Finding Cinderella Maybe Someday

MILES
Six years earlier
“Why is everything yellow?”
My dad is standing in the doorway to Rachel’s bedroom,
looking at the few items we’ve collected in the months since
he’s known about the pregnancy. “It looks like Big Bird threw
up in here.”
Rachel laughs. She’s standing at the bathroom mirror,
putting the finishing touches on her makeup. I’ve been lying
on her bed, watching her.
“We don’t want to know if it’s a boy or a girl, so we’re
buying gender-neutral colors.”
Rachel answers my dad’s question as if it were one of many,
but we both know it’s the first. He hasn’t asked about the
pregnancy. He doesn’t ask about our plans. He usually
leaves the room if Rachel and I are both in it.
Lisa isn’t much different. She’s not past the point of
disappointment or sadness yet, so we don’t push it. It’ll take
time, so Rachel and I are giving that to them.

---

Right now, Rachel only has me to talk to about the baby,
and I only have her, and even though that seems like too
little, it’s more than enough for both of us.
“How long will the ceremony last?” my dad asks me.
“No more than two hours,” I tell him.
He says we should go.
I tell him that as soon as Rachel is ready, we can go.
Rachel says she’s ready.
We go.
• • •
“Congratulations,” I tell Rachel.
“Congratulations,” she tells me.
We both graduated three hours ago. Now we’re lying on my
bed, thinking about our next step. Or at least 
I
am, anyway.
“Let’s move in together,” I tell her.
She laughs. “We kind of already live together, Miles,” she
points out.
I shake my head. “You know what I mean. I know we already
have plans for after we start college in August, but I think
we should do it now.”
She rises up on her elbow and looks at me, probably trying
to read my expression to see if I’m serious.
“How? Where would we go?”
I reach over to my nightstand and open the top drawer. I
pull out the letter and hand it to her.
She begins reading it out loud.