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“Me too.” The quiet words spoken like a confession fill up whatever emptiness was left inside me. It might have taken some time, but I’m not surprised she made me whole. She filled a void in my life I never realized was there and gave me a sense of contentment no amount of money could ever buy.
22
ELORA
40.7128° N, 74.0060° W
“You about ready?”
At that question from Roman, I look toward the bathroom door as he walks in, dressed in black dress pants and a button-down that matches. The only pop of color is the gold double-G buckle around his waist.
“Not yet.” I turn back to the mirror to finish my mascara.
“Stop stalling, baby. It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m not stalling,” I lie.
He and I both know I’ve been a nervous wreck since he told me two days ago that we would be having dinner with his family, including Ricardo, who I haven’t seen since we were at the hospital weeks ago. Even with Roman’s reassurance that things will be okay, a tiny voice in the back of my head warns me that I should stay away so that nothing gets close enough to pop the bubble of safety Roman has me in.
“You are stalling, but it’s cute.” He comes up behind me, smoothing my hair over my shoulder to kiss the crook of my neck. “Is this what you plan on wearing?” His hands fist his T-shirt that I confiscated after our shower earlier.
“Yes, this is the new it fashion of all Manhattan socialites.”
“I like it.” His smile is contagious.
“If you keep distracting me, we’re going to be late.”
“We’re already late.”
“What?” I panic and start to reach for my phone to check the time.
“I’m joking. You have about twenty minutes before we’ll be late.”
“Jerk.”
“But you love me.”
He’s right; I do. Sometime between Oregon and New York, I fell in love with him. It didn’t sneak up on me. It just happened so effortlessly I didn’t recognize what it was. “I’ll be in the living room when you’re done.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you out there.” I bite my lip as he kisses my shoulder, then watch him in the mirror as he wanders out of the room.
When I finish my makeup and my hair—I decided to put it into a low messy bun because there was no taming it after it got wet in the shower—I walk into the closet. Over the past few weeks, his things have been moved to one side while the other has slowly accumulated more and more pieces. All things that just suddenly appear on hangers or in drawers. I can’t say I’ve gotten used to being spoiled by him, or that I ever will, but I’ve come to realize it’s one of the ways he shows he cares and thinks of me.
Sliding through the rack of dresses, I stop when I come to the one I wore in San Francisco. It feels like both forever ago and just yesterday that we were there, with all that has happened. Pushing it aside, I pull a blue dress off the rack that has one shoulder and an odd hem at the bottom.
Slipping off his shirt, I put the dress on and walk to the mirror. The dress is sophisticated and a little sexy with the one-shoulder, cinched waist, and loose skirt that ties at a slant, showing the skin of one thigh. Grabbing the pair of heels, I wore back in California—since I know how they fit and kind of remember how to walk in them—I put them on. I take his T-shirt with me, tossing it on the bed before walking down the hall to the living room. Since he likely heard my heels clicking on the wood floors, his head is up, and his eyes are on me as soon as I come into view.
“Beautiful.”
“Not too sexy?”
“Oh, it’s sexy as fuck, but it’s perfect.”
“Thank you.” He holds out his hand, so I close the distance between us.
“I got you something.” He grabs a red box from the table next to where he’s standing, and my heart starts to pound as he opens it up. Tucked inside is a gold bracelet that looks on the outside like it has little round screws inserted into the gold.
“It’s stunning.” I watch him take it out of the box and realize it’s two separate pieces.
