of my hair with Marie's curling iron and pull the thick locks over my
shoulder.

I'm just slipping on my black sandals when the doorbell rings. For
the second time since we started dating, Will is picking me up by car. The
first time was this morning for our hike. Normally I meet him in town after
work, or he picks me up in his boat.

"How conventional," I tell him as I slip into his black
SUV. "Picking me up in a car, and even walking up to the door like a gentleman."

Will reaches over and takes my hand, holding it right in my lap.
He steals a glance at me. "Feels a little bit boring, now, doesn't
it?"

I laugh. “I’m not so sure you know
how
to be boring.”

Will's parents live in a beachside home close to the marina. He
lives in the guesthouse that sits on the property, in a modest apartment that
he pays rent for. I haven’t been inside just yet, even though he’s invited me.
I know being alone with him in his apartment will lead us deeper into our
relationship, and I can’t decide if I am ready for that or not.

Will turns into a wide driveway and we pull in front of a large,
white house. It’s three stories, with a variety of roof peaks and large
windows. It’s beautiful, and I have to peel my eyes away just to climb out of
the car. Will meets me at the front of his SUV and takes my hand. He is wearing
nice jeans and a button up shirt, and his hair is combed nicely. We travel up a
wide set of stairs to the front doors, which are on the second story, and we’re
greeted by a stunning, older woman. She is wearing a yellow sundress with a flower
of the same color clipped into her hair.

She grabs my shoulders and kisses both of my cheeks. "You
must be Jane," she says. "I'm Anna, William's mother."

I step into the foyer and shake her hand all in the same motion.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Davey."

She waves a hand at me and scoffs. "Did Marie tell you to
call me that? She knows how much that bothers me. Mrs. Davey is my
mother-in-law. Please, call me Anna."

She ushers Will through the front door and I barely have time to
take in the house as we are moved to the kitchen. The second floor is
completely open, and the entire back wall is covered in windows. There is a
stone fireplace to the right, with a large TV hung above the mantel. To the
left is the kitchen, which takes up almost half of the floor. There is a
breakfast nook off the back of the house, with a large bench seat table.
Through an open doorway behind the kitchen, I catch a glimpse of a large dining
room.

"William is here," Anna trills to a group of people sitting
in the breakfast nook.

Will’s family.

I recognize Will's father, and James, and a younger boy with the
same hair color as Anna's, but with Mr. Davey's features. Lincoln.

A pretty blonde approaches me and rather than shaking my hand,
gives me a gentle hug. "I'm Jenna, James’ wife." She is also wearing
a sundress, and my outfit anxiety slips right out the window and into the bay.

Jenna has a baby boy on her hips. He has a mop of curly blonde
hair on his head, and he peers up at me with big blue eyes.

"This is James, the third, but we call him JJ. And
this..." A little girl comes streaking through the kitchen. She is a blur
of purple and pink as she stops in front of us, rainbow colored fairy wings hanging
in a disorderly position on her back. She has the same blue eyes as JJ, but her
hair is dark and straight. "....
this
is
Ella."

"I'm three!" Ella exclaims, holding up three fingers
before dashing into the living room.

Everyone in the room laughs, including me, and Will ushers me forward
for more introductions. I've already met Mr. Davey and James, but I greet them
as I pass by. Lincoln is standing behind them, watching me carefully.

"I'm Jane," I say, holding out my hand.

He gives it a weak shake and nods his head. "Linc."

"Our moody, too-cool-for-family, college aged brother."
James grabs Lincoln into a headlock and tousles his hair. Lincoln pushes him away
and avoids my gaze, the tips of his cheeks turning pink.

"Jim," Anna addresses Mr. Davey and I’m glad to learn
that there is a way to differentiate him from his oldest son. "Can you go
grab the pizzas?"

"I'll help him," Will volunteers.

The best pizza shop in town is right across from the marina, so I
know that they are going to walk. I stare at Will with narrow eyes, trying to
judge his reason for abandoning me so soon into the night. He disappears with
out looking at me, a sure sign of guilt, and I turn back to Anna and Jenna
nervously. 

"It's tradition to abandon the date with the other women in
the family," Anna says as she grabs my arm. She pulls me toward the back
deck. "It's the main reason I call for pizza when one of my boys brings a
girl home."

"Do you do this often?" I try to work my way around the
question.

"She did for James." Jenna comes up beside me and gives
me a look.

"And a few non serious girlfriends from high school for each
of them," Anna adds.

Anna pushes open double French doors that lead out onto a wide,
white wood deck. A large glass table sits in the middle, and flower boxes spill
red geraniums out toward the ocean. I can see the tops of some of the boats
from where I stand, and I see how Mr. Davey can keep a watch over the marina if
he is standing on the balcony on the third floor. 

We take a seat on some outdoor sofas. Anna sits with her legs
crossed at the ankle, and Jenna balances JJ on her knee. Through the window I
can see Lincoln flying Ella through the air, and I think I can hear her
high-pitched giggles. James is pacing back and forth on the opposite side of
the deck, his cell phone to his ear.

"William has kept you sort of secret until just recently,"
Anna says to me with a smile. “We didn’t even know he was dating anyone until a
week ago?”

I should probably be offended that he has kept me a secret, but
then again, how can I blame him? How do you explain a mentally wounded
girlfriend to your parents?

I swallow at the lump in my throat and finger the hem of my dress.
"Oh?"

I don't want to tell her that I
am
 a mystery. Will didn't have to try very hard.

Jenna nods, and JJ bounces on her knee. "Will hasn't dated
since college."

She pauses on the word
since
,
drawing it out. I can't help but wonder if she was going to say something else.

"We knew that when he did date again, it would be someone
special, so we've been quite curious," Anna adds.

"How did you and Will meet?" Jenna asks.

I figure that I can at least offer them the truth in that aspect,
so I tell them about my fall on the docks and how Charles and Marie had Will
carry me to their car. I recollect as if I remember the event, even though I
only have other people's recollections to go by. I then recount how he came
into the cafe, how we talked on the dock, and how he sat in my section for next
several shifts. 

"I guess things just spiraled from there," I say with a
genuine smile.

"You know, I met James in a similar fashion," Jenna
starts, and I’m thankful that the spotlight is off of me. "My parents dock
a sail boat here and I was leaning over the dock, trying to untangle the anchor
from a rogue fishing net. I lost my footing and went head first into the water.
Thankfully the water was calm that day, but James happened to be working on a
boat nearby and came running to my rescue. He dove right in and pushed me up
onto the dock, as though I had actually been drowning."

We all share a laugh.

"We've been together even since," she finishes.

"Girls tend to fall for their rescuers," Anna adds, a
wistful look in her eyes.

I nod my head in agreement. I've told Will twice now that girls
like to be rescued.

"Did Mr. Davey, I mean Jim, rescue you?" I ask.

The wistful look stays, and Anna's smile strengthens. There is a
little extra pink in her cheeks now, and she smothers a giggle. Marie acts a
similar way when talking about Charles, and it’s interesting to see how love
can still impact a couple, no matter how long they've been together.

"He didn't rescue me per se," Anna finally says. "I
guess maybe he rescued me from my horrible ex-boyfriend. I was a sophomore in
high school, and Jim was a junior. He swept me right off my feet. Poor Henry
never stood a chance."

The door to the house opens and Will hurries out onto the deck,
four pizza boxes balanced in his arms.
He sets them on the
table and comes to stand beside me
,
his hand finds my
shoulder
.

"You two aren't drilling her into the ground with your
questions, are you?"

Jenna grins. "We wouldn't dare."

Anna stands. "I better go grab the paper plates and
napkins."

James is off the phone and Jenna walks over to see him, handing JJ
over when the little boy flails his arms out at his father. I stand and turn to
Will, who is regarding me carefully.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you here but they never
would have let me hear the end of it. I came back as fast as I could. I
practically ran out of the pizza place with the boxes and left my dad a good
twenty yards behind the entire way to the house."

I laugh and place my hand on his forearm. "I'm fine. It
wasn't hard to sidestep the questions about my past, at all. You were barely
gone ten minutes."

Will slides his hand into mine and pulls me over to the railing. We
both lean on it with our forearms, and my hair flutters along my back with the
slight breeze. Below us, a wooden pier leads right onto the sandy shore.

"It's beautiful here," I say.

Will nods beside me. "I love this house, this beach and this
town. I'm not sure I could ever leave."

"Me either," I say so lightly I doubt Will hears it. The
breeze carries my words away, and I pray that they could be true.

Anna returns with the plates and we sit at the large table on the
deck. The conversation is light as we eat, and thankfully no one pries into my
past. I retell the story about meeting Will, since not everyone heard it, and
that starts the others in on other stories from their past. Will and his
brothers piggy back off of each other, bantering back and forth with an ease
that can only be gained through close relationships. Anna brings out a large
ice cream cake and we sing Happy Birthday to Will. He winks at me before he
blows out his candles and I secretly wonder what he wished for.

Once we are done, Ella sits in Will's lap and asks him to tell her
one of his stories. I listen as he tells her a wild tale of pirates at sea, and
mermaids on the rocks. It is a short story, but by the end Ella's eyes are
large and glistening, and her smile is infectious. I look around the table and
see the shared glances of love and adoration, and realize that this is a family
I want to be a part of. This is the type of family I hope that I
am
 a part of. 

James and Jenna
leave to take Ella and JJ home to bed, and Linc leaves to meet his friends for
the firework show. Will and his dad are talking business, and I find myself
helping Anna in the kitchen, putting away left over pizza and bagging up the
trash.