“I had no idea the power of scruff.”

“It’s what was underneath—but the scruff didn’t hurt. You let me take your arm, even though we didn’t know each other.”

“I remember.”

She let out a slightly dreamy breath. “A woman likes a man with enough strength to make her feel safe. I like the strength in your arms, Pat.”

“Thank you.”

Benjamin brought our dessert and pleasantly asked if we were ready to order our meals. I told him we needed a little more time to decide.

After he left us, Christie told me it was my turn.

“Our first kiss,” I said. “That night by the riverfront.”

“Mmm. Yes. The taste of your lips. Shimmering city lights reflecting off the river. Very romantic.”

“You have a good memory.”

“It was a good kiss.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “It was.”

“I was nervous.”

“Nervous? Why?”

“I hadn’t been dating much over the last few years,” she told me. “Kissing much, either.”

“You didn’t seem out of practice to me.”

“And once again, that was the right thing to say.”

We both tried our desserts.

I realized that I would be content just ordering a couple more of these tuiles and calling it a night.

“What’s memory number two?” I asked.

“This may sound strange, but it was the time I first introduced you to Tessa.”

“Really?”

“She’d never had a dad involved in her life, and I’d never found a man who I thought would be good enough as a role model or a father figure to her. But then I found you. You’re the two most important people in the world to me, and I was happy she didn’t hate you.”

“So was I.”

“You know how she can be.”

“Being opinionated is just part of her charm.”

“Okay, now you. Number two.”

“Our wedding.”

Once we’d decided to get married, we hadn’t waited long to do it. Neither of us could think of any reason to put it off—we didn’t need to finish graduate school or find a job or move to a new part of the country. We were ready to tie the knot, and Christie pulled the planning for the wedding together faster than I’d ever seen anyone do, except, I suppose, for those who elope.

As far as the dance, we made a deal that Christie would choose two songs, and Tessa and Azaliya could work out the rest. So apart from two eighties love songs—“Desert Moon” by Dennis DeYoung and “Lovesong” by The Cure—we had a night of Russian dance tunes and screamer bands.

But, as Ralph’s wife, Brineesha, pointed out, the goal of a wedding isn’t to have everything go by without a hitch but to create memories that last a lifetime. “No one is going to forget seeing Ralph out there doing a Russian Cossack dance.”

That was true.