Before I Met You

Chapter Eleven

AJ

Sitting across from Ansley in the restaurant, I stare at her. She doesn't realize how beautiful she is. She's got a gorgeous dress on, her normally curly hair is straightened, and I just love seeing her this way. Well, I actually love seeing her in any way possible. She's not like other girls, I have a feeling she's going to be in my life forever. At least. I hope so.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" She asks.

"You don't realize how beautiful you are, do you?"

She tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled. "Mmm, you are quite the charmer. I bet you say that to every girl."

"No. Just you."

I want to know everything about her. Her adoption story, Her favorite color, her family, favorite food, what her likes/dislikes are, what she wants to do after high school, where she wants to go to college. Just everything. The waiter comes back out with our drinks. I took a sip of my water and then we continued to talk.

"So, can I ask you another question?" I ask.

"Of course."

"Why did your biological parents give you up for adoption?"

She took a drink of her iced tea and then she sat quietly. "Look, if you don't feel comfortable talking about that, we can change the subject." I say.

"No. I love talking about my adoption. My biological mom was a drug addict and an alcoholic. Apparently I had a lot of biological siblings as well but my mom didn't have custody of any of them either. I'm not sure if my dad was in the picture. I guess my mom didn't want me to grow up in that environment so she made that decision to give me away. It kind of sucks that I never got to know her but it is what it is. I was in foster care since I was a baby up until a year ago last year actually."

"Wow."

"Yeah. You can say that again." She laughs and looks down at the table.

I took a deep breath. "Wherever she is, I know she would be so proud of you."

She looked up at me and her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"100%"

As her kind eyes locked in mine, I felt a flurry of butterflies in my stomach. Man, what is she doing to me? Our food comes and we start eating. When we got done with dinner, the waiter asked if we wanted any dessert. We both said no, we were already too full. We went outside to the parking lot and when we got to my truck I opened the door and waited for her to get in.

I hopped into the driver's seat and started the truck. "I had a really good time with you tonight."

"I did too. I should probably take you home so your parents don't end up hating me on the first night."

She giggles. "Actually, it was supposed to be family bowling night, so they are probably still at the bowling alley if you want to just drop me off there."

"Oh. Do you have family nights?"

"Yeah. They're trying to squeeze in as much family nights as they can before I leave for nursing school. Granted, that's not for another two years but that's okay."

"Man. What I would give for family nights again. We stopped doing that when my dad got cancer. But before then, it was so fun. Anyway, what kind of nurse do you want to be?"

"Pediatric oncology nurse. I love kids and I just want to help them through their sickness." She said.

"Dang. You truly have the sweetest soul."