We finished the spaghetti and we were having light conversation. I cant believe David did all of this. A scavenger hunt to find him is definitely high on the list of the cutest things he's ever done.
I was surprised when he told me that we'd never had an actual date. It had seemed so weird that in fifteen years of knowing each other, we'd never gone on a date. I almost thought he was lying but the more I thought about it, we never did.
"Hey, love?" David brought me out my thoughts. "Do you want a cone? I thought we'd get one and we could walk around Sunnyvale. I can tell some stories too, if you want."
A smile went to my face and I nodded. I've heard all the tales of Sunnyvale but I love when he tells them. We went to the back and grabbed our cones.
We walked out the staff door and across the parking lot to get to the road. We walked down the road and stopped at a house.
"This is Nathans house," David said with a smile. It was a brick one-story. "From what I have gathered, they seemed to set base here after they met my mother and this is where they had some of the family meetings. Want to go in?" I gave him a weird look.
"Why would we?" I asked.
"I don't know. I just know Mr. Griffin isn't home. Its winter so he'd be at his beach house down in Florida." I gave the house a hard look. "Oh, come on!" David grabbed my hand and brought me through the woods and to the back of the fence.
"This is how Nathan brought my mom here the first time."
We walked over a wooden plank to and to the fence. David grabbed the handle and walked to the edge of the pool.
"How deep is it?" I asked. David gave me a smile.
"When mom asked Nathan that, he pushed her in." I took a few steps back. David let out a loud laugh.
David grabbed my hand and led me through the sliding glass door. We walked down a hallway and went through a door. It was almost empty except for a bed in the corner.
"This is where mom and Nathan spent many nights together after she moved in," David said with a smile.
We walked out of the room and into the kitchen. The smell was so gross that I almost threw up I gagged so hard.
"What is that smell?" I said, my face twisted with disgust.
"Its probably just spoiled food. I'll tell Nathan about it. He'll clean it up."
We walked out the front door and back onto the road. We walked past a house and stopped at the next one. It was a two-story house with grey siding.
"I would offer to bring you in, but I'm not sure if Marie's in. Or sober." His happy demeanor dropped. "This doesn't really have happy memories. This was my moms house of torture. She was tied down and beaten here but this is where the story began."
A tear strolled down his cheek. He was probably thinking about all the pain his mom had been put through here. I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from his mothers pain. We started walking to a new house that I was quite familiar with.
We walked in through the open garage like we always had. He stood in the opening.
"This is dads house," he pointed to the crate in the corner. "Dad used to have a golden retriever. Mom said it was the smartest one ever."
He walked to the middle of the garage.
"Gabe used to sit everyone down here and give haircuts." He grabbed the door handle and walked into the house.
"Grandma? Are you home?" David yelled out.
Pots and pans started to clash and clang in the kitchen. We started our way over to the noise. David's grandma was squatted by some cupboards.
"David! Oh gosh, come help an old lady out. Grab that cookie sheet for me would you?"
"Gram you're not old." David squatted as Erica stood.
Erica turned her head and looked at me. She gave me a smile before she swept me into a hug.
"Oh, Rachel! I've missed you. I haven't seen you since Baby Selah's party!" I smiled.
"I missed you too!"
"Here you go Gram." David gave her the cookie sheet.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have an adoption to get to soon?" Erica said to David.
"I'm giving Rachel the Sunnyvale Tales and Tour." He grabbed my hand. "You're the last stop."
"My favorite. I'm leaving at 4:30 if you guys would like a ride." She went back to making her cookies.
We walked out into the living room. He sat down on the couch and sat me down on his lap.
"This is where they had a lot of sleepovers. They'd watch movies or play video games and just pass out wherever." David had a smile on his face as he told me about his fathers teenage years. He let out a chuckle. "One time there was even a dance party!"
I let out a laugh. We stood up and went up a flight of stairs. He opened a door and walked into the room.
"This is dads room. When mom and dad first met, dad somehow convinced mom to stay the night. That morning Victor jumped on mom thinking it was Dad!" David let out a loud laugh. "He was so surprised when dad came in the room and he was still on top a body!"
David calmed down and let out a deep breath. "This was one of my moms safe havens. Somewhere she really felt at home."
The amount of emotion and enthusiasm he puts into his family's story is why I'm always willing to listen to it over and over. He loved the stories and that was one of his many charming qualities.
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