5

   "Oh that's not good." I said.

   "I'm sorry, Tyler, you're the first boy I've kissed!" Katie said.

   I laughed.

   "No Katie, not that." I said. "Turn around."

   When Katie turned around all she saw was her dad's back as he was walking to his car. He had left her purse on the ground where he was standing.

   "Did he see us?" Katie asked. She was obviously worried and her voice was shaking.

   "I think he did." I said as we watched him drive away. I actually knew he did.

   I noticed Katie was starting to cry. I hugged her.

   "It's gonna be okay, Katie. Don't worry. I'll talk to him." I assured her.

   "You don't understand." She told me. "My dad and I are very close. He's very protective."

   "I'll talk to him." I said again.

   "We'd better go." Katie said.

   We walked back toward my car. Katie picked up her purse off the sidewalk.

   "I always forget this." She laughed.

   "Ya know, I'm forgetful too." I told her with a smile. "Would you like to know what I do to make sure I don't forget anything?"

   "Sure." She said, clearly still preoccupied with the stress of the situation. I continued talking anyway.

   I reached into my pocket and pulled out a shiny and smooth turquoise stone. It fit easily in my palm.

   "When I was in second grade I would forget my jacket at school every single day." I told Katie. "My mom tried everything to get me to remember. I can't tell you how many days I was grounded for that." I laughed. "Anyway, she finally gave me this little stone. She said: 'Tyler, every morning when you get up and brush your teeth, I want you to grab this rock off the counter and put it in your pocket. And every night when you brush your teeth before bed, I want you to take it out of your pocket and put it back on the counter. Every day when you're at school and you put your hand into your pocket and you feel that rock, I want you to think about all the things you're supposed to remember for the day.' So I did. I still do. It works." I said.

   I took her hand and I put the cool stone into the center of her palm.

   "Thank you." She said with a smile. She kissed my cheek, and she put the little stone in her pocket.

   We walked back to my car. Gosh that car was ugly. The red seats were hideous. As Katie and I drove back toward her house, I began to get nervous. I didn't care though. I was willing to go through some uncomfortable situations to be with Katie.

   We arrived at her house and I walked Katie up to the door. I squeezed her hand and we walked inside.

   "Daddy, I'm home!" Katie called out.

   We walked into the living room, and there he was. He was sitting in an old raggedy, broken recliner drinking a diet coke. Oh, and minor detail, he had an old Louisville Slugger baseball bat in his hands. I'll be honest with you, I almost peed my pants. Katie gasped.

   "Katie, why don't you let Tyler and I talk for a little while, and you can go on upstairs, okay darling?" Mr. Jones said.

   "Yes, Daddy." Katie said. She squeezed my hand and walked upstairs.

   "Sit down, Tyler." Mr. Jones began. I remember the look in his eyes. They were watering. I saw and incredible amount of love and protection in those light blue eyes. I could hear it beginning to rain outside.

   "Yes sir." I said, my voice trembling. I took a seat on the old blue couch.

   "Oh, quit your shaking boy. You're a man, act like it." He said. He looked down at the bat. "It's a nice bat, ain't it, Tyler?" He asked me. I was confused.

   "Yes sir." I replied. "Yes sir, it is."

   "You see Tyler, in your life you're gonna go through a lot of phases. Important phases." He looked down at the bat. "When I was your age, this bat was my life. I ate, lived, and slept with this bat. I breathed baseball. Before long, though, another phase of my life meshed into the baseball phase. I met Katie's mother." His voice trembled with emotion as he held the bat tighter. "She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She had long, curly, red hair. She had beautiful skin. She was breathtaking. Baseball was still a huge part of my life, but now I had found a bigger part." His white smile contrasted against his black t-shirt. His arms were flexing tightly as he gripped the bat, but I don't think he realized. "Before long after that, my beautiful daughter Katie was born. She is the light of my life, Tyler. What I'm asking is simple: can I trust you?" He asked me, in tears. I was stunned. Growing up I thought men weren't supposed to show emotion. Here was one of the manifest men I had ever met, letting out his emotions unashamed. It was a lesson I would carry with me the rest of my life.

   "Yes sir." I began, softly. "You can trust me."

   "Good." He said. "I trust you."

   I reached for his hand, and we shook.

   "I get the feeling that you're a good man, Tyler." He said.

   "Thank you, sir." I said. The rain was beginning to let up.

   "It's clearing up outside, why don't you take Katie for a walk?" He suggested.

   Katie's dad called her downstairs, and Katie came quickly. Her face was red and her mascara was running. The odd thing, though, was that she looked more beautiful to me than I had seen to that point. She looked so human. Her dark hair was hanging past her shoulders and her almond eyes were watering. Her light red lips were quivering. I absorbed every sight, sound, and feeling that was conceived in that incredible flash of a moment.

   "It's alright, Katie." I told her. Mr. Jones looked at me, and he smiled. "Let's go for a walk."

   Katie looked to her dad as if she needed confirmation was she was allowed. She was clearly taken aback.

   "Go ahead." He said. "And be safe." He added as we walked out the door.

   To be honest, I think that was the moment that I fell in love with Katie. Love, I found out, comes at shocking moments. You feel it's grip in your chest when you least expect it, and after that, it never let's go. Even when people do.

   I walked past Katie and held the old screen door open for her. The old black door was already propped open.

   "Oh gosh, Tyler." Kate said as soon as we were out of earshot. "How bad was it? What did he say? Was he mad? Like, what exactly did he say? Can we still see each other?" She was talking a mile a minute.

   "Goodness, Katie, slow down!" I laughed. "It was fine. Everything is fine." I told her.

   "How?" She asked.

   "We just talked." I told her.

   "About what?" She asked.

   "About us." I told her. She stopped walking and looked at me.

   "Tyler, I'm a girl, I like to know all the details." She said.

   "Alright, alright." I relented. "He just told me how important you are to him. That's all."

   "Oh." She said, beginning to walk again. "So he's okay... with us?" She asked. She seemed nervous.

   "He's okay with us." I assured her.

   "Did he tell you..." She paused. "Did he tell you why I'm so important to him?" She asked.

   "Because you're his daughter... duh." I laughed.

   "Yeah. Duh." She laughed. It was a nervous laugh.

   "What's wrong?" I asked.

   "Nothing! Nothing." She said. She smiled at me and took my hand. It was a simple thing. It's funny. So much of our relationship was built on all these simple traits of first love, but other parts were so complicated.

   We walked for a long while that afternoon. We walked until we both needed to go home for dinner. We talked a lot. We held hands, we laughed, and we kissed. Above all, we loved.

   The trees, as we walked, were in full bloom. The air was hot and it was thick, but we didn't mind. We passed house after little old house along our walk.

   As we circled back around toward Katie's house, we passed the concrete foundation of a home. It looked like somebody had started to build there, but changed their mind. The light grey concrete was obviously old, and it was starting to crack.

   "It's weird, isn't it?" I said, turning to Katie as we walked. "The way some houses start to get built, but they're never finished. It's always bothered me. I mean, a family probably saw that lot, and they probably really liked it. They probably got all excited, and decided to build on it. Then, at some point, the excitement probably just wore off. They probably got bored and forgot about the lot. Just stopped building it all together."

   "It's just a house." Katie said to me with a soft, sort of confused, smile.

   "You're right." I said. "Just a house."

   At this point we were standing on her front porch.

   "I had fun with you today, Tyler." Katie said.

   "I always have fun when I'm with you." I told her. I started to ask her something, but then I got nervous. I got nervous like a seventh-grade boy talking to a girl on the phone. Girls get to guys, no matter how old they are.

   "What is it, Tyler?" She asked, flashing her amazing smile.

   "I was just wondering..." I started.

   "Wonder what?" She asked me, still smiling.

   "Does this mean I'm your boyfriend now?" I asked. What a stupid way to ask that for a nineteen year old guy. Yet, for some reason, Katie didn't laugh at me. She didn't care that it sounded stupid.

   "Only if you'll let me be your girlfriend." She said, and she kissed me. "Goodnight, Tyler." She said, and just like that, she went inside, leaving me love-struck.

   You know what they say: a good performer always leaves the audience wanting more.