You're So Pretty On the Outside

“So who is this guy?” Gena asked.

“I met him at the grocery store. I don’t think you know him.”

“Oh.”

“He invited me and to dinner and a movie tonight. If it goes well we might go to the park tomorrow.”

“That sound nice,” she murmured. “Why don’t you go and finish getting ready? I’ll take Gracie off of your hands for a little while.”

I passed the gurgling two month old into her arms and hurried to pull on my dress.

“When is he going to be here?”

“In about half an hour. I’ll have just enough time to get ready if I hurry.”

“Why did you wait so long to get ready if you were going to have to rush?”

I just rolled my eyes. “It’s just a date. I’m not like I’m meeting the queen.”

The doorbell rang just as I finished applying some lipgloss and I felt my eyes light up.

“He’s here,” I said happily.

I slipped into my awaiting shoes before smoothing out my dress and opening the door. I smiled when I saw him standing there with flowers.

“Hey, William. Come on in.”

“Thanks, Anna. These are for you.”

I thanked him as I took the flowers into the kitchen and put them into a random vase. Gena cleared her throat pointedly.

“Oh yeah. William, this is my sister, Gena, and my daughter, Grace.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Gena.” He shook her hand and smiled down at Grace. “She’s adorable.”

“Thanks.” I beamed.

“Are you ready to go?”

I confirmed his statement and we made our way to the door.

“I’ve already set out a bunch of bottles for Gracie. They’re in the fridge in the usual place. I moved the diapers in the nursery. I don’t remember if I already told you. Oh, she likes to sleep-“

“Angel, I’ve been around since she was born. I know where everything is.”

I bit my lip and nodded hesitantly. “I know. I’ve just never left her for more than a couple of hours.”

“Just go. She’s fine.”

After a few minutes of convincing, William and I finally left. There was an awkward silence in the car as we drove to the restaurant.

“So, Grace is cute,” he mumbled.

“Thanks.”

I fidgeted in my seat and bit my nails to try to keep busy. William wasn’t the most talkative guy when we were alone. Whenever we ran into each other in the store he had always managed to make conversation. It was weird to say the least.

I had to hold in a sigh of relief when we reached the place. I climbed out of the car and smoothed my dress.

“Come on, Love,” he said quietly.

I stumbled to catch up and he grasped my hand.

“Reservation for two under Foster,” he said to the host.

We were led to our table and left in yet another awkward silence. It was an Italian restaurant, so I just glanced through the menu to find the same thing that I ate at every other place with similar food.

“So your daughter must be a handful.”

His sudden voice caused me to jump and my heart started racing.

“Oh yeah. She can be quite the little terror,” I said, trying to calm myself down.

William shook his head a bit. “I could never do it. Be a parent, I mean. I’m not too fond of children to be honest.”

I pursed my lips a bit. It wasn’t like I was looking for a father for Grace, but I certainly wasn’t going to be with a guy who wouldn’t stand kids. I also didn’t want to waste my time on someone who I wasn’t going to end up with for a while.

“What are you saying?”

“Look, I don’t care that you have a kid. That’s fine, but don’t expect me to be around to help.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I didn’t come out with you tonight to ask you to raise my daughter.”

“Of course not, but there might come a day where you want me to go to the park or something and bring her along. I just wanted you to know that it isn’t going to happen.”

“Well aren’t you a fucking douche bag,” I hissed. “That’s not accepting that I have a daughter. It’s tolerating it and trying to push her out of the picture.”

He jerked suddenly, knocking over a cup of red wine. I gasped and jumped out of my seat when the dark liquid fell over the edge of the table and landed on my lap.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” I exclaimed. “Is there any club soda around here?”

A waiter hurried a cup of club soda and a clean napkin to me and I thanked him.

“I’m so sorry!” William apologized.

I just sent him a seething look as I worked to get the red stain off of my clothing. I shook a bunch of salt over it and sighed in relief when the color became less harsh.

“This was a mistake,” I sighed. “I should be home with my daughter right now. I’m not going to apologize for leaving so early because, frankly, you’ve pissed me off so badly that I want to hit you. Maybe we can try being friends, but I just can’t be with someone who isn’t accepting of my kid.”

He smiled, half embarrassed. “I understand, I guess.”

“Alright. Well, I’m going to go,” I said awkwardly.

He nodded and I turned to leave.

I was glad to see that I had gotten most of the stain off as I made my way to my car. I sighed in frustration when I realized that William had driven me to the restaurant. I groaned and sat down on the curb.

After about 10 minutes, someone sat next to me. I looked up to see William and just scoffed.

“What do you want?” I spat.

“Look, I’m sorry. For your dress and for saying that stuff about your daughter. I tend to say things before I think about them. I’m not too fond of children, but I guess I could try if you’d let me.”

“I don’t think that I can just look past what you said to me, William. Maybe we can be friends though. Before tonight you always seemed nice and we got along. Why don’t we just start over?”

“I’d like that.”

We were silent for a few moments before he suggested taking me home.

“I really am sorry for everything,” he said as we pulled into my driveway. “I’d like to make it up to you.”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not. How about next week I bring you and Grace to the park? They’re going to have fireworks and a barbeque. It could be fun.”

I bit my lip and thought about it for a second before nodding. William grinned a bit.

“Alright then. I’ll see you next week.”