Page 117 of Don't Tempt Me
Dean looks at me. "I don't know where to get that."
"I do. Let's go." I take Dean's hand as we walk to his car. His car is working now. A guy from school heard Dean's story and how he couldn't fix his car so he told his dad, who's a mechanic, and he repaired it for free. Dean felt like he had to pay him at least something but the guy wouldn't let him. Instead, he asked Dean to help his son with his football game. His youngest son is thirteen and wants to be good enough to play football in high school. Dean was happy to teach him stuff. He loved it. He's really good with kids. He'll make a great dad someday. He's already a great dad to Jake. Like tonight, watching Jake, Dean looked like a proud father.
Dean is so different than when I met him. He's mellowed out. He smiles more. He laughs and makes jokes. He has this light about him that's such a huge contrast from the darkness he was living in when I met him.
I'm different too. I wouldn't even recognize the old me. I barely remember that girl. The only time I do is when I look at old pictures of myself with my fake smile. Then I look at my eyes and see the real me trying to get out, stuck behind that phony smile.
They say people don't change but it isn't true. People change if they want to. If they have a reason to. If they're motivated to. Or they change when they realize the person they are isn't the person they want to be.
Before I met Dean, I didn't really like myself. Dean didn't like himself either. We were both being people we didn't want to be but we didn't know how to change. It took us falling in love, revealing our true selves, to finally become the people we were meant to be.
I went from being a rich prep school girl with a fancy car, living in a huge house, to a girl living in a tiny apartment with no car and no money.
And I couldn't be happier.
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