Prom night. DJ's prom night. Man, it was great seeing her again. We danced at her prom and it was like we never broke up. I walked through the door and she kissed me like the old days and I knew everything was right again. She looked fantastic. She smelled fantastic. Better than Cookies and Cream Cheesecake, my favorite flavor Ben & Jerry's ice cream. It felt more like our prom than DJ's prom. My prom night kind of sucked, but this time, there was no Rachel to ruin everything. We danced a lot and kissed a lot and completely ignored the prom king-queen thing. I think Kimmy and her date were the prom king and queen, but who knows and who cares? That night was all about me and my girl. My soulmate.
You don't deserve her, you putz. You let her go to UCLA and you stayed in San Francisco and married that floozy who took the best years of your hair and most of your savings to boot. What did you think would happen? Did you think she'd stay single and parentless forever? Boy, were you wrong.
She came back to San Francisco to go to UC Davis vet school. I thought about leaving what's-her-name right then and there and marching up DJ and asking her out for fish tacos. Actually, I did leave what's her name. Who cares what her name is? I may as well call her Y, as in WHY did I even marry her? Seriously.
Fed up with everything, I went for a walk by myself. Well, anytime I do that, I have to get food. I was chowing down on my tenth burrito when I noticed that I had started down my favorite street. And there was my favorite house. I noticed a couple of 'for sale' signs as I approached the beautiful Tanner house and thought hmm. The Gibbler house had a 'for sale' sign in front of it too. I stood on the opposite side of the street and just stared at that beautiful pair of red doors. I wondered if it was the same inside as the last time I had been there. I figured Mr. Tanner was still living inside with his wife. I wasn't sure about the rest of the gang. Had Jesse and Becky and their twin boys finally gotten their own house? And what about Joey and Ginger? I imagined them all still living there as I looked at those beautiful red doors. Joey in the basement. Jesse upstairs in his room with the pink bunnies. Mr. Tanner moving from room to room, brandishing a feather duster. My reminiscences came to a screeching halt as I watched a very grown-up, and very pregnant D.J. stepping outside. I realize now, 14 years later, she was pregnant with Jackson. That was the first time I laid eyes on Tommy Fuller. He came out of the house behind her and put his arm around her. I watched them exchange a quick but loving kiss. There have been only a handful of times in my life when I lost my appetite. That was one of them. I went home and told Y it was over. I packed my bags and went to a hotel. The next day, I contacted a realtor and asked to look at all of the houses on Girard St. that were for sale. Well, they were all way out of my budget, of course. I was still in podiatry school. The realtor helped me find a place nearby to rent. Everyday I'd come home from school and make time to walk past the Tanner house. Years went by. I became a podiatrist with the initials DPM after my name. I bought a house. Becky became one of my patients and a source of much-valued news on what the Tanners (and Fullers, and Gladstones, and yes, even the Gibblers) were up to. I ended up adopting Comet Jr's puppy and naming her Comet Jr. Jr. Mr. Tanner said that made me officially family now and asked me to start calling him Danny but I couldn't get used to that. I felt terrible for not feeling overjoyed when he told me that DJ had given birth to her second kid, another son, little Max. I wanted to feel happy for her but it just broke my heart that I wasn't Jackson and Max's father.
I dated other women. They were all so boring and un-DJ like. Year after year. Bunion after bunion. I took Comet Jr. Jr. for a routine checkup at Harmon Pet Care, expecting of course to have that checkup performed by reliable funny old Dr. Fred Harmon. But he wasn't even there. DJ came out, looking lovely and happy and I wanted to kiss her so badly. She explained that she was a new associate there and hoped to be a partner someday. I made some lame comment about how great it would be to come into Tanner Harmon Pet Care and she corrected me. "It's Fuller now." Of course it was. How could I forget?
"We really need to keep in touch, Deej," I said.
"Yeah," she said, smiling. "We really do." And she brightened up in that wonderful way of hers, like she can't wait to make the world perfect for everyone. "And you have to meet Tommy and our boys. Jackson and Max are a hoot. So much like Stephanie and I when we were kids."
I never went to meet her husband though. I regret that now. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Whenever I took Comet Jr. Jr. in for his checkup, she'd say something about getting together and I'd make up some lame excuse. I loved her and I wanted her but I just couldn't bring myself to watch her being another man's wife. Especially as that man was, I heard, so amazing and heroic, one of San Francisco's finest, fighting fires and saving lives.
I was in Trader Joe's one day and ran into Kimmy Gibbler. She told me that Tommy Fuller had died in the line of duty. And DJ was pregnant again.