by Cee, DW
“What did you do to it? It has a delicious smoky taste to it.”
“You’re supposed to either take off the skin or sear it. I used the pastry torch I bought in Paris and torched the skin. Isn’t it yummy?”
The way her eyes lit up…I could never compete with this joy, though I believed now I came a very close second to food.
“It’s all excellent, Emily,” the chief complimented while stuffing his face.
“Thank you, Uncle Henry.”
“Emi, have you thought of what you want to do after the wedding?” I asked her.
“What do you mean? I’ll enjoy married life till school begins mid-August.”
“Would you consider quitting school and going to culinary school? We have a top notch culinary academy five minutes from our home. Why don’t you enroll there in the fall?” I wanted to realize this dream for her immediately. She didn’t need to wait till the kids were gone and we were retired. If this was one of her dreams, she could have it now.
After doubting her desires, her ability, and even our finances, she promised to consider this option. An amazing lunch gone, I went back to a full day. The chief and Aunt Babs found me on my way to their dinner.
“Don’t you look beautiful, Aunt Babs.”
“Thank you, Jake. Am I almost as beautiful as your fiancée?”
“Not even close,” I said with a smile.
“Did you two enjoy your lunch today? Sandy, Bobby, and I were also treated to a wonderful lunch. Jake, you did really well with that bride of yours. She’s kind and pretty and she can cook. I hope Doug will find somebody just as sweet.”
“Thank you for the nice words. Now would you put in a good word for me with your husband, so I can go home to my Emily before midnight?”
“Henry, if the hospital isn’t too busy, let Jake go home early. Emily was moping around the house this afternoon after seeing Jake at the hospital. That girl has no interest in the wedding. She just wants to say I do and be married to our nephew. If it weren’t for the family, I could see her agreeing to elope and be married tomorrow.”
“That’s how I feel. How’d you figure out Emily so easily?”
“It doesn’t take much to read her. I don’t know how she stayed away from you for so long. She is very much in love with you.”
“I love her even more, Aunt Babs.”
“Enough with the love…you can go home if there isn’t much else going on,” the chief pretended to be exasperated.
“Thanks, Aunt Babs.” I gave her a wink.
Grabbing the flower arrangement I picked out during my dinner break I broke every traffic law again and raced home. I walked in the door to find Sarah walking out.
“Hi, Sarah.” I gave her a peck on the cheek. “How was the honeymoon?”
“It was wonderful. Thank you for the fabulous wedding gift. Charlie and I use the cappuccino maker every morning.”
“My pleasure. I’m glad it finally reached you.”
“You sent them a wedding gift?” Emily asked.
“Of course I did. I gave it to Max when I saw him at the hospital right before I came to find you in Japan. I would have gotten them something even nicer if Sarah had let me know sooner where you were hiding.” I tried to give her a mean smile.
“I think it’s time for me to go.”
“You’re leaving already? Stick around.”
“Look at Emily. Does she look like she wants me to stick around? I have to go. My hubby is waiting for me. See you soon.”
“Bye,” Emily answered quickly and shooed her out the door.
I picked up my delighted fiancée again, and hoping for a repeat of last night, kissed her all the way up to our bedroom. Rather than fulfilling my fantasies, she jumped down and had me sit so we could talk wedding.
“I thought I deferred all the decisions to you.” This was my way of getting out of talking about the wedding.
“You did, and I gave your mom our proxy but there are a few matters I’d like for us to decide. First, where are we going for our honeymoon?”
“I don’t care. What do you prefer?”
After a back and forth on city vs. island honeymoon, we compromised on five days on an island, then the next week all throughout Japan.
“What’s next?” I got up from my designated corner, trying to get closer, but no such luck.
“Dinner menu…what do you want to eat?”
This one was an easy one, as we could hire chefs from our favorite restaurants to come cook at our wedding. The doubting Emily look resurfaced but I convinced her this was the best way to go. Of course she agreed, and I lunged at her with thoughts of frolicking with her on the sofa. She held me off again.
“I need to talk to you about…Never mind. I’ll talk to Mom tomorrow about it.”
“Emily. Speak now or we’re done talking for the night. I didn’t come home early just to talk.”
Her face flushed. “What do we do about birth control? Do you want to have a baby right away?”
Finally. “Are we actually talking sex?” A conversation I was interested in.
“Yes, we’re talking about sex. What do you want to do?”
I told her I was fine with any decision she made. My preference would be to start tonight but she wouldn’t go for it. Instead, I promised to make an appointment for her with the OB at the hospital.
“Are we done now?” Wanting to get back to last night’s passion, I hurried the conversation along.
“I need to talk to you about Max.”
Max himself didn’t bother me anymore but whenever Emily brought him up, it bothered me. She told me he was upset she was marrying someone other than him, and I told her he would soon forget her and find another girl. This truth irritated Emily, though she didn’t express it.
“He can’t ever forget me,” she shot back at my statement.
“Does that mean you can’t ever forget him as well?” I’d see how she’d get herself out of this one.
“No,” she began to stutter. “It just means that…well, you should know…it’s not easy to forget me.” Her laughter echoed loudly in our room till I covered her lips with mine and carried her onto our bed. To my dismay, she didn’t let me get too far and kicked me out of bed.
Saturday came and I made reservations at Urasawa for us, Jane, Nick, Sarah, Charlie, Peter, and Max. While Emily, Jane, Nick, and Sarah left for wedding shopping, I went back to the hospital. Undoubtedly, it would be another busy day. Hurrying home, I showered and drove into Beverly Hills, eager to see my bride.
Emily entered minutes after I sat and greeted Hiro, and she hastened over to a seat next to me. We embraced amid many unnecessary comments from my siblings. As everyone sat down, our courses began. Charlie sat on the other side of me and told me about his latest project. Emily and Sarah chatted about the wedding, and Peter and Nick got along famously talking about their undergrad years.
To my delight, I noticed Jane and Max absorbed in each other. They noticed no one else at the bar. Comically, I could tell my fiancée was not happy with this situation. She and Sarah whispered about the new couple, and all I could hear was Sarah saying, “Be nice.” I rubbed Emily’s back, and she turned to glance at me.
“Everything good?” I knew it wasn’t, but thought I’d ask anyway.
“Uh-huh.” With a curt answer, she turned to face Sarah again. I held back a laugh.
After a four-hour dinner, Emily and I got into my car and drove out of the garage. With good foresight, I had brought my two-seater, so Jane caught a ride home with Max. By the looks on both their faces, they were glad to have more time with one another. The only unhappy person was my bride.
“What are you laughing at?” she asked very annoyed.
“You sound a bit agitated.” I couldn’t help the guffaw that came with the answer. “I don’t think you have to worry about Max. He obviously isn’t as devastated as you think he is about losing you.”
She didn’t appreciate my comment and gave me the silent treatment the rest of the way home. Once home, I noticed Emily not so nonchalantly looking to see if Jane was home. I picked her up and told her, “She’s not home yet. We don’t do bed checks in this house.”
Now Emily was really irked. She got down from my arms and took her pillow upstairs to the guest room. I made fun of her a bit more, against my better judgment. After much mockery, I ran upstairs and grabbed Emily from the bed and put her over my shoulders like a little child. Once we got into bed, I went about my business as though Emily had given me consent for my every move.
“Jake?” she called me with very little force.
“Hmm?” I knew she’d give in if I pushed her just a little more.
“If you are planning on sleeping here tonight with me, you need to behave.” She sounded so unconvincing.
“Can I sleep here?” I was only too happy to have her in my arms tonight.
“You can if you promise to behave. My wall of defense is crumbling by the day. You need to help me at this point.”
Here it was again—reverse psychology. With two weeks left till the wedding, I decided to honor her request. Although…my hands had a mind of their own and went exploring without permission from either one of us.
I woke up sometime in the late morning to find Emily still asleep. She jostled around, then pushed herself closer into my body and fell back into a deep sleep. Putting my arms around her, I realized my presence was really her Ambien. Lazily, I too decided to sleep some more.
“Good morning.” She smiled when I woke up.
“Good morning. What time is it?”
“I think it’s almost noon.” She stretched out her arms. “I feel so good right now. Finally, I’m caught up on sleep.”
“If you let me in your bed from now on, I’ll help you sleep well every night.”
“Yeah, if only we could just sleep together. It wouldn’t be like your hands or lips would go on parts of my body in the middle of the night without my permission,” she kidded.
“You’re practically my wife. Do I need permission?”
She didn’t answer me.
“Do you want me to bring up something to eat?”
She shook her head yes and I went down in my pajamas, surprised to find Max in our kitchen.
“Hey, Max. Did you spend the night here?”
Max and Jane looked at me horrified.
“What?” Their aghast look caused me to laugh.
“No, Jake. He’s here to take me to the airport. Where’s Emily? I want to say good-bye.”
“Why don’t you call her later? She finds this situation,” I pointed back and forth to Jane and Max, “a little weird. I’ll tell her you left already when she asks about you.”
“Is she OK?” Jane and Max asked simultaneously.
“She’s fine. Don’t worry about Emily. I’ll take care of her. You two enjoy yourselves.”
Both parties blushed and left without saying much other than good-bye. While fixing breakfast I called Tony, a dance instructor, to come and give us ballroom dance lessons today. There were still way too many items left on Emily’s bucket list.
Emily was dressed and ready for the day when I brought up a hodgepodge of food.
“I called a dance instructor to come and teach us ballroom dancing for later today.”
Looking up from the computer, there was excitement in her eyes. “Thank you, Honey. That’ll be a lot of fun.”
“Is that the doorbell?” I asked, getting off my seat.
“I’ll get it. You finish eating,” Emily suggested.
She came back up with Sarah and Charlie, and we enjoyed their company until Emily kicked them out, promising to meet them for dinner and a movie later.
“I can’t believe you and Charlie today.” She complained about us talking about private matters such as our sleeping arrangements.
“He asked,” I defended myself. “Are you mad? I didn’t tell them about last night. Can we try it again tonight?”
I got kicked back into Nick’s room, and she ran off without saying much more.
Tony showed up right on time and wanted to teach us all the popular dance steps today. Emily was willing; I wasn’t up for that much dancing. We started with the foxtrot then moved on to the waltz. My fiancée was not as graceful with her body as I imagined her to be. In fact, she had two left feet.
Not able to learn the dance steps, she gave up and asked, “How is it that you are getting all these moves so easily, when I can’t memorize any of them?”
“Oh, that’s because I took…” I slowed down my train of thought as I saw Tony feverishly shaking his head as well as crossing his arms into a large X. “…Dancing…lessons with…Kelley.”
Immediately I saw why Tony put up blinking lights and practically lunged at me to cover my mouth from saying any more. Emily’s expression went from eager and willing to despondent and conflicted.
“Tony, I think I’m going to stop for today,” was Emily’s response. “I’ll have Jake teach me the rest. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your Sunday to work with us.” With that she shook his hand and went upstairs.
“What did I do?” Thoroughly confused, I hoped Tony could help.
“Jake, dancing is intimate. No woman wants to hear that her man practiced all these moves with another woman. Didn’t you see me warning you?”
“Yeah, I did, but I didn’t get why you were warning me. I guess I need to go up and explain myself. Thanks again. Bye.”
After walking Tony out, I didn’t know what I should say, since I didn’t believe I did anything wrong.
“Emily?” I called out, running up the stairs. “Emi, where are you?”
“I’m changing for dinner. Can you give me a few minutes? I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“All right.”
Nervously I waited for my fiancée, who took an unusually long time getting dressed. Since the Grand Canyon, I thought our disagreeing days were over, but apparently they weren’t. She finally came down.
“What’s wrong?” I tiptoed around her to assess her mood.
“Nothing.” She didn’t sound fine. “Sarah called to say they’re on their way to dinner. Let’s get going.”
“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” I stopped her from walking away.
“No, not really.” She gave me her I said no, but I really meant yes, tone.
“Emi. Talk to me. Didn’t we promise to talk through any issues? I’m not quite sure what the issue is right now but we can’t go to dinner with you pouting the whole night.”
Her lips shut even tighter.
“Emily! You are driving me crazy with this silence.” I implored.
“…I feel like nothing I ever do with you will be a first. There’s always been some other girl who’s been there before me.”
I wanted to answer, “Are you kidding me? This is why you’re upset?” But, attempting to be as thoughtful as possible, I brought her into my arms and consoled her.
“Emily. You are the first girl I proposed to and the only girl I’ve ever wanted to marry. Isn’t that enough? If someone had told me you’d show up in my life when I turned thirty, I’d have hidden myself in the hospital till then.” I hugged her tighter and kissed her head. “Ideally, I’d like to have met you when you were in high school so I could’ve gotten to know your mom and shared in your pain when she died. I would’ve married you right out of high school. We could’ve commuted to school together—you in undergrad, me in med school.”
My words softened her instantly.
“I’m sorry I’m so lame sometimes,” she apologized. “My cup is brimming over with joy, and I have to go and spoil it with my stupid jealousy. Do you forgive me?”
How could I stay mad at my bride? “Nothing to forgive. Let’s go, Mrs. Reid.”
Chapter 20
Are We There Yet?
The chief let me s
tart my two-week vacation early and gave me Friday off to go run errands with Emily. We got up early and went to the Westside for our final fittings and to do a little shopping for our honeymoon.
“Jake, after your fitting at the Armani store, can you bring the car around so I can put my dress in the car?”
“Can’t I walk into the dress shop with you? I’m dying to see what you look like in your dress.”
“Are you serious? I don’t want you to see it yet, and Mom and Gram would have a heart attack if they knew you saw me in the dress. I’ll meet you there in half an hour.”
Emily dropped me off at my shop first to make sure I didn’t follow her to hers. After a quick fitting, I picked up my outfit and on the way out found a great dress for Emily to wear tonight to our dress rehearsal and dinner. Knowing she would frown at spending so much money on a dress, I bought it for her without her knowledge.
With our wedding outfits safely tucked away in the car, we went to lunch.
“What are you craving today, Love?”
“Let’s just have a salad. I don’t want to feel heavy or bloated for the wedding. Can you believe we’ll be married in two days?” Her grin made my face smile as well.
“In two days I get to sleep with you.”
“Is that all that’s on your mind?”
“Is that not all that’s on your mind?” I asked.
She only stared in wonder.
Home felt like an airport with people coming and going with their suitcases. Gram and her staff took up the entire third floor and several of my cousins decided to stay in Nick’s and Jane’s rooms even though their homes were only steps away. Emily was busy greeting my cousins, and I walked over with all the guys and helped Aunt Barbara get her backyard ready for our Moroccan Riad-themed dinner.
Before our rehearsal I took Emily up to our room to have her try on the dress I bought for her.
“Why did you spend so much unnecessary money?” I knew she would complain. “As it is, the wedding will be expensive enough.”
“Because I thought you’d look beautiful in this dress.” I pushed her into the closet with her dress. “You need me to help you take your clothes off?”