Honor: a novella

by Chasie Noble

  “This place is impressive,” I said as I looked around. A man played a piano towards the middle of the restaurant. “Have you eaten here before?” I asked him.

  “No, but I did help build this place.”

  I looked at him and smiled. “Well, that would explain it then. It is a lovely place.”

  The waiter walked up and filled our glasses with champagne then placed the bottle on the table. Osric ordered our meals for us after I noticed the menu was in French. It surprised me to see he could speak French with no difficulty at all.

  “I didn’t know you could speak French?” I said, as more of a statement rather than a question.

  The waiter walked away and Osric turned to me. “I lived in France for a while.”

  I really didn’t know much about him, and he didn’t often share things about himself. I was lost in thought and he noticed.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I was just thinking, I don’t really know much about you,” I murmured.

  He reached for my hand. “I’m sorry. I am not very good at talking about myself. Until you came along I never felt the urge to share anything with anyone.” He seemed to be lost in thought now.

  “We have time to get to know each other. I can’t speak for you, but I don’t plan on going anywhere,” I told him squeezing his hand.

  “I love you,” he whispered as he kissed the top of my hand.

  The waiter interrupted us as he placed a salmon concoction in front of both of us. I was a bit weary to try it but did anyway. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The courses moved by as we talked about the upcoming trip to my parents. Osric seemed to be happy to go, and my parents were excited about meeting him. We were finishing our custard tarts when Osric pulled something out of his shirt pocket.

  “I want to give you something,” he said as he began to hand it over.

  It was a silver necklace with a round pendant; the pendant had the letter H engraved on it. I flipped the pendant over to see he had engraved the back also:

  I Love You

  Osric

  “Osric, it is so beautiful! Thank you so much!” I tried not to cry as I thanked him.

  He rose from his chair. “Let me help you put it on.” He gently pulled back my hair and put it around my neck.

  I gazed down at it, then back up at him. “Thank you,” I told him.

  He leaned down to kiss me and I don’t know if it was the champagne or just me, but I grabbed him and kissed him harder than I probably should have, being in a public place. He didn’t pull away, though, but kissed me back just as passionately.

  “I love you,” I told him.

  The waiter cleared his throat from behind us. Osric moved back to his chair, taking the bill from the waiter. He paid shortly after and we made our walk back to his car.

  It had gotten much colder and I pulled my jacket around me tightly. Osric squeezed me close to him. I was happy to get into the warmth of his car. I kept looking at my necklace as he drove me home. I thought back to the day Lilly and I had spotted him sitting in the library; I would have laughed at anyone who would have told me I would be here with Osric right now. He walked me to my front door, and I was hoping he would stay but had a feeling he wouldn’t.

  “Thank you for going to dinner with me tonight,” he said.

  “You aren’t coming in are you?” I asked.

  “I have to be in Ashville early in the morning for a job.”

  I knew Ashville was over an hour away, so he would have to wakeup early to get there. I leaned into his chest and rested my head there. He pulled me close to him.

  “I will be back tomorrow night though.”

  He stared down at me and I smiled back, pushing some of his blond hair from his eyes.

  “Thank you for dinner, and my necklace—I love it.”

  He placed both of his hands on my cheeks and slowly kissed me. As I kissed him back, he pulled away and I tried not to frown.

  “I will talk to you tomorrow.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Good night.”

  I held his hand as he began to walk away. “Good night.” I turned and went inside.

  Chapter 12

  The next day seemed to drag by. I always loved my job, but since Osric had come around it just seemed like time at work stood still. I know it had nothing to do with my job itself, I was just so head over heels in love with Osric I hated being apart from him.

  I was sitting at my desk sorting through letters to go out for late fees when I looked up and saw Ryan walking my way with a huge bouquet of flowers. “Hey there, Honor. Have you seen Lilly?” he asked.

  “She was shelving books in the youth department. And she is going to love those.” I pointed to the flowers.

  “I hope so, I wanted to surprise her.”

  “She will be surprised! They are beautiful flowers.”

  He said goodbye and went to search for Lilly.

  Brenda walked up shortly after. “Did you see those flowers Ryan had for Lilly? They were so pretty.”

  “I did. I told him she was over in your department shelving returns.”

  “I was in a meeting with Celia and when I came out I saw him walking by. I guess I can go spy on them since they’re in my section.” She winked and started to walk off when she saw my necklace. “Is that new? It is nice.”

  I grabbed it and looked down. “Osric gave it to me last night at dinner.”

  She came closer and read the inscription. “He is so sweet, and so handsome. You hold on to that one Honor. I am going to have to tell Harold to step up his game. All these young men are making him look bad.” She laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh too as she walked away.

  I finished up all the letters and was going to go help up front as Lilly came over to me. “Ryan is so sweet. Did you see my flowers?”

  “Everyone did, they were huge!”

  I saw a cart of returns by the front that needed to be put up so I started to steer it away and Lilly followed me. “He asked me to come home with him for Thanksgiving to meet his parents,” she said nervously. She began shelving books with me.

  “Are you going to go?” I asked.

  “Of coarse I am. I wouldn’t want to be apart from him for four days.” I knew what she meant, I just didn’t want to admit it out loud. “Osric is still going home with you right?” she asked.

  I pulled the cart around the corner. “He is coming to my parent’s, but we are only going for the day. My parent’s house is small and my aunt will be staying there.”

  “I’m not even sure who all will be at Ryan’s parent’s for Thanksgiving.” Lilly said as she grabbed a stack of books.

  “It will be fine. Everyone will love your smart little mouth.” I laughed.

  “Thanks for always supporting me,” she said with a smile as she walked away with more books.

  It was six o’clock and time to go. I went back to the employee locker room to get all of my things. Lilly was trying to carry her flowers and her bags, and it wasn’t working so well.

  “You need some help?” I asked.

  “Yes, please!” She handed over the flowers.

  “What’s with all the bags?” I asked as we passed through the back door.

  “I am staying at Ryan’s tonight.”

  We reached her car and I loaded her flowers in the back. “I would say call me, but I’m sure you will be busy tonight,” I added sarcastically as I buttoned my jacket up.

  “Don’t you worry, you will be busy soon too.” She laughed as she got in her car, waved, and drove off. I heard her honk on the far end of the parking lot.

  I made my way back to my car and realized why she had honked. Osric’s massive red truck was parked next to my car, and there he stood waiting. He was wearing a plaid shirt with a jean jacket, worn jeans, and his dark blue beanie. I knew he had been working all day, but he still looked like he was a cover model for a camping magazine.

  “Hello,” he said.

  I made my way to him and
hugged him. He smelled of timber. “How was your trip?” I asked.

  “It was all right. I missed you.” He traced his finger around my necklace he had given me the night before.

  “You missed me?” I tilted my head up at him.

  “I did,” he said.

  “You want to follow me to my place?” I asked him.

  He was looking at my necklace and shifted his focus to my eyes. He nodded his head yes then leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. I started to shiver from the cold and he rubbed my arms up and down with his hands. “I will follow you,” he said. We both got into our vehicles, and I led the way.

  Once we were at my apartment, I noticed he was starting a fire with what little wood I had next to the fireplace. I grabbed my phone and ordered us a pizza. I fetched us both a bottle of water from my fridge. I handed one to him where he sat in the floor by the fire. I could tell he was really tired.

  “Thank you,” he said while pulling off his jacket, then his hat. His hair was all over the place but still picture perfect.

  “I ordered us pizza. I hope your hungry.”

  He ran his hands through his hair. “Thank you,” he yawned.

  I grabbed some pillows from the couch and gave them to him. He took them and made a headrest in the floor. “Did you get your books from work?” he asked, pointing to the shelves. Some still had the library bar code on them.

  “I did. After they are too worn for checkout they get rid of them. That is why they look so bad.”

  He yawned again. He was so tall he took up most of the living room floor and I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?” he asked.

  “You can lay on the couch, you look uncomfortable,” I told him.

  There was a knock on the door and I jumped. He laughed at me. It was the pizza. We sat on the floor by the fire and ate. We talked about books, his work, and my work. I took our plates when we were finished. He was yawning again.

  When I came back into the room he was half asleep. I grabbed him a blanket and started to give it to him, when he reached for my arm. “Come here,” he said. I laid down next to him facing my bookshelves. The dying fire danced on the walls. He wrapped his arms around me and I scooted into him to get comfortable.

  I thought he had fallen asleep and I said softly, “I love you Osric.”

  He squeezed my hand and whispered back, “I love you.” Even though the floor was very uncomfortable, there was nowhere else I wanted to be right then.

  Chapter 13

  Thanksgiving morning brought snow with it, which was not ideal for the hour-long drive to my parents. Osric picked me up at seven that morning. On the plus side, he brought the truck.

  “I finally get to ride in the beast, huh?” I said as he opened the passenger door for me.

  “The tires on the truck are safer for snow,” he stated. I notice he had also gotten us coffee. “Don’t worry, I didn’t get it from the coffee shop we went to.”

  I laughed thinking of how awful the coffee shop was that we had gone to on our first date. “Thank you, on both counts,” I told him.

  He asked questions about my family on the drive. I warned him that my mother liked to hug a lot and my dad was quiet until he got to know someone. I also warned him that my aunt was a little on the strange side, and no one ever knew what would come out of her mouth.

  “Thank you for coming, I know you could have stayed home. It just means a lot to me that you are doing this.”

  He smiled over at me. “Honor, I wanted to come and meet your family.” He reached for my hand. I unbuckled, pushed his console up into its seat position, and scooted next to him. He laughed as I buckled back up and leaned my head on his shoulder.

  I woke to Osric touching my face and moving my hair from my eyes. “You fell asleep on me,” he said. “This is your parent’s place, right?” he asked.

  I looked out the passenger window to see the house I grew up in. “It is…sorry you had to go by my terrible directions. You found it though.”

  He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “You snore,” he said laughing.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “I do believe there was a large fellow who passed out on my living room floor that snored pretty loud also.”

  He raised one of his eyebrows. “He should probably do something about that.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at him. He got out of the truck and then helped me out of the passenger side. We trudged up to the porch hand in hand as the front door opened, pushing snow off to the steps. My mother stood there smiling at us. She had a look on her face l had not seen before as she stared at Osric.

  “Mom, this is Osric Tekton. Osric, this is my mom, Carol.” Osric stretched out his hand to shake my mother’s, but she went in for a hug; I shook my head in my hands.

  “It is so nice to meet you Osric. You are all my Honor talks about.” His large frame swallowed her as he hugged her back. She laughed and said, “She didn’t tell me how tall you were. You two come inside, it is freezing out here.” She motioned us inside.

  “Thank you for inviting me,” Osric told her.

  She squeezed his large arm. “Thank you for joining us.”

  We heard a high-pitched bark coming our way as my dog Muffin came running up. “Muffin! Hey girl, I have missed you,” I said as I picked her up. Muffin was a poodle mix and had a ton of hair. I noticed she had bows on both of her ears that looked like turkeys. “Mother, really? Turkeys?” I said laughing. Muffin was licking my hands.

  “Oh, she likes them,” my mother said while petting Muffin’s head.

  I put the dog down and she just sat where she was and stared up at Osric not moving. “This is my dog. She doesn’t normally do that. Go away Muffin,” I said.

  “It’s fine,” Osric said.

  We walked down the hall and my aunt came from the kitchen. “Honor, you’re here,” she said while hugging me. “Who is the handsome guy?” she asked. I introduced them to one another. Sunny smiled as she gazed at both of us.

  “It is nice to meet you Sunny,” Osric said.

  “You too honey!” she replied as she shook his hand.

  “Sunny and I had an early start this morning so we should eat around noon. And Osric, you make yourself at home and help yourself to anything in the kitchen,” my mother told us.

  We went into the living room, where my dad was snoring in the recliner. I giggled and Osric poked me in the side. “I see where you get it now,” he whispered. I crossed my arms and mocked him laughing at me. We both roared with laughter and it startled my dad.

  “Hey there, little girl,” he said in a raspy voice. He looked over to Osric and Osric smiled.

  “I am Osric Tekton. It is nice to meet you sir,” he said holding out his hand to my father.

  Dad stood, but even his six-foot frame seemed small to Osric. My dad shook his hand. “Nice to meet you Osric. I am Robert Ellis, Honor’s father.”

  My dad pulled me into a hug. I noticed he had let his beard get really long. I tugged on it. “What is going on here?”

  He adjusted it with both hands. “Leave an old, retired-man alone little girl.” My dad then turned to Osric. “Honor says you are a carpenter. You want to come look at something I am working on out back?”

  Osric had already turned to follow my dad out back. “Sounds good,” I heard Osric call after my dad. I watched them leave and headed for the kitchen.

  Mom hugged me as I walked in. “Honor, you said he was good-looking, but that doesn’t even do him justice.” I laughed at her.

  “He is very handsome,” my aunt added.

  “Now, get an apron on and help us,” my mom said as she playfully swatted me with a dishtowel.

  “How did you two meet?” my aunt asked.

  “He came into the library and I helped him find a book one day.” My mom smiled at me and my aunt patted me on the back.

  “He seems wonderful,” Mom said.

  I just smiled at both of them as I helped cook. I looked out the back window to
see Osric running something through my dad’s table saw as my dad stood under the carport and watched.

  A little while later we set the table and brought out all of the food. The back door opened and my dad and Osric came through. Osric excused himself to the bathroom after my mom showed him where it was. My dad took a seat at the table and turned to me. “You have a good one Honor. I like him and he knows his stuff when it comes to construction.” My mom smiled over at me and winked after hearing what my dad had said.

  Osric came and sat by me. Once everyone was seated my dad blessed the meal. We ate while my parents told embarrassing stories about me when I was younger. Osric was laughing harder than I had ever seen before. When everyone had finished, Osric and I cleared the table while my parents and aunt went into the living room.

  “Your family is nice,” he told me as we loaded the dishwasher.

  “Well, they think your pretty great.”

  We cleaned up the rest of the kitchen and then joined everyone in the living room. I was mortified when my mom called Osric over to the couch to sit next to her while she showed him photo albums from my younger days. Dad had fallen asleep in the recliner again, and Sunny was reading in the other recliner.

  “Osric, you don’t have to look at all of those awful things,” I told him.

  He laughed. “I am enjoying this.” Mom laughed along with him as they passed the albums back and forth. I watched Muffin sit at Osric’s feet and stare up at him. She was acting so strange.

  I went to the window and saw the snow was coming down harder than earlier. The TV was on in the background, but no one was paying much attention to it until the weatherman came on and said a severe winter storm was headed our way.

  Sunny made a ticking sound with her mouth. “Glad I am staying here for a couple days. It would be awful to be out in that.”

  I looked over at Osric as he looked up from the photo albums. “Maybe we should go if it’s going to get worse soon.”

  Mom frowned at what I had said. “I haven’t seen you in months and now the weather is going to ruin it for me.”