Scared of Forever (Scared #2)

by Jacqueline Abrahams

  “A yellow diamond?” I ask.

  “The color of the dress you wore here that night,” he says with a sweet smile.

  I reach forward and he pulls the box away coyly. “You haven’t said yes yet,” he says softly.

  “You haven’t actually asked. But yes,” I whisper. Tyler stands, walks over to me, and slips the ring onto my finger. Then he spins me round and round, twirling in my prom moment under the reflection of the stars above. He stops and kisses me deeply, and I’m left feeling like he’s delving into my very soul. To a place only he knows, a place only he will ever own.

  We dance. We talk. We laugh. We plan. Plan the rest of our forever.

  “So, how soon do I get to change your name?” Tyler asks as we sit on the bar, feet dangling over the edge.

  “Today, tomorrow, whenever you like. I’m gonna be with you for eternity, with or without a fancy ceremony. Wait, these dates always get bigger and better. How are you going to beat this one?” I ask, staring at my beautiful ring. Then I frown with the next thought. “I’ll be Mrs. Carson,” I say. The name is not exactly synonymous with the kind of wife I’d like to be.

  “You’ll be the best Mrs. Carson that has ever lived. Regarding forever, I have a few ideas,” Tyler responds mysteriously. He slides off the bar and comes to stand between my legs. I loosen his tie.

  “So, if there’s no penetration, does a sexual act still count as sex?” I ask, filthy thoughts filling my mind. “I feel bad not thanking you sufficiently for my ring.”

  “Yes, Emily, it does,” Tyler says lowly. “I’ll have you know that I’m feeling a little intimidated by your constant pressure to take my clothes off. Just because we’re at senior prom—”

  “Date five is next week,” I interrupt with a sigh. “Only next week—”

  “You shouldn’t be complaining. Five dates was your rule. Do you really think I enjoy cold showers?” he laughs.

  “Date five,” I say miserably.

  “Date five will be worth the wait,” he promises, the words quiet and gentle.

  Chapter 30:

  Tyler

  Perfection is not easy to achieve in a week. Well, actually, I’ve had two. But totally not the point. Date five has me pooling every single resource I have, even Eliza Carson. Mary has been working her ass off this week, on a matter wholly unrelated to my photography business. She has probably the hardest task of all of us. Sending group texts to keep everyone updated has been a lifesaver.

  I feel a little disappointed that I have to skip seeing Sadie one or two days this week. I’ve become so accustomed to seeing her adorable face every day. At first, I looked at her and I couldn’t imagine creating something so perfect. Her eyes mirror mine exactly. When she curls her small fingers around mine, or smiles, my spirit absolutely soars. Lord knows I never imagined a feeling like that, but it’s the most joyous feeling in the world.

  I sent Maia to a baby boutique to buy a dress for Sadie today. Knowing exactly what I had in mind, Maia texts me picture after picture, all of which I decline. Eventually, she sends me a picture of an older Chinese lady. I stare at it baffled, until the next text arrives.

  My feet are sore. Call me ASAP so you can tell this nice lady exactly what you want so she can make it!

  I call Maia and give the description of what to make to the dressmaker.

  Lying to Emily is not ideal. But date five will be worth it. It will be spectacular.

  Monday night, I decide to de-stress by visiting Emily and Sadie. When I arrive at eight, Mac tells me that they are both already asleep. I creep softly into her room. Emily lies peacefully on her bed. Sadie lies nestled in the crook of her arm, legs flayed in a starfish shape. Both look angelic, carefree. I stare lovingly at the both of them until an idea forms.

  “Mac,” I say walking into the living room.

  “No more favors,” he warns.

  “One more, please?” I beg. “Plus, I know a stylist who would be perfect for you. Rich and well, I don’t particularly think so for obvious reasons, but good looking. And single. One more favor, and I’ll hook you up with him.”

  “You have my attention,” he replies with a small smile.

  “I need you to take photos of Emily and Sadie every night, asleep.”

  “Like a fucking voyeur? What the hell for?”

  “You’ll see,” I say with a smile.

  “Tyler, after all this planning and shit for this date five, you are going to have to send us all on a vacation to the Maldives.”

  “I may just consider it,” I say, grinning. “Emily has some awesome friends.”

  “So do you,” he says with a sincere smile.

  I’m really humbled by Mac’s words. I never really considered that everyone was busting their balls for me. But now that I think of it, I owe them all so much.

  Friday creeps up so quickly. Today is the day that we have to lie the most to Emily.

  Maia and I are walking through a department store mid-morning when her phone rings.

  “It’s Emily!” she whisper-shouts.

  “Don’t tell her you’re with me!” I say quickly.

  “Hello,” she answers. “No, yeah sorry, I can’t do lunch today. Why? Umm, Jackson and I had a fight. No, we’re okay. No, I don’t need to talk, I just need some time alone. What do you mean, we’ve all disappeared recently? Emily, don’t be ridiculous. Okay, I have to go, I’ll call you later.”

  Maia breathes deeply as she hangs up the call and exhales with relief. “She’s not dumb, you know. You’re lucky this date is tomorrow. I say, two more days, and she would have figured you out.”

  “She won’t get the chance,” I say with a grin.

  “Remind me again why I’m required to help you buy bedding?”

  “Because I only buy black sheets and monochromic quilt covers.”

  Maia rolls her eyes. “Seriously, Jackson and I haven’t even seen each other this week! You owe us!”

  “Mac wants a holiday to the Maldives and a date, what do you want?” I ask laughing.

  “A holiday with you?” she asks, confused. “Anyway, all I want is for you to make her happy, and keep her happy.”

  “I like you. You give me easy tasks to fulfill,” I reply, grinning.

  Once Maia leaves, I check in with Mary, making sure she’s at the airport. She is. Then Jackson. Then Mac. Finally, my mother. Last but not least, I make the call to Emily, confirming her as the special guest on the date that only she is in the dark about.

  Saturday comes upon me quicker than Friday did. Jackson pulls up outside of my apartment in Maia’s BMW, and I load the back of the car with everything I need. Then I shower, dress, and jump in my Jeep, very proud of the baby seat I installed myself yesterday.

  I arrive at Emily’s place just after eleven. I knock on the door, palms sweaty. She opens the door and greets me with a smoldering kiss. “We have to go,” I say laughing and trying to disentangle myself from her lips.

  “What’s the rush? Is this an all-day date?”

  “Kind of,” I say walking over and picking Sadie up from her bassinet. She smiles a sweet smile at me.

  “Wait! Sadie doesn’t have a car seat,” Emily exclaims. She knows we’re driving somewhere, she just doesn’t know where.

  “Way ahead of you,” I say, grinning.

  “You are too perfect for words.” She kisses me sweetly on the cheek. “And handy with tools. I like that.”

  We begin the familiar drive to the Hamptons. “Are we going to the beach?” Emily asks, eventually recognizing the scenery.

  “That’s exactly where we’re going,” I say with a smile. We arrive at the beach house after one, as planned. The driveway is empty, as planned. Emily is still unaware of what’s next. As planned.

  Chapter 31:

  Emily

  I’ve never seen Tyler so cagey. He barely said more than a few sentences to me on the way here. No witty banter. His hands wrung the steering wheel throughout the whole drive. He audibly breathes a sigh of
relief when we land at the beach house, and ushers me to the door. And when I mention that I want to take Sadie to the sand, he point blank refuses, in a very direct way. I scrunch my face in confusion.

  Opening the door, I’m floored to see Mac, Maia, Eliza, and Janie standing in the empty beach house. Tyler hands Sadie to his mother and kisses me quickly on the cheek. “I have to go,” he says quickly before dashing out.

  “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” I shout, frustrated. “Why are you guys crashing my date?”

  “This isn’t your date, honey,” Mac replies.

  “Nope, this is pre-date prep,” Maia grins, clanging together the arms of a hair straightener.

  “Calm down, dear,” Eliza says to me, smiling at Sadie.

  This is a strange communion of people, in a strange situation, all doing strange things.

  Maia pulls out a folded piece of paper from her bag and lays it on the table.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  She rolls her eyes. “Instructions from your fiancée, who, by the way, might possibly be suffering from a bout of obsessive compulsive behavior.”

  Maia unzips a familiar yellow silk dress from a garment bag. “This is the dress the first night Tyler and I—” I freeze, realizing that Eliza is in the room.

  “Did he say messy?” Janie asks Mac as she’s doing my hair. “Check the list,” Mac says.

  A few times I try to make a dash for said list. They all succeed every time in cutting me off at the pass. When I’m dressed, with hair styled and makeup applied, they all start walking towards the door. All except Eliza.

  “Where are you going now?” I ask, starting to feel anxious about all the secrecy.

  “We’ll be back soon,” Maia calls over her shoulder.

  “I’ve never been inside here before,” I say to Eliza, marveling at the oak architraves and ornate fireplace that covers one entire wall.

  “I grew up here,” Eliza says with a smile. “It was a beautiful place to grow up.” She smiles down at Sadie dotingly.

  “I’d never leave a place like this. I’d want to exist right here,” I say dreamily.

  “I hope you do,” she says cryptically.

  “Eliza, please tell me what’s going on,” I beg. “It’s driving me crazy.”

  “This is date five,” she says with a cheerful grin.

  It’s starting to feel a little ominous. Like in a slasher movie, where the girl finds out that all the people she’s surrounded by are cannibals or some shit. I pace, back and forth. Tyler hasn’t returned yet. Neither have Mac, Maia, or Janie. Eliza left Sadie and I a few minutes ago, so I went exploring. The house was largely unfurnished, my bare footsteps thudding against the hardwood floors. I meander through each room, except for two on the second floor that are locked. I find that peculiar for an empty house, but don’t spend too much time thinking about it.

  Hearing footsteps on the floor below, Sadie and I walk down the stairs. Maia is standing alone. “Let’s go,” she says with a smile.

  I don’t question her and follow out of the beach house and around the perimeter. Maia takes Sadie from me just before we round the corner. My stomach flips when I see Tyler, standing next to Jackson and Mac in the distance. Opposite them stands Eliza. My stomach almost literally bottoms out.

  “Welcome to date five,” Maia says softly.

  “My makeup,” I sniff, trying desperately to keep the tears at bay.

  “Date five looks like—” I begin, turning to Maia.

  “A wedding,” she finishes. “It does, doesn’t it?”

  “Did he do all this?” I ask, relinquishing my defeat to the tears.

  “Every last minute detail,” Maia says, rolling her eyes dramatically. “And right now, he’s thinking of killing himself, owing to the fear that you may be mad, or say no. Will you?”

  I shake my head, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Maia pulls a green flag from the windowsill and waves it towards the waiting guests. Tyler leans forward on his knees, head hung low. “I had a red flag, too,” Maia explains. “Just in case you decided to get all runaway bride on us. I think he’s relieved,” she says, gesturing towards Tyler, still slumped forward with Mac rubbing his back dramatically.

  Maia and I walk towards the rest of the gathering. Now I know why I wasn’t allowed to wear shoes. When we arrive, she leaves back towards the house, and Eliza hands me a bouquet, filled with carnations, proteas, roses, kale flowers, and white baby’s breath. I can’t steal my eyes away from Tyler. The minute I get close enough, our eyes become fixed, unfaltering. He smiles a broad smile, the dimple on his left cheek the perfect accessory.

  I walk over and stand in front of him, dress billowing in the breeze. He looks so handsome in a pair of loose linen pants rolled up to mid-calf and a casual button down shirt, its color a few shades lighter than my yellow dress.

  “These flowers,” I say, looking down at the bouquet. “They were from you?”

  He nods, eyes boring into me. Intense, as if in this moment, time has stopped; the world has stopped turning on its axis; everyone else is gone from my sight. “They stayed on my table for months,” I laugh.

  Maia returns moments later with Sadie, who’s wearing a pleated yellow chiffon dress with a sparkling yellow rhinestone collar and the tiniest yellow linen ballet flats I have ever seen. She matches us. Every detail is perfect.

  “One more surprise,” Tyler whispers. “Turn around.”

  I turn and come face to face with my baby sister, Mirelle. I fly into her arms, not realizing until now how much I had missed seeing her face. Aside from some emails, I hadn’t heard from her in so long.

  “Hi,” she says, eyes glistening with tears. Her and I look so similar that we could be mistaken for twins. Her hair is dark now though, almost black, and her eyes don’t have their usual sparkle. But she is my sister nonetheless, and I have missed her.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” I say, hugging her again.

  “No way I’d miss this,” she says, hugging me back. “Now get off of me and go get married,” she finishes with a reprimand. “We can catch up later!”

  I walk back to Tyler, and he takes my hand. “Who will marry us?” I ask.

  “That would be me,” Eliza says, stepping forward. Only then do I notice Dr. Carson standing behind her, a happy smile on his face. He’s a man of few words, but I don’t think there is a prouder father in all of the world. Except maybe Tyler.

  “She’s a retired judge,” Tyler says in my ear.

  Oh, now I get why I always found her to be so severe and, well, judgy.

  I haven’t prepared vows, although it’s so very easy for me to talk about all of the things that I love about Tyler. But a couple of sentences will suffice. “I’m home with you. I love you.”

  He runs his thumb across my cheek and I melt into his touch. He knows what I mean. A hundred words couldn’t be weighted with more meaning than that simple affirmation. His eyes shine happily. The sun glistens against the gentle ocean waves. The breeze causes his hair to shift ever so slightly. When it’s time for him to say his vows, he stays silent for a few seconds, looking around, before he brings his eyes up to meet mine again.

  “Remember last week, when I proposed?” he starts. “Man, that makes me sound so crazy,” he quips as an aside. I laugh, as do the rest of our guests. “Remember that I thanked you in advance? Well, I thanked you for everything before today. For Sadie. For choosing me. For allowing me to be the person that gets to wake up next to you for the rest of my life. I thank you in advance for making me the happiest man in the galaxy today, for all of Sadie’s future brothers and sisters, for the days where we may not be perfect, for old age.”

  I don’t know why Mac insisted I wear makeup, as the tears flow freely down my face. The most endearing part of the vows is the sincerity in his voice as he presents them to me.

  “Also,” he continues with a cheeky grin, “thank you for allowing me to be your first kiss.”

  I look up at
him quizzically. What does he mean? Wait—Oh my God! My eyes round to epic proportions, and I blush furiously. Tyler stifles a laugh.

  We say ‘I do’ to one another moments later, and then Tyler pulls me into a kiss that rocks me like a Richter-ten earthquake. All of our friends and family cheer wildly.

  Our reception is a huge bonfire on the beach, with Maia and Jackson, Mac, Janie, Mirelle and Tyler’s PA, Mary, in attendance. Tyler has arranged for Eliza to take Sadie for the rest of the weekend. Unbeknownst to me, he had already asked Mac to pack her a bag and dropped it off at Eliza’s house. I laugh uncontrollably as they all fill me in on the secretive happenings of the week.

  “He made me go to ten different baby stores to find Sadie’s dress,” Maia says feigning irritation. “Eventually, I just had him describe it to a dress maker. And a shoemaker! Do you know how hard it is to find something when you are actually looking for it?”

  “Not to mention making me stalk you in your sleep!” Mac chimes in.

  “What?” I ask, confused.

  “Mac,” Tyler says sternly.

  “Oh right, sorry,” Mac says quickly.

  “And it took Mary almost a week to track down your sister,” Tyler says. Mary smiles from opposite me, across the fire. Having spent the afternoon with her, it has become apparent that her and Tyler’s relationship is absolutely platonic. She’s all business.

  “Where were you, Ellie?” I ask, turning to my sister.

  “Vegas,” she answers simply.

  “That’s a long way from Missouri,” I observe.

  “Yeah, but I like it. It’s a good change from our small town,” she answers shortly, not volunteering anything further.

  “I’m glad you’re here. Can you stay a while?” I ask, eyes pleading.

  “I think I can manage that,” she says with a smile.

  A thought flashes through my mind. “You guys forgot the wedding traditions! You know, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! That’s probably bad luck,” I admonish.