I Never Expected You

by Stefanie Jenkins

  “How about you go take a nice relaxing bath, and I’ll clean this?” He motions his hands to the mess behind us. “And order some takeout.”

  I rise up on my toes and press a brief kiss to his lips. “I’d like that.”

  “Now, go relax, baby.” Zach smacks my ass gently.

  Fifty minutes later, I emerge from the bedroom, changed into one of Zach’s oversized T-shirts. My breath catches at the view in front of me. The coffee table is pushed to the side and decorated with the candles I had out for tonight. A blanket is laid out in front of the couch, just like on our first date.

  An assortment of Chinese takeout is spread across the blanket. Zach sits there waiting for me with his back against the couch and one leg propped up. He looks just as delicious as the Chinese food. His eyes meet mine.

  “Wow, you have no idea how sexy you look in my clothes.”

  I give a little twirl, and he smirks as I join him on the blanket.

  “I mean you look sexy in and out of everything, but I love you best in my clothes. You look like mine.”

  I adjust onto my knees in front of him. “I am yours.”

  “And I’m yours. Now I say we eat this food and then…” He waggles his eyebrows. “I plan to take full advantage of having the place to ourselves and make you mine on every surface of this apartment.”

  I bite my lip in anticipation and clutch my thighs together, hoping I can make it through dinner before I take him up on his promise.

  One year later…

  Haylee smiles at me. “I am so proud of you, college graduate!”

  I wrap my arm around the back of Haylee’s chair and pull her close to me. She places her palm on my thigh and leans into my body.

  “Thanks, baby girl. This will be you next year. We’ll throw you a big party.”

  I can’t believe I did it. I graduated college. I think back to the moment I got my acceptance letter to the University of Pennsylvania; I couldn’t believe that I had even gotten in. Emmett and I were supposed to do this together. This morning I couldn’t fight back the tears as I broke down in front of Haylee while getting ready for graduation. Em should have walked across that stage with me, my sister there to celebrate as well. But both weren’t there. I didn’t even know where to send a graduation announcement to Dani, and there was no surprise that she didn’t return my calls or texts asking for her address so that I could send her something.

  The past four years in college have been intense, some of the best and worst days of my life. While figuring out the worst ones out was easy, it was narrowing down the best days that was harder. There were too many to count, from falling in love with the most amazing girl sitting next to me and seeing not only our relationship grow, but I’ve got to watch her turn into this strong, caring, and badass woman. I think my love grew for her even more while she, Ky, and I were vacationing in New Orleans. Some guy came up to her in the bar and told her that he would guess her weight if she sat on his face. Before I could step in, she spun around and and threw a mean right hook. We got to talking to him, and surprisingly, Bennett and his buddy, Hunter, both became close friends. But it reminded me to never get on my girl’s bad side again.

  Our families are celebrating at a restaurant near campus. Kyler’s mom and sisters have joined us as well. I look behind me and see Haylee’s dad and mine standing over at the bar. Now is my chance.

  “I’ll be right back.” Haylee looks up at me and puckers her full lips.

  I lean down and press mine against hers. She turns and resumes her conversation with Kyler’s sister Lauren.

  “There he is! Our big college graduate.” My dad’s hand slaps my shoulder playfully.

  “Thanks.” I direct my attention to Brian standing next to him. “I was hoping I could talk to you.” Not wanting to leave my dad out, I say, “You can stay too.”

  “What’s going on?”

  I wipe my sweaty palms on my dress pants. Deep breaths, Zach. Why am I so nervous about having this conversation?

  “You seem nervous? You want a drink first?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know. I mean, sure.”

  My dad gives me a strange look, trying to figure out what’s wrong while Brian orders three shots of Jameson. The bartender brings them over.

  “To Zach.”

  We all clink our glasses together, and I quickly down the shot. Okay, with a little liquid courage I can do this. I clear my throat.

  “Brian, you’ve known me my whole life. You’ve watched me grow up and know that sometimes I do things without thinking.”

  That earns a laugh out of both my dad and Brian. Okay, maybe I do things without thinking more than just sometimes.

  “But this time, I have given this a lot of thought. Your daughter means more to me than anything in the world. I didn’t think I could love someone as much as I love her. Wow, I sound as sappy as Emmett did.” I let out a nervous laugh. “You know, he once told me that when I met the girl, she was gonna knock me on my ass, and shit, if he wasn’t right. She is the other half of me; she makes me be a better man. With your permission, of course, I want to ask Haylee to marry me.”

  Everything about his girl makes me want to be a better man.

  I look back and forth between my dad and Brian, almost expecting one of them to hand the other money just like they had when we had announced we were dating, but neither do. Both are sporting a happy smile.

  My eyes meet Brian’s. I see compassion, the same I see in his daughter. Shit, I could stare into them forever—Haylee’s, not Brian’s, of course. And that’s exactly what I plan to do.

  Brian places his hand on my shoulder, giving it a fatherly squeeze, his eyes now filled with unshed tears.

  “Zach, you put a smile back on my baby girl’s face. You make her happy.”

  We both turn and look back in the direction of the table, where we see Haylee laughing, not seeing us, or at least she doesn’t acknowledge us.

  “You have always been a son to me, and I would be honored to make that official.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Maybe we should give that diploma back.” My dad is full of jokes; all these years later, they’re still not funny.

  “Ha. Ha. Ha. I just want to make sure I understand. This is kind of a big deal.”

  “Zach, of course you have my blessing to ask her. I just ask one thing…”

  Before he can finish, I feel arms wrap around me from behind, and I know those arms. Our conversation halts as to not give away what we were talking about.

  “Mom says we can’t order till you guys are back, and I’m starving.”

  With our hands interlocked, I run my ring finger over hers where one day soon she will wear my ring, I hope, letting the whole world know she is mine.

  “Sorry, sweetheart, we were having a celebratory drink with Zach. We won’t keep you waiting anymore.”

  “What was that all about?” Haylee leans on my arm as we follow dad and Brian back toward the table.

  “Oh, you know.” Quick, think of something. “They were asking me about the house.”

  Kyler and I are packing up the apartment this weekend and heading to the suburbs just outside of the city, where we found a three-bedroom rancher. The house is a middle ground between Kyler’s and my jobs. I was offered a full-time job at the sports marketing firm I interned at last year, while Kyler will be working as a marketing manager at the mayor’s office.

  Haylee still has one year left of school, but somehow, I was able to convince her to say yes to moving in with us. Let’s hope that I can get her to say yes on one other question. The third bedroom, we are going to convert into an office/guest room. It will be nice to have space for overnight guests in case any of our parents visit and want to stay over.

  “I can’t believe I’m moving in with you crazy assholes!”

  “Oh, please. You pretty much live with us anyway. This will just be official. And all of your stuff will be kept in one spot instead of hauling it back it and fort
h between there and your dorm.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She rolls her eyes at me.

  Once back at the table, I pull out her chair, but before she can sit down, I lean down and whisper in her ear so only she can hear, “You better watch it, baby girl, with the eye rolling. You may get a spanking for that later.”

  She turns her head. “Maybe I’m counting on it.”

  She takes her seat and looks up at me while she scoots the chair back in. She bites her lip and rolls her eyes yet again. She giggles to herself, and I have to tell my dick to knock it off at the mere thought of spanking her later. Hell, just the thought of touching her gets me hard.

  After dinner, we are all enjoying the company and conversation discussing the house and summer plans when my phone vibrates. Luckily Haylee is in the bathroom because I look down and see it’s her dad. I quickly open the text.

  Brian: We can finish our conversation back at my house. Let me know when works.

  Me: Haylee is going out with Cami this weekend, so I can come down without her knowing.

  Brian: Sounds good. See you then.

  I put my phone back in my pocket just as Haylee returns to her seat. Phew, that was close.

  Two days later, Haylee is spending the day at the spa with Cami while I find myself pulling into her parents’ driveway. I walk up and don’t even get a chance to ring the doorbell before it opens, and I see Brian standing there.

  “Sorry, I saw the Jeep pull up. Still is weird…” He trails off without continuing.

  Fuck, maybe I should just sell that thing. He saw the same Jeep his son drove pull into his driveway.

  “Come on inside.” Brian moves out of the way, and I walk into the foyer. “How about we chat in my office?”

  I follow behind him to the back of the house where his home office is.

  “Here, have a seat.” He extends his hand to one of the chairs in front of his desk while he walks around and opens a drawer.

  He walks back around and takes a seat in the chair opposite mine.

  “I told you that I would give you permission on one condition.”

  “Of course. We didn’t get a chance for you to say what that is. I want you to know, sir, that no matter what it is, I’ll do it. I want to spend the rest of my life with her; she means the world to me. I mean it.”

  Brian holds his hand up. “I know you do, and it’s nothing crazy, so put those thoughts away.”

  He takes a deep breath and looks down at the small box in his hand that he had grabbed from his desk. “A long time ago, I had a talk with Emmett. I told him that when he was ready to put a ring on Dani’s finger, he would get this ring. Not that we wanted them to rush anything, but come on, we all knew it would happen. This ring was my grandmother’s ring.”

  He opens the box and turns it around to show a simple white-gold band with a diamond in the center with two purple stones on the sides of it. I don’t know much about rings. I figured I would need to enlist Cami, Kate, or Lauren’s help when I went to go pick out the ring.

  “So back when…when…when I realized I would never get the chance to give this to my son to propose with, I knew that it would go to Haylee. I had hoped that one day, the man who wanted to spend his life with her would come to me, just like you are, and ask me for permission, and I could ask that you give her this ring. I had taken it to our jeweler downtown and had Emmett’s birthstone added to the ring so that it would have a part of him for her.”

  Wow. I’m trying to hold back my feelings, but that is just deep.

  “I…I don’t know what to say.” I choke out the words; I am utterly speechless.

  “I understand. I know it’s a lot. If you choose to not give this to her, then I will give it to her as her something old when she gets married.”

  “Oh no, I don’t mean that. Of course I would be honored to give her this ring. I don’t know what to say because this is… She is going to love this, Brian. It’s going to mean so much. Did…did my sister know about this?”

  He shakes his head. “Not that I know of.”

  Brian closes the ring box and hands it to me. As soon as my fingers graze the smooth velvet, I feel my best friend as if he were here with us.

  This is real. This is really happening. I am going to ask Haylee Hanks to marry me.

  Brian leans back in his chair. “So, tell me, any idea how you’re going to pop the question?”

  I laugh, settling back in my chair, and shake my head. “Not a damn clue.”

  Ten months later…

  “He…hello?” I’m still half-asleep, and I don’t even look to see who is calling. I hear silence on the other end. I clear my throat and speak again. “Hello?”

  “Zach?” My breath gets caught in my throat. I’d know that voice anywhere. Now fully awake, I quickly sit to the upright position, not even concerned with waking a sleeping Haylee next to me.

  “Dani?”

  My voice is full of desperation. Is this real? I’m not sure why I’m asking—I know it’s her. I only need confirmation that I’m not currently dreaming. I have had this dream over and over again and wake up missing her more.

  “Dani, are you there?” Fuck, please don’t have hung up.

  Her voice is shaky, but she responds. “Yeah, I’m here.”

  I hear her begin to cry, and I wish I could hold her and tell her how happy I am to hear her voice. I don’t know what this means, but if this is all that I get with my sister, then I’ll take it. I need to keep her on the phone as long as possible.

  I look over to Haylee and see that she is still sound asleep. Of course the one night we fall asleep early I get this call. Thank God I didn’t sleep through this. Who knows if she would have answered if I called back. I can’t think like that.

  I get up from the bed and quietly exit my bedroom. I walk down the hall to the living room and settle on the couch.

  Dani still hasn’t said anything else, but I know she hasn’t hung up because I can hear her breathing. We sit there in silence, and you know what, I don’t mind it.

  “I didn’t think you would answer.”

  “What?” I try not to raise my voice too loudly. “Why wouldn’t I answer? Dani, you’re my sister. Of course I would fucking answer.” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I fight back my tears as I hear hers on the other end of the line.

  “Where are you? Are you okay? Shit, I have had this conversation in my head over and over again for years, and now that I finally have you on the phone, I don’t even know what to say.”

  She laughs. My sister actually laughs. Damn, I’ve missed that sound. “Well, that’s funny because I’ve been sitting here for hours rehearsing what to say, and a few times I almost backed out from calling you altogether. But just hearing your voice, I know I made the right choice.”

  “I’m so happy you called.”

  “Me too. Zach?”

  “Yeah, sis.”

  “I want to come home.”

  I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I was keeping inside, or it is possibly the same breath I have been holding since we arrived back at my parents’ house to discover she had packed up and left us.

  “I want that too. I waited to so long to hear you say those words. Have you called Mom and Dad?”

  “No, not yet.” She hesitates, and I picture her either biting her lip or twirling her hair. “I was hoping I could come stay with you for a little bit and then take it from there maybe. Is that okay?”

  “Of course. Dani, anything you need, I’ll help with. Do you need me to get you? Where are you?”

  “I’m up in a small town in New Hampshire.”

  “New Hampshire? Wow.” I let out a light laugh.

  Damn, I never would have figured my sister to move to the north and forever be cold. Winters in Maryland can be brutal, but damn.

  “It’ll take me a day or so to settle things up here and pack up. I can be there in a few days?”

  “That’s perfect. I’ll set up space for you. Let me text you my
new address. I live just outside Philly now.”

  “Oh shit, right, you would have graduated by now. Wow, I guess I missed a lot, huh.”

  “It’s okay. You’re coming home.”

  I am again met with her silence. Fuck. I need to make sure she doesn’t back out of this.

  “Dani?”

  “Yeah, I’m coming home. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Okay. And Dani?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you need anything, you call, okay? I’ll drop everything and come help.”

  “Okay.”

  “I love you, sis.”

  “Love you too.”

  Click. Haylee says those three words all the time, but to hear them from my sister, I can’t even describe the feeling.

  I open a text message to her and send her the address. Once it’s sent, I decide to torture myself and scroll through all the hundreds of text messages left unanswered. I push that to the back of my mind; all that matters is that she wants to come home. She is coming home.

  I wipe the tears I finally had allowed to fall. I’m grateful Kyler isn’t home to see me crying, although it wouldn’t be the first time he had witnessed it. I slowly walk back to the bedroom and sit on the bed. I see that Haylee changed positions but no sign of her having woken up. Shit, Haylee. I never said anything about her to Dani. I guess I was just so overwhelmed by her calling.

  I stand back up and walk over to the closet and pull out the box of ties. Inside I find the small black velvet box where the engagement ring I still have yet to give her sits. I’ve now tried four times to propose, and something always happens. It’s like I’m reliving our first date all over again. The first time, it was just a coincidence, but multiple times, I know my best friend is fucking with me from the grave.

  I open the ring box, making sure to block it from Haylee’s view if she were to wake up. I look down at the diamond-and-amethyst ring that has been burning a hole in my pocket for months now. I can’t wait for my girl to wear this proudly on her finger to show the our friends and family, the world, that she’s mine.