Torin and Summer

Chapter 22 (Summer): A Question

Dating your own husband was interesting. Since the purpose of dating was to get to know someone, it suited us...because we were dating the new versions of us. This time, however, we weren't trying to put our best foot forward or be shiny and perfect. This time around, we were just being real, discussing painful things from the past, tumbling our way down the side of a ravine of hurt, and then slowly working our way back up the steep side to the top. Over and over for months, and as we worked through our issues, we learned about the ways we'd both changed and began to realize that we still worked.

We worked differently, but that was fine because we were both different.

I'd gone to several of Torin's individual therapy sessions with him, and we talked about Torin's behavior during those eighteen months and his therapist gently guided us through some issues, some information about warning signs that would indicate Torin was struggling again. But Keith also told me that he'd never, in all his years of practice, seen anyone with the determination Torin had shown to confront his disorder and to deal with it in such a straightforward manner.

And in between the difficult days with the rough discussions, there were even more moments of good and normal and fun, and interspersed  in all of that mixture were my fairy tale moments.

Princess Jasmine ~

Though I'm just a peasant, I was wondering if you'd like to take a magic carpet ride with me on Friday night? I promise to leave my monkey at home if you'll promise not to bring your tiger.

Forever yours,

Aladdin

I couldn't begin to imagine what this adventure would be, so I very willingly followed him out to his truck when he picked me up that Friday. His hello kiss was hot and his smile was mysterious, and the man absolutely refused to answer my questions. We drove for half an hour until we came to a fair. Torin paid for our tickets and we wandered along until we came to a giant slide that was twelve rows wide, had three huge bumps and appeared to be three or four stories high. People were screaming as they sped down it.

Torin's smile was huge. "Ready for your magic carpet ride? Although, to be honest, it's more like burlap bags instead of carpet, but this was as close as I could get."

"Let's do it!" I said because this looked fun. I'd never seen, much less gone down, a slide that big before, but the people coming down it seemed to be laughing and having a good time. We climbed the endless steps, grabbed our burlap carpet, and I sat down first, and Torin sat behind me, his strong legs on either side of mine. He pushed us off, his arms tight around me, and he laughed in my ear as I screamed woooooooo! the whole way down.

"Again!" I demanded after we slid to a stop at the bottom of the slide, and he followed me up those steps four more times before we decided to see what else the fair had to offer. Hand in hand, we wandered for hours, competing against one another in the ridiculous games they had and eating horrible fair food guaranteed to clog our arteries in five minutes or less. If you're reading this anywhere but wattpad, you're paying to read something that is free. On wattpad, search groveltohea and read this story and all the other one for free. In the end, Torin won a shiny purple teddy bear for me that we gave to a little girl we passed who was having a meltdown and whose parents looked about ready to have one, too.

The mother nodded when I asked her softly if her little girl might like the stuffed animal, and I thought she was going to kiss me in exhausted gratitude.

"Neither one of us could win anything for her at any of the games tonight," she whispered, and the little girl's tears dried up immediately when she hugged the bear to her.