Jodie and I cornered Liv in the hallway. “Well?”
“Another positive. I’ll go to the doctor next week if nothing changes. I couldn’t wait to tell him, not with you two here, just dying to spill the beans. But this is still between the four of us, okay?”
“Okay. That’s great.”
“Plus, I don’t want to have to lie about it. Hey, we’re going to park at the radio station tonight to go watch the fireworks, so you can ride with us or you could borrow our bikes and meet us over there?”
Jodie and I looked to each other for consensus. “Bikes?”
“Bikes.”
“I can show you how to get on the Greenbelt. It’s pretty easy.”
The barbecue was fun. I had met most of Nate’s co-workers before from doing IT work there, but it was nice to get to know some of Liv’s friends from BSU. Most of them had full-time jobs in addition to going to grad school. Mainly, though, I just watched Jodie conversing with everybody. She is so great at that. I’m better than I used to be, but I can still get quiet when I’m around people I don’t know well.
By eight, everyone but Jodie and I had left. We finished picking up the stray plates and cups and left Liv and Nate at the house for some alone time before they left for the park. We navigated our way through the neighborhood, across Warm Springs Road to the greenbelt entrance, and onward past the zoo and art museum. We raced each other on a couple of the straight flat sections where no one was around, but when we got to Anne Morrison Park, we coasted around the fountain, enjoying the spray when we could catch it. We were both soaked with sweat from the bike ride, and Jodie went over to the fountain and ducked her head in the water streaming over the side.
“I know it’s gross, but I’m galactically hot.”
“Yes, you are.” And she was, too. I was in no danger of losing sight of that, since there were about a million things she did every day that reminded me how beautiful she was. Right now, her skin, tan from gardening and exercising horses, glistened with water from the fountain.
“Yeah, right. That’s not what I meant.”
We walked the bikes across the footbridge and over to the radio station. I’d never found it from this direction, but it wasn’t difficult.
A familiar-looking SUV rolled up. “Man, it’s like a hundred degrees out here!” Nate hopped out, disconnected the front tires, and loaded the bikes in the back of the vehicle.
“Yeah, try riding bikes over.”
“Oh, I do that plenty. But I’m glad we could take it easy today, with Liv in her condition.”
Liv grabbed a couple of blankets from the back seat and joined us. “Alleged condition. Don’t jinx it.”
“Her what?” I feigned innocence.
“Oh, don’t even. I know you know. And you’ll know about two seconds after we know for sure, too. But that’s okay.” He grinned. “I’m going to be a Dad! Woohoo!”
“Alleged Dad!” Liv shushed him.
“I’ll take it!” He planted a big wet kiss on her cheek and handed us bottles of water from the back seat. “Come on; let’s stake out our spot before there’s no space left.”
We shuffled back over the bridge, wound our way through the crowds, and found a place that magically wasn’t surrounded by drunks or annoying kids. The three of them agreed the spot would give us a good view of the fireworks. We laid out our blankets, stretched out on the ground, and talked until it got dark. In the dusk, Liv and Nate snuggled up, and Jodie and I did, too.
“This is exciting, being with you. I’ve been to the fireworks here a few times with my friends, but never when I was with anyone. It feels, I don’t know, right?” We rolled over to face each other, and she locked her leg behind mine. I interlocked my fingers with hers.
“Me, too. I feel like we’re standing at the edge of the earth. Everything is so beautiful.”
“You are beautiful.”
“I love you.” I kissed her.
“I love you.” She kissed me back. “So, can we talk about scary things?”
“That depends. What kind of scary things?”
“Like what we want out of life. You know, career, marriage, children? Those sorts of things.”
“Oh, yeah, of course.”
“Well, what do you want, you know, in a nutshell?”
“Well, my career is on hold until I figure out this farming thing. I mean, my dad gave up his career to farm. Maybe I will, too. Maybe I’ll go back, though. I don’t know. You?”
“Yeah, I will need to go back to get my Masters at some point. The closest place that has ALA accreditation is, ironically U Dub. It’ll have to wait for a while, anyway. Dad couldn’t take me being gone that long right now. What about marriage?”
“Oh, I never really saw myself getting married, but I’m open to it. My parents’ marriage didn’t keep them together when things got tough, but my grandparents married after high school and they did okay. Maybe it’s a generational thing.”
“Well, I saw what being married did for my mom and dad, and I take it really seriously. The whole man and woman only crap totally covers up the fact that marriage is a dedication between two people. It’s up to them to define what it means. To me, it would mean a lifelong commitment. I mean, I would hope my dad moves on eventually, but I understand that for now it would be like he was replacing my mom. He won’t ever get over her, but maybe he’ll make room for somebody else to get close to him. When I get
