Chapter 6: Poco Allegreto

As I drove up my road after the day's appointments, I saw Rebecca's old VW parked in front of my barn. There was a pile of cardboard boxes and plastic garbage bags piled in front of my roll-up door. I found Rebecca sitting in the shade on my deck with a sour look on her face.

"You forgot to give me a key."

"Well, I guess we got a little side-tracked in our planning this morning." I said with a wink and a smile. "I take it that's your luggage out front?"

"Some of it. Just the stuff from my nanny job."

There was a hint of depression in her voice that puzzled me. Was she having second thoughts about moving in? At that instant I realized how much I really wanted her to.

"Is anything wrong? You sound a little sad."

"I got fired." She said flatly.

"Fired? From what? Your nanny job? Who cares? It was only for two more days anyway."

"You don't understand. They have a nanny-cam."

"What the hell is a nanny-cam?" I was totally confused now.

"A nanny-cam is a little camera that parents use to spy on nannies. They have them all over the house, and they recorded everything. I couldn't believe it."

"Everything?" I was beginning to understand her sour mood now. Part of me was angry, part to me was amused, but most of me was just happy that the thought of living with me wasn't the reason she was upset.

"Everything. They have the whole thing recorded of us naked and doing it right there on the floor in their living room."

I tried to joke. "Well, I always wanted to be a porno star."

She gave me an angry look. "Well I didn't. And besides, what we did wasn't porno. It was good, and it was honest, and I love you."

For a moment, I was tempted to take the coward's way out and ignore the "I love you", but I'd just had the best 36 hours of my life. I was feeling better about myself and my future than I had in years, and I knew it was because of her. Everything I'd said about love taking time to grow suddenly seemed so irrelevant and foolish. I was crazy in love with her, and there was no use fighting it. The words just came out on their own.

"I love you too." I blushed like a thirteen year old when I said it.

For a minute, Rebecca was stunned. Then her frown disappeared and was replaced by one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen. She forgot all about the nanny-cam and came bouncing into my arms. I got little kisses all over my face, and when she pulled away I saw little tears in her eyes.

"You really love me? I didn't think you wanted to."

"I tried to resist, but you're just too irresistible. I'm crazy, and I'm crazy about you. It must be love."

There was no stopping her now. She wrapped herself around me and snuggled her head on my shoulder. She smelled so good, and I felt complete just holding her closely.

"I loved you since the first time I saw you, even when I was twelve. I knew it for sure yesterday when you started to play. Don't tell me you're crazy. This is just something that was supposed to happen. It's fate. We can't argue with fate."

I might have been tempted to argue with fate, but in just the short time we'd been together, I'd learned that I couldn't win any arguments with Rebecca. I just nodded my head and made agreeable sounds. After all, I'm a man. One "I love you" per day is a lot.

As we stood together holding each other, I could almost hear the gears in her little head turning. Now that we were officially "In Love", she was onto her next project.

"They're probably going to tell my parents about the video and what we did."

"If they do, so what? Your parents would probably be able to figure out that we're having sex if we're living together." I answered in a way that I thought I was being logical.

"You don't understand. I wanted to talk to them first. I wanted to explain things to them, and to sort of break the news to them gently. Now all they're going to hear is what a slut I am and that I got fired for having sex on the job. I don't want them to think of me or us that way."

"I guess you have a point. Maybe you should just call your parents and beat your ex-bosses to the punch."

"We should. But I don't think we should just call. We should do it in person. Then they could see that we're serious and that you're not a bad guy." I noticed that she had transposed my "you" to her "we". But she was right. If we were going to be together, it was only fair that I carry my half the load, however uncomfortable it might be.

"OK." I agreed. "No use putting it off. Why don't you call your parents now? Set something up for tonight, and we'll get it over with."

She gave me a sweet little look, but I could see in her eyes that she'd just checked off another box on her mental list. How is it that most women can't read a road map, and yet they're like Napoleon when it comes to planning out the most intricate details of a campaign to capture the men they love? It must be something they're born with because, even at eighteen, Rebecca was a master of relationship strategy. She took her cell phone from her purse and hit speed dial.

"Mom. It's me. What are you and Dad doing tonight?"

Rebecca smiled, and I could tell that she had judged from her mother's tone that the secrets of the nanny-cam had not yet been revealed.

"Well, there's someone I want you to meet."

A big smile at me.

"Yes, a guy. No, not Robert."

Rolls her eyes and makes a kissing face at me.

"Look, it's sort of complicated, but it's nothing bad. I'll explain it all if we can get together tonight. Can you grab Dad when he gets home, and maybe we can meet somewhere for dinner at about seven? It'll be my treat."

Nods, nods again, then gives me another smile.

"OK, see you then. Love you."

Rebecca gave me a little kiss. "We're on for seven."

We took my truck. Rebecca had never ridden in a diesel pickup, so she was a kid again, teasing me about being a "goat roper" and then a "red neck". She loved the rough sound the diesel made and was hooting and hollering about being able to look down at all the "normal" people in their cars. I just shook my head and wondered. How could she be so much a woman and so much a little girl at the same time. I loved everything she did. She was just so delicious. I couldn't believe that she was really with me.

We got to the restaurant a little early, and we were seated in a booth where we could watch the door. We sat together on the same side holding hands like teenagers. One of us was. Rebecca gave a little wave at her parents as they arrived and I gritted my teeth as I prepared for what I guessed was going to be a very uncomfortable meeting. We stood, still holding hands and smiled as her parents made their way to the booth. When I got my first good look at them I was stunned.