Warner Park

✨ Chapter Twenty | The Mistaken Surprise

— Vince —

On Saturday, the girls helped Andy and me pack up his apartment. Wayne lent his truck for the furniture, and Aubrey and Gary had already left with the first load to take to the house. The rest of us stayed behind to finish packing the smaller items.

I had something on my mind to talk to Andy about. Gary and the guys were in on it, but I wasn't sure how this was going to land with him.

Truth be told, I was nervous.

"Oh my God! Andy... is this you?"

Tina held up an old framed photo she was about to place into a box. "No way!"

Andy let out a sheepish laugh, his face flushing as he kept stacking books into the fourth moving box. His cheeks turned pinker when he glanced up to see the attention his old photo was getting.

For the record, Andy didn't just have a book collection... he had an obsession. Ninety percent of his apartment seemed to be made of books.

Books under the bed. Books crammed into kitchen cabinets. Books in the bathroom. There was even an entryway cabinet filled with them, where most people would store shoes.

When he packed his car to move to LA, I was pretty sure the only thing he brought with him was books.

I wasn't the dork in this relationship, he was.

God, I loved him.

"Let me see that photo," Malia demanded, reaching for it. Tina passed it over with a giggle.

"Oh my God, Andy," Malia snickered, "this is gold."

My patience ran out, so I stepped over and grabbed the photo from Malia's hands, ignoring her indignant glare.

"Vince, don't make a big deal about it," Andy groaned, running a nervous hand through his hair.

I looked at the photo, and my heart did a little somersault. It was Andy, probably sixteen or so, leaning against an ancient Land Rover. His blonde hair was messy, falling into his eyes, and he had that tired-but-proud look on his face.

He was so scrawny, his jeans hanging off his hips like hand-me-downs, and he was barefoot, shirtless, with a grin so big it practically lit up the photo.

The car looked like shit even back then, which somehow made the whole scene even more endearing.

Adorable.

It hit me that, at the time this photo was taken, Malia was probably ten, and Kaitlynn and I were already separated. Life was a whirlwind back then, and somehow, it had all led to this moment, to Andy and me.

"Hey, can I get a copy of this picture?" I teased.

"Jesus, Dad, you're so creepy..." Malia bit her lip, holding back a laugh.

Andy's blush deepened, and he snatched the photo from my hands, muttering, "Will you all stop? That photo's embarrassing. Quit looking at it."

The girls burst into laughter, and Andy quickly packed the photo into one of his boxes.

"Wait," Tina said, still grinning, "is that the same Land Rover? It can't be."

Andy sighed, resigning himself to the interrogation. "Yeah... It had been sitting in the yard for years. My mom said I could have it if I could get it running again. I did, and I practically lived out of it for a while. And yeah, it's still going. Sort of."

Malia shot me a pointed look, and I shot one right back. She'd better not ruin my surprise for Andy.

Andy and I weren't exactly great at surprises, but damn it, I was determined to get this one right.