five

When Danny went upstairs on Monday morning to wake the boys, he found them already dressed and brushing their teeth.  Short of best behavior for Christmas presents, this was an unheard of event in the Briere house.

“What do you want?” he asked suspiciously, leaning against the wall outside Caelan’s room.  The eldest boy had his own bathroom, Cameron and Carson shared what was perennially the messiest room in the house.

“Can we go to laser tag today after school?” Cam asked, toothpaste dripping down his chin.

“We made our beds,” Caelan pointed out.
“I thought you guys wanted Sara to come,” Danny tried to say like it was all their idea.  “ You can’t just drop plans on a girl at the last minute.  You have to ask her.”

Cameron wiped his face on a towel and walked into the hallway.  At his bedroom door, he looked over his shoulder.  “I already did.”

“What?”

“She’ll be here at five.”

Carson dissolved into giggles, followed by Caelan.  Cameron maintained a surprisingly straight face, watching his father search dumbly for whatever he wanted to say next.  It took a moment.

“You called her?”

“Nope.  You texted her.  Yesterday.”

“WHAT!?”  Danny immediately grabbed for his phone.  He swiped in the password, tapped the messaging icon and sure enough, at the top of the list was a conversation with Sara.

Danny: Thank you for the laser tag! The boys want to play tomorrow after school. Will you come with us?

Sara: Even after I beat you guys at everything, you’re still inviting me?

Danny: We are really good at laser tag.

Sara: We’ll see about that.  What time?

They’d sent her the address for the house and told her to arrive at five and not have dinner.  Danny stared at the little screen, amazed.  And relieved his sons weren’t any older, or any more devious.  

“Time to change my password, eh?”  

The boys cheered, Danny had to laugh.  This battle was becoming a war, complete with sneak attacks.  He collected his bag for practice and scanned the house.  Guess I’ll spend today cleaning this place up.
____

Sara parked in front of the South Jersey address at five on the dot.  It was a fairly large cream-colored house set back from the road.  A short driveway led to a three-car garage, and to the left a flagstone walkway curved to a front door.  Nothing more flashy than the rest of the houses on the block; it was beautiful but manageable.  Homey, she thought, then quickly made herself think something else.

She’d been both surprised and not surprised to get Danny’s text on Sunday.  After leaving them Saturday night, she sat in bed for a while wondering what she was doing by stringing this along.  Either she was or wasn’t going to do something, because things were happening.  Sara needed to get in line or get out of the way. She practically had to run from the car for fear of kissing Danny - the answer was choosing itself.  Could he see that?

Then the text asking ‘can we see you tomorrow?’

“I don’t know!” she shouted at the phone.

She didn’t get to ring the bell.  The front door flew open as she approached to reveal Cameron’s smiling face.  He had a foot wedged across the opening, trying to keep two tumbling balls of fur at bay.

“Oh my God, you have dogs!”  Sara climbed over him and then completely forgot why and where she was.  A pudgy-faced bulldog and a hyper Boston terrier were bouncing and knocking into each other, climbing her leg at the same time.  Sara sank right to her knees and the dogs leaped into her lap.  They were snorting and licking and sniffing while she tried to pet them both.

I’m done, she laughed gleefully at the little dog faces.  This was some kind of plan designed exactly to destroy her naysaying.  I am head over heels for this whole family!

“Girls! Get off her!” Danny hurried into the room.  “Where are your manners?!”

Sara looked up at him, hair fallen loose into her face and smiling a mile wide.  The terrier barked at Danny for trying to interrupt them.  Instead of pushing them away, she grabbed both dogs into a big hug and squeezed them as best she could.  “I love them!” Sara climbed out from under, brushing off her jeans and straightening her sweater.  The dogs continued rolling at her feet.  “Especially Bostons!  Sorry, they’re all riled up now.”

She was penned in by the door by furry limbs and paws.  Danny held out a hand and helped her step over, unaware until he did it that he was actually holding her hand.  Before he could lock her fingers between his forever, he let go and gave her space.

“This is Zoey and Zora,” Cameron pointed to the bulldog, then the terrier.  “They get really excited.”

“Me too, obviously,” Sara felt a little silly for leaping into a pile of pets her first time in their house.  “I want a dog so badly but I can’t have one in my place.  I had a Boston,” she reached down and scratched Zora’s ears, “for years growing up.  Little fart machine, snored like a truck.”

“She does!” Cam squealed.  “Zoey snores too.”

“Yes, they’re very ladylike,” Danny felt mortified that Sara must think his home was like a frat house.

Carson and Caelan came down at the noise and each gave Sara a hug.  Danny took the moment to admire how good she looked in jeans and a white t-shirt, with a bright blue hoodie zipped over top.  The sweatshirt had flowery fabric at the pockets, wrists and inside the hood.  Grey sneakers with white stripes were on her feet.

Sara cast an eye around the living room and found it was what she expected - lived in.  The house was gorgeous but it wasn’t a museum.  Already one dog was on an overstuffed couch and the other underneath a recliner.  It looked like just the place to watch that movie the boys had been after.

“Is Sean home? I didn’t meet him till after I bought the card, but I called the place and we can add one more,” Sara asked.

“He’s out with some of the boys, but I did ask him,” Danny replied.  “He says we’re on our own with these monsters.”

“Ready to lose at laser tag?” Carson pretended to be firing at her stomach.

Sara raised one eyebrow.  “Loser buys dinner.”

The boys all looked at Danny.  “Dad loses again!”
____

Danny was grateful the boys had chosen a weeknight.  The laser tag place was not very crowded, better to avoid anyone recognizing them screaming and running through the inflatable course.  They each got a laser gun that lit up and made noise, as well as a receiver that went in the center of their chest and strapped on like a vest.  Elbow pads were required in case they fell into each other.  The course was five or six rooms long, mostly dark with black lights illuminating day-glo sections of the walls.  Everything - floor, walls, obstacles - was inflatable.

“Oh man, we’re gonna get destroyed in here!” Caelan cackled.

All suited up, Danny looked at Sara.  She wore her smile almost as well as her outfit, which fit a little tighter thanks to the laser tag vest hugging her upper body.  It put the receiver just below her breasts and pulled the white shirt taut.

God, stop it, he forced himself to look away.

A whistle blew and Sara winked at him, then darted inside.  A strobe light flashed overhead, counting down five seconds to hide before their guns became active.

The game was a blur.  Laughter and screaming gave away the kids’ locations as they found each other and fired away.  Danny got hit once by Carson, then tipped him and jumped over as he bounced helplessly.  Sara whooped somewhere ahead in the darkness.  Cameron shot Caelan and shouted, “I got you!” only to be immediately tagged by Carson sneaking up behind.  They made it into the next room and Danny had only been tagged two of the available five times.  He turned a corner and followed a pink line around the side of a pillar-shaped obstacle.

“Bingo!” Sara yelled before he could react.  His receiver lit up.  She ducked under a flap and disappeared.  Across the room, or in the next, his kids were hollering too.  Danny doubled-back and waited for the only voice he hadn’t heard - Caelan.  Then he tagged his son using the same trick Sara had.

“Gotcha!”

Sara screamed and little voices cheered - Cam and Carson had set a trap and both tagged her.  She had two tags left.  One minute later, a ringing sounded: one of the boys had been eliminated.

“Get her, Carson!” Cam said as he made his way outside.

In the dim light, Danny saw Caelan creep by toward the next room.  He let the boy go first, then went the opposite way.  Danny circled around the room, but before he reached the next door, Carson and Caelen were both firing at each other.  Danny popped his head over the obstacle, took one shot and heard ringing.  

“Oh man!” Caelan groaned.  

Danny moved as fast as he could, knowing Carson would chase him now.  He left the wall, cut between two obstacle and toward the next room - too slow.  Carson got him in the back, receiver flashing.  Danny kept going into the next room, cutting toward the brightest part of the room to wait.  

He dodged an obstacle and crashed right into Sara.

She squeaked in surprise as he took them both down, tumbling to the inflatable floor and bouncing awkwardly.  They skidded to a stop at the wall, hidden from view, Danny right on top of Sara.

She lost her breath on impact.  He could see her face in the garish brightness of the hot pink day-glo paint.  All around them was dark.  The laser tag receiver her wore pressed to hers, creating an awkward and uncomfortable barrier between them.  But he didn’t notice any of that.  Her face was inches away, lips slightly parted.  Danny slipped his hand behind Sara’s head and pressed his mouth to hers.

“Suckers!”

Carson popped up behind them and fired right at Danny’s receiver.  The kiss was over almost before it began.  Danny was defenseless, having dropped his gun and filled his hands with Sara’s hair.  His vest rang in defeat, right against Sara’s, but she wasn’t done.  She lifted one arm and shot Carson in the receiver.  His vest rang too.

“I win!” she shouted.

Danny scrambled off and pulled Sara to her feet.  Carson was occupied with losing, already shouting to his brothers that he’d gotten second place.  Sara and Danny stood still a moment, holding hands as the balloon floored swayed beneath their feet.  Five long seconds passed.

“He didn’t see,” Danny said.  in the darkness and the middle of the game, it must have looked like they simply fell.  Which they had, really.  Otherwise Carson would be singing to his brothers right now about catching them mid-kiss.

Sara’s heart pounded - being knocked down, kissed, discovered, escaping and winning all at once had her flustered.  And Danny was still at her side, his fingers twined in hers.  She could barely move without risk of falling again.

Danny wanted to throw her back on the floor and close this place down.  Forget her being Cam’s teacher, forget everything.  The kids could drive themselves home - Caelen could steer, and one boy for each pedal.  No problem.  But to have not quite kissed Sara, that was a problem.  Their lips barely had a chance to meet, he didn’t even know the taste of her before they were interrupted.  Now the boys were waiting and...

Sara squeezed his hand.  “You still have to buy me dinner.”
____

Dinner was torture.  They went to the nearest place - Chili’s - where the boys ate the house down, daring each other to try spicy salsas and draining sodas.  Danny normally would have reined them in but he didn’t even notice.  Sitting across from Sara was bad enough - he caught her gaze, she blushed and bit her lip.  Danny nearly flipped the table over.  Forget about the way her lips pressed around a straw - being next to her was unthinkable.  Danny barely touched his food as his stomach flipped itself in circles.  

Sara’s whole body was pins and needles.  Cameron chattered happily about his birthday presents and she nodded without listening.  She was trying not to watch Danny’s hand around his water glass, or the way he held his fork.  More than once she had to ask Cam to repeat himself.

With the boys so engrossed in playing with their food, Danny dug his phone out of his pocket.  Moments later, Sara’s phone buzzed.

Danny: I am losing my mind with you sitting there.

Sara closed her eyes, summoning a deep breath, knowing he was watching her.

Sara: I can’t believe you finally kissed me.

Danny: You call that a kiss?

Sara: Took you long enough.

Danny: I wasn’t sure.

Sara: And now?

Danny: I’m sure I’m going to do it again.

Sara risked raising her eyes to Danny, and he was looking back like he meant it.  Like he couldn’t wait to finish what he started.  

Danny: Is this okay with school?

Sara: Yes.  Just quietly.

Danny smiled so big she could see it in her peripheral vision, his face all lit up.

Danny: I’m crazy about you.

She laughed weakly.  Her heart soared like water going over the falls, with no bottom in sight.  There were too many things she wanted to say and do, a tiny screen and shaking hands were not up to the task.  Sara clicked off her phone and looked right at Danny.

“Me too.”

“You too what?” Caelan asked, roused from his food coma.

“I’m done too. Let’s get out of here.”

They gave Danny a hard time about paying because he lost.  The boys pulled their coats on while Sara and Danny took their time, hanging back as the kids ran for the door.  He signed the check and stood up next to her; from this close the air crackled with anticipation.  

“Are you sure it’s okay?  I don’t want to get you in trouble,” he said quietly, a small guilty smile on his face.  “Probably should have asked that before I kissed you.”

Sara felt the floor roll, as unsteady as it had been inside the bounce house.  “There’s no rule against it.”

Relief flooded his eyes; it only made the ground pitch harder.  “Do... do you want to?  With the kids and everything... I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“Danny,” she said softly.  This was probably always going to happen, at least because she hadn’t stopped it.  Now it didn’t get easier just because she wanted it so much.  Danny was giving her a lot of power, she couldn’t make a mistake the first time he put his trust in her.

He saw the hint of fear in her eyes and almost kissed her right there in Chili’s.  It would make for an unromantic anniversary dinner location every year, but he’d have done it if he thought it were his only chance.  But Sara - he felt like Sara was sticking around.

“Wait here,” he said.  “Give me two minutes.”  Danny hurried outside.  His sons were almost to the car, and he beeped the doors as he jogged closer.

“Where’s Sara?” Carson asked.

“Get in, get in,”  Danny boosted Cameron into the back and climbed right in after him.  “Family meeting.”

“What are you doing, Dad?” Caelan maneuvered his way over into the last row of seats.

Danny looked at the three expectant faces and already knew the answer.   His kids had supported him through more than most families endure in a lifetime.  Divorce, scandal, wins and losses - finally, he was bringing them something good.  Why was he so nervous?

“I really like Sara, I want to ask her out.”

One beat.

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!” The car turned into the bus with the hippie band from The Muppets, all shouting and waving arms and screaming.  Cameron jumped right onto his father with a big hug.

“Okay, okay,” Danny laughed, peeling little arms from around his neck so he could breathe.  “I know you like her.  But guys, I need you to know that just because I like her doesn’t mean it’s serious.  It doesn’t mean she’s moving in, or taking care of you, or giving up her whole life for us.  Hopefully it works out.  And Cam, you have to be extra good at school, okay?  Like straight As and perfect.”

The boys were nodding enthusiastically.  Danny could have told them he was shipping them off to a sweatshop and they’d have agreed.  If they were even listening.  Except Caelan, who stopped grinning.

“Dad,” he said as if ready to offer wise advice, “I don’t think it’s nice to leave your girlfriend alone at  the restaurant on a first date.”

Sara saw Danny get out of the car, and went out to meet him.  She could imagine what had gone on during the Briere Summit Meeting in the truck.  Judging by the huge smile on Danny’s face, she had received a unanimous vote.  

Danny didn’t stop.  He ran right up to Sara, grabbed her and kissed her.  Nothing fancy, just a good, old-fashioned, weak-in-the-knees first kiss while three little faces pressed to the car windows.
____