by Tyler Grey
“Henry, I could be anywhere with you and it would feel like home. You are home.”
“And you, beautiful Paisley, are my girlfriend.”
I laughed. “I like that.”
I slowly climbed off him and lay down next to him, my arm around his waist. “It feels so good to have you here. It feels so good not to cry anymore. Uh oh…”
“What?” he said.
“I just remembered something. You said Shawn dropped you off. Does that mean he’s waiting outside for you?”
He laughed. “Nope. He dropped me off and drove away.”
“Really? What if I refused to let you in?”
“That’s what I said to him, but he told me that you wouldn’t. Of course, I said I’d call if you wouldn’t let me in, or when I wanted to go home.”
I smiled. “And? Do you want to go home?”
“I am home.”
“Well, it’s not the most comfortable place in the world, but I’d be more than happy to have you tonight. Why don’t we get pizza?”
“Pizza sounds great. We can eat it on your grand table, which also doubles as a bed.”
The pizza arrived about an hour later, and when I opened the door, the delivery man peered into the house in confusion. Not only was there no furniture, but a man on crutches was sitting on the floor. Thankfully he’d remembered to put his clothes back on.
“Just moved in?” the man asked.
“No, been here for years,” I lied. “It’s just the way we like to live. We’re minimalists.”
“Oh. Well, that’s cool. Uh, enjoy the pizza.”
I closed the door and walked over to Henry, who was laughing at the exchange. “Minimalists hey? I didn’t know minimalists have so many things in boxes?”
I laughed. “I don’t even know why I said that. I felt like messing with him. Well, dinner is served,” I said and placed the pizza boxes on the floor. I moved everything over so that Henry could at least sit with his back against the wall. I couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable he must be, but he wasn’t complaining, at all.
For a while, we sat there, chatting over pizza, and filling each other in on our lives. Henry was telling me all about his new assistant who, according to him, was not as good as I was.
“She seemed nice, though. And Jessica at least likes her,” I pointed out.
“Do you know why Jessica likes her?”
“Actually, I have no idea. She’s a pretty girl; I thought Jessica would be jealous of her.”
“Because she’s married.”
“Ah. Well, that makes sense. Ooh, Jessica is not going to be happy when she finds out that you and I are back together.”
“Actually, I have news about that. Jessica has met someone else.”
“What? Are you serious? I thought she would be all over you when I was gone.”
“She was, but I snapped at her a few times. Like I said, I wasn’t the nicest person to be around. Anyway, some guy came into work when she was upset about something. He took one look at her and invited her out for dinner that night. She came back the next day with a huge grin on her face. The guy came in the next day for lunch and now they’re an item.”
“That is incredible. Well, I’m happy for her. She might’ve been awful to me, but I’m glad she’s not going to be upset when she finds out about us.”
“Yeah, and this guy suits her so much. She cannot stop smiling. She’s turned into a different person overnight. I mean, she even asked me the other day how you were doing.”
“No way! Wow, she has changed.”
“It makes for a much more pleasant working environment, although it does mean she no longer bakes me cookies.”
I laughed. “I’ll bake you cookies.”
“You will?”
“I will. It’s my new girlfriend duty.”
“Oh, I like that.”
“Maybe we can have some for family dinner on Sunday?” I said.
Henry smiled. “It’s a deal.”
Despite just sitting on the floor and eating takeout pizza, we had one of the best nights in a long time. I laughed so much that eventually my ribs were hurting, too. We took a shower, and then lay down on the bed together to sleep. I’d already slept that way for a while now, but having Henry next to me made it all the better. When I woke the next morning, I realized that I hadn’t gotten up once in the night. I’d slept right through.
I turned over to make sure I wasn’t imagining the night before and smiled when I saw Henry lying there. I watched him sleep, and then leaned over to kiss him awake. He smiled when he opened his eyes.
“It wasn’t a dream,” he said sleepily, mirroring my own thoughts.
I grinned. “It wasn’t a dream.”
He kissed me back, and we made love for the second time. This time, it was a lot slower, a lot gentler. It was also the perfect way to wake up. I looked at him and grinned.
“Could we wake up like that every morning?”
“I think we can arrange that,” he said.
“Coffee?”
“Yes please. Ow,” he said as he tried to get up.
I laughed as the two of us attempted to get off the floor. It was hard for me, so I couldn’t even imagine how hard it was for him. We were both so sore from sleeping on the hard floor, even though we’d both somehow slept so well. The doorbell rang as we got up and we both looked at each other in surprise.
“Oh, maybe it’s Shawn coming to check if you’re actually okay,” I said.
“Oops, yeah, I forgot to call him.”
“Coming!” I shouted and quickly pulled on some clothes. “Uh, just cover yourself,” I said to Henry, who was now sitting back down on the floor with a blanket around him. He put a shirt on, but there was no time to put the rest of his clothes on.
It wasn’t Shawn, though. It was the delivery man with my bed. I opened the door wide and two men came in carrying the bed for me. They put it down, took one look at Henry on the floor, and laughed.
“This bed looks like it came at the right time,” the man said. “Please sign here,” he added as he handed me a clipboard. I signed and let him back out again. I’d ordered the other furniture from another shop, so this man only had the bed for me. I couldn’t believe how quickly it had arrived. I looked at the bed, and then looked at Henry with a grin.
“You know, I got this thing online so I have no idea if it’s even any good.”
He grinned. “Well, then we’re simply going to have to test it out.”
Epilogue
Paisley
Six Months Later
We’d started a new tradition. Every Sunday we made our way to our parents’ graves and spent some time reliving some old memories. We’d both only had a little bit of time to get to know each other’s parents, so there was a lot to say. I loved listening to stories about Duncan, and Henry enjoyed my stories about Mom. It was always so bittersweet, but as hard as it was, we never wanted to forget them. After all, they were the reason that we had found each other in the first place.
“You know what I loved most about your mother?” Henry said to me now as we sat on the floor in front of their graves.
“Her food?” I teased. Henry still talked about her food, especially since she had completely changed the way he saw something as simple as soup. We’d both tried to recreate it once, but we’d failed miserably.
“Well, yeah, of course… But no, that’s not the thing I remember when I think of her. I remember the way I had caught her dancing in the kitchen.”
I smiled. “Oh yeah, I remember that. I walked in on the two of you dancing together. I remember how confused I felt that day. I was so determined not to like you, and there you were dancing with my mother. You looked like such a nice guy, and she looked so happy. I wanted to hate you so badly, but it was difficult.” I sighed. “She really did love to dance.”
He stood up and held out his hand. “Paisley, will you have this dance with me?”
I smiled, took his hand and let him pull me to
my feet. Together we danced and thought about our parents. If my mother was watching, I knew she’d be smiling. Was she dancing with Duncan, too?
One of the things we often thought about was how happy we were that our parents had found one another. They hadn’t had a lot of time together, but in that short space of time, they had been happier than ever before.
It was six months since the day we’d declared ourselves a couple and almost eight since the accident, and we still thought about it every day. It was a lot easier to think about it now, and I didn’t cry as often as I used to. Mostly, we just cherished the memories and worked on starting a life together.
Things with Henry and me were wonderful, and we got stronger as a couple every day. I was still living in my apartment, which was now fully furnished, and Henry was living in a small house near work. We’d finally sold the house, and we were talking about getting a house together. We didn’t want to rush anything, though, and for now, we were happy with the way things were. Because his house was a little bigger than my apartment, I ended up sleeping there most of the time. Also, it was more convenient for work.
I had gone back to the company, although I was no longer working as his assistant. I had my own office, and I was slowly learning how to run the company with Henry. I absolutely loved the job, and I was now looking at getting an assistant of my own.
The working environment was also so much better now that Jessica had found love. She was already engaged and planning on getting married later that year. The two of us had found some sort of weird friendship together. She now baked me cookies instead of Henry, and the two of us went on little lunch dates together to talk about our love lives. She kept telling me that she wanted Henry and me to get married, too, but we weren’t in a rush. I had no doubt in my mind he would end up becoming my husband, but I didn’t need a ring on my finger for him to prove how much he loved me. I knew it.
As soon as we were finished at the graveyard, we made our way back home to prepare for our big Sunday lunch together. Shawn and Olive were joining this time, and we were looking forward to seeing them. They’d surprised us by getting together right after he left his girlfriend. Apparently, the two of them had started talking when they were trying to get the two of us back together. I had never seen Olive so happy, and Henry said that Shawn was like a new man because of her. They’d gone on vacation together, so we hadn’t seen them in the last few weeks.
When we got home, I spent the next hour preparing a delicious roast with all the trimmings. Henry set out the table while I cooked, and we put some music on and danced in between working on the food. I had a feeling the dancing part was going to be a part of this tradition now, and I was happy with it. If we had lunch together every Sunday with some dancing, we were in for a beautiful life together.
Shawn and Olive arrived carrying a bottle of champagne. They both looked tanned and happy from their trip. We poured the champagne and sat around the table with our lunch.
“To my beautiful mother, who taught me how to enjoy life,” I said as I held my glass in the air. I always liked to make a toast to her on family tradition day.
“To my father, who taught me how to appreciate the people in your life,” Henry said.
“To my beautiful new wife, Olive,” Shawn said.
“To my handsome new husband, Shawn,” Olive said.
Henry and I stared at them in shock. Had we heard right? “What?”
Olive held up her hand to show the ring and giggled. “We eloped.”
“Are you guys being serious?” I asked. They certainly looked like they were being serious, but I couldn’t be too sure.
She chuckled. “We’re serious. That’s why we wanted to come here today. We wanted you both to be the first to know. It wasn’t planned. We were honestly just going on vacation. Then we started talking about marriage, and suddenly we realized that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We both didn’t want a big wedding. We just wanted to be together. So, we went to get the rings, and we got married. Just like that. It was short, and simple, and wonderful,” she said. Her cheeks were pink as she told the story.
We all jumped up and hugged each other. I was so happy for my friend, who deserved all the happiness in the world. And, I really liked Shawn, despite his reservations of me at the start. The two of us actually got along great now. We’d gone out for a drink to get to know one another, and I’d explained to him why I had done what I had done. After that, the two of us had gotten along like a house on fire.
“We should get married, too,” Henry said and he looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before.
“What do you mean?” My heart pounded. I couldn’t quite figure out if he was being serious or not. I saw Olive’s eyes widen at his statement, and I could see that she was getting excited.
He grinned. “Let’s get married now. I actually know someone who is licensed to marry us. We’ll call him over. Yeah, let’s do it!”
“Now?” I asked in surprise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Sure! Why not? Our best friends are here, we have champagne, and it’s Sunday. It’s the best day for us to get married. On family tradition day. Come on, what do you say? Would you like to become my wife?”
“Do it!” Olive yelled. She was so excited and her voice had gone an octave higher than normal. I looked at her and laughed.
“Are you being serious?” I said to Henry again. “We can’t do this without a license, can we?”
“I’m serious. Why not? I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I agree with Olive and Shawn on this — I don’t want a big wedding. I just want you. Anyway, if it’s not official, we’ll just make it official later. It’s just paper. This is more real to me than a proper wedding.”
“What about rings?” I said.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got that sorted. Is that a yes?”
I inhaled and looked around the room. All the people I loved the most were with me, and I realized it was all I needed. I nodded. “It’s a yes.”
Henry smiled. “You and Olive go upstairs to get ready, and I’ll make the phone call.”
“I can’t believe this is happening!”
I jumped up and kissed Henry, and then I ran upstairs with Olive. I had so many of my clothes at Henry’s house, but I had no idea if I actually had something to wear. Although at this rate, I would probably be happy with just getting married in my pajamas. I loved how this day wasn’t about what we looked like or how we presented ourselves to the world. This day was just about our happiness. We looked through the closet until Olive pulled out a beautiful ivory dress.
“You have to wear this,” she said.
I looked at the dress and smiled. It was one of my favorite dresses. It wasn’t a wedding dress, but it was the closest I was going to get on such short notice. She gasped when I put it on.
“You look beautiful. Oooh, take this,” she said and gave me her earrings. “They can be your something borrowed and something blue.”
I put them on and smiled at myself in the mirror. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Believe it! You guys are perfect together. Okay, let me help you with your makeup and then I’ll find out what’s happening downstairs. Didn’t I tell you that the two of you were going to get together? I always knew that you would end up with him. From the start.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Because I had never heard you talk about anyone the way you spoke about him. This is it, Paisley. You’re going to marry the man of your dreams.”
Forty minutes later, I was walking down the stairs. Henry had put some music on, and he was waiting for me at the bottom step, wearing a suit. He looked incredible, and he grinned when he saw me.
“Wow,” he said, and pulled me in for a kiss.
“Hang on! No kissing until I marry you.”
I turned to see a man that I hadn’t noticed before. He introduced himself to me and told me that he w
as an old friend of the family. He had a license to marry people, and he said he was honored to be there with us today.
“Duncan would’ve been so proud of this,” he said. I was glad that this man was marrying us. It was a nice thing to say to us on such a special day. I remembered how Henry used to tell me that his father only ever did business with people that he trusted and respected. It was a good philosophy to have in life. I took an instant shining to this man. This was the best way to start the rest of our lives together.
The wedding was short and sweet, just as I wanted it to be. And when it was time to hand over the rings, I gasped at the sight of my mother’s ring and Duncan’s ring in Henry’s hand. Tears streamed down my face. I had no idea that he had them. I’d often wondered where they had ended up.
“I’ve been holding onto them,” he told me as he placed it on my finger. “I always knew I wanted to marry you. I just hoped that you wanted to marry me.”
After the ceremony, we cranked up the music and spent the rest of the evening dancing with our friends. Every now and again, Henry and I would lock eyes, and we would smile at one another. We were happy. I walked up to him and pulled him towards me for another dance.
“Guess what?” I said as I whispered into his ear.
“What?”
“I’m wearing red underwear.”
He laughed. “I love you so much, Paisley.”
“I love you, too, Henry.”
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018