I also notice that Uncle Sal’s name is scratched out on the chart, and Uncle Michael’s name is written in all caps beside it.

Papa notices me staring at the calendar. “Have you been to the festival before?” When I shake my head, his smile lights up his face. “You’ll love it. And Olivia will pick out a nice boy. You should have a nice day,” he says.

I fix myself a cup of coffee and refill his. “Don’t you think this whole blind date thing is weird? I mean, who does this?” I sit on the stool next to him.

He laughs. “This is exactly what I would expect from your grandmother. She is such a romantic. And she just wants everyone around her to be happy. Her heart was as broken as yours when she found you on the front steps.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and stare out the kitchen window.

“Have I ever told you how your grandmother and I met?” Papa asks.

He has. In fact, I’ve heard this story so many times I might tell it better than he does.

I smile and turn toward him. “No, sir.” He knows I know this, but he loves telling this story as much as I love hearing it.

He leans back and his eyes glaze over, like he’s gone back in time. “It was Valentine’s Day. I was supposed to take this girl to dinner and then out to the movies. Ocean’s 11 was playing…and I’m talking about the original one — not that one with the Clooney fellow. The girl…oh, what was her name…”

Louise.

He snaps his fingers a few times. “Louise!” He seems pleased to have remembered this detail. “Well, Louise came down with the flu just that morning. I wasn’t worried about missing the dinner — in fact, I was glad to save the money. But I had been waiting for that movie for weeks. So I decided to go by myself.”

I love this part.

“So I get my popcorn and find a quiet spot in the back. And then I hear it. A soft sniffling sound. It was dark in the theater, but I grew up with three sisters, so I knew that sound — it was a girl, and she was crying. She was close by, only a few seats away.”

Nonna.

Papa sits up straighter in his chair. “Well, I felt so bad for her. Why would a girl be crying in the movies on Valentine’s Day?”

He pauses, waiting for me to guess the answer.

I shrug, like I don’t know.

“So, I asked her. She had been stood up. I mean, who would do such a thing? And on Valentine’s Day! I offered to share my popcorn and we talked the entire movie, not once looking at the screen. We’ve been together ever since.” Papa pushes my hair out of my face. “If your nonna hadn’t been in the theater with her heart broken, we might never have met. Just have fun with this and things may surprise you.”

I don’t expect to meet the love of my life but maybe, just maybe, this will help heal the pieces Griffin broke.

“I’ll try, Papa.”

***

Olivia is touching up her lipstick in the mirror in the foyer while I pace. The guys should be in here in less than ten minutes and I’m super nervous.

Papa is in his chair in the front room watching the Saints game while Nonna rearranges a perfectly arranged vase of flowers that sits on the table by the front door. I know she’s just looking for an excuse to get to the door before anyone else has the chance.

The kitchen door opens. I jump at the sound. We hear a “Hello? Where is everyone?” then Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bruce stroll down the front hall. “There y’all are!” Aunt Lisa says. “We thought we’d come check on things.”

“Mom’s been trying to get me to tell her who I picked for you all day, but my lips are sealed.” Olivia smacks her freshly painted lips in the mirror.

“Okay, yes, we’re curious. And I told Eileen I’d be here, then call her with details. And Bill made Bruce promise he’d make sure Soph’s date was okay.”

I roll my eyes. I’m not surprised my parents sent spies to check things out.

And then we hear the door again. Charlie and Sara skid into the front hall, out of breath. “I told you we wouldn’t miss it,” Sara says, then punches Charlie in the arm. She turns to us. “He made us run here.”

“Oh, I’m glad I put that roast on earlier! After the girls are off, we’ll have dinner,” Nonna says.

“We really don’t need an audience for this,” I say, then look at Olivia, my eyes pleading with her.

“Yeah, y’all are going to scare him off if everyone is hovering by the door.”

The doorbell rings, and this time we all jump. There’s no way anyone is leaving the front hall now that the guys are on the other side of the door.

Just before Nonna opens the door, Uncle Michael stumbles down the stairs. “Wait! Let me get down there before you open the door.”

And of course, Nonna waits.

Thankfully, Olivia grabs my hand the second the door opens and we barrel through. The guys waiting outside jump back.

“Be back later,” Olivia shouts at the family. She pulls me to the car waiting at the curb. Luckily the guys catch on and are right behind us.

I’ve met Olivia’s boyfriend, Drew, a few times, but it’s not until I’m in the front passenger seat that I get a good look at my date. He is super cute. He’s wearing a football T-shirt from his high school and a worn pair of jeans. He looks good in a relaxed sort of way.

“Hey, I’m Seth Whitman.”

I smile. “Hey, I’m Sophie Patrick.”

Olivia and Drew climb in the backseat, and Seth cranks the car but doesn’t put it in drive. He looks back toward the house, where everyone is standing on the front porch. Waving.

He waves back while I lean my head against the seat and groan.

Seth turns in his seat wearing a firm expression. “I’m about to ask you to do something and I need you to take this very seriously.”

I can feel my eyes widen. What on earth?

“What is it?” I ask.

And then his top lip twitches. “You’re the DJ.” He hands me a long aux cord that’s plugged into the car stereo. “We’ve got almost an hour drive and the only good road trip is one with good music. Are you up for the challenge?”

“Yes!” I plug the cord into my phone and start scrolling through my playlist. Suddenly, I feel pressure. Even though he was teasing me, this first song needs to be a kickass one.

My finger hovers over “Perm” by Bruno Mars. I take a big breath and tap the screen. It only takes a few seconds before everyone in the car recognizes the song.

Seth looks away from the road and gives me a perfect smile. “That’s a good one.”

I smile back. “It is.”

Being DJ is more fun than I thought it would be, and I love seeing their expressions when I jump around from Beyoncé to Tom Petty to Nicki Minaj to Bon Jovi. Olivia and I sing at the top of our lungs. Judging by the boys’ muffled laughs, we must sound like drowning cats, but I don’t care.

I can’t help that Griffin pops into my head more times than I would like, but mostly I’m thinking this would have never happened in his truck. He only likes country music, and no one is allowed to mess with the dial.

By the time we get to Natchitoches, I’m actually looking forward to the rest of the date.

The festival takes place downtown, along the Cane River. Every building, light post, tree, and bush is covered in lights, and string after string hangs above the crowd, zigzagging down the street. There are also huge lighted pieces, like nutcracker soldiers and a Santa being pulled in a sleigh by a team of crawfish, lining the bank across the river.

“There are over three hundred thousand lights at the festival,” Seth murmurs in my ear. I believe it.

The streets are packed as we weave through the crowds, stopping at booths for candied pecans and hot meat pies. We pass under a banner showcasing the reigning Miss Merry Christmas, splendid in her bright red dress and crown. Christmas decorations cover every possible inch, and they are gaudy as hell but perfect at the same time.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket for the tenth time, so I take a quick peek at the screen while the guys play a basketball throw game.

I should have known it was Margot.

MARGOT: I’m dying to know how it’s going. I’m bored out of my mind. The moms are cleaning out every drawer in my house and I’m terrified my underwear is going to wind up in the silverware drawer.

ME: Maybe the moms think the thongs and the tongs belong together.

MARGOT: Ha. Ha. Seriously, how’s the date going???

I take a quick pic of Seth and send it to Margot. It’s a profile shot as he’s poised to shoot the basketball.

ME: It’s going good! He’s cute. And fun.

MARGOT: He’s hot! Have fun!

ME: Thanks!

When the boys are done with the game, Seth pulls me through the mass of human traffic. “We’ve got to do the Avalanche Slide!”

I look to where he’s pointing and do a double take. Off to the side is a huge structure covered in man-made snow. The temperature is chilly but nowhere near freezing, so I have no idea how the whole thing hasn’t turned into a pool of water. On top of the structure is a cartoon cutout of Frosty the Snowman.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I mumble, and Olivia gives me a horrified look. “What?” I ask her.

She looks up at the slide and back to me. “Are you seriously not going to try it?”

It’s Olivia’s face that gets me. It’s almost like she wants to throw in The Sophie I used to know wouldn’t think twice…

So why am I hesitant?

I grab Seth’s hand. “Let’s do this.”

We race up the steps with Olivia and Drew close behind us. At the top, the guy working the event gives us each a round plastic platter and simple instructions: Sit on the disc and let it fly.