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Braxton and Zoe.

 
    CHAPTER
FOUR
    BRAXTON
    Even before a big fight I didn’t get as nervous as I was on my way to meet Emmi’s dad. I hadn’t really
thought this through. What if he said no? Do I just
say, “Oh well, I tried,” and walk away? I couldn’t see
that happening. I’d already made up my mind that Emmi was who I wanted to spend my life with. So, what if
asking him did more harm than good? What if he says no and she says yes and
then he and I have to look at each other across the
table at Thanksgivings or Christmases when he has the turkey carving knife in
his hand? Yep, I really should have given this more
thought.
    It was too late though. I was driving into the parking lot of the Buffalo Wild
Wings. I didn’t know what he drove or even what he
looked like. What an idiot, I didn’t even think about
how I would find him once I got there. He was going to see me looking lost and he was going to think that I’m way too stupid to marry his smart,
beautiful daughter. God, I was a mess. I pulled open the heavy double doors and as soon as I
stepped inside I saw him. I guess I have him to thank
for Emmi’s gorgeous blue eyes. There was no way that
this man was not her father and if he wasn’t , I’d
probably never see this guy again so I said, “Hi, Mr. Sadler? I’m Braxton.”
    “Hey, Braxton,” he said
with a smile and a hearty handshake. He had her smile too or more aptly, she
had his. “I hate to admit this but once I got here I wondered how I was going
to recognize you.”
    I laughed. It was nice to know that I wasn’t quite as
big of a dork as I thought I was, or at least Emmi’s dad was too.
    “I had the same
thought,” I told him. “But you look just like Emmi .”
    Her dad made a face and
said, “You’re not starting off so good here.” I suddenly had a dragon in my gut wondering what it was that I said wrong.
    “I’m sorry, sir,” I said, still unsure of what I was sorry for.
    “You’re insulting my
daughter right off the bat, saying she looks like this ugly old man?”
    I laughed nervously and he threw his head back and laughed heartily. He clapped me on the shoulder and said, “I couldn’t bring my gun in; I
have to give you at least a little hard time. Let’s go get a seat, I’m
starving.”
    My stomach was still churning when the waitress took our order. I ordered the original Buffalo wings, which come in a huge basket with a ton of
fries. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat any of it.
    “So, Braxton, what do
you major in at school?”
    “Computer science,” I told him.
    “So you want to do
something in computers…obviously…?”
    “Yeah, I’m thinking
computer networking, setting up internet cafés and things like that.”
    “That’s good; you must
be a pretty smart guy. I hate to admit it, but I have
a love/hate relationship with my computer at work. It’s made a lot of things
easier, but a lot of times, I miss the old-fashioned way we did things.”
    “What do you do, sir?”
    “Will you stop calling
me sir? It makes me feel like an old geezer.” We both chuckled. “Anyways, I
sell medical equipment. I ’ve been doing it for twenty
years and when I first started we had one computer in the office. Now we have
about ten in the office and we each have one of them hand-held gizmos too. I used to keep a logbook when I made my deliveries, but now
I have to log it all into the computer. That’s fine on the days when my
computer is in the mood to cooperate.”
    I laughed. “Yeah, they can be fickle sometimes. If it ever happens again, you
could always call me . I might even be able to talk you
through it on the phone.”
    “Fickle, like women,”
he said with a laugh. “If I have a problem with my woman could you talk me
through that as well?”
    “No, sir, I’m afraid
you’d be on your own there.”
    He threw his head back
and laughed again. It made me wish that my father
laughed occasionally. Our food came and I realized
that my stomach had finally