by DW Cee
She quietly followed me to Miette while I bought two of every Parisian macaroon they had. Her eyes lit up immediately at the sight of this bakery when we first walked into the building. It was their featured baked good, Parisian macaron, that most likely caught her eye. I also purchased condiments for the oysters such as caviar, hot sauce, and mignonette; and other picnic items such as wine, cheese, crackers, and deli meat. Of course I couldn’t forget the coffee to go with dessert.
Emily stayed uncommunicative—absolutely no expression shown—and I tried not to let this worry me as we went back to the apartment.
Jane was finally up. “Why did you guys ride this far?” she asked while noshing on all the food we brought back.
“I don’t know. Ask your brother,” Emily responded with a hint of anger.
Uh-oh. She was upset. I ran after Emily and grabbed her hand before she could walk into the shower.
“Are you mad?” I asked.
“Yes.” Though her voice was mad, her face looked happy—almost a giggly kind of happy. I couldn’t tell which one was the real Emily.
I apologized then tried to kiss her, but she moved away. I gave her a hurt expression.
“Jake. I can’t be in a relationship with you if you continue to stay angry with me for not having sex with you. Here, let me give you back this ring.”
She started fumbling with the lock. I guess she was serious about not having sex till she got married. Holding her hands hostage behind her back, I kissed her long and hard. We both needed air but I wouldn’t let her go. Her struggles began and ended within seconds. She willingly and enthusiastically participated.
“OK, I’m sorry. I won’t be upset anymore,” I said in between more kisses. “But I’m still going to try to get you in bed every chance I get.”
“I’d be worried if you didn’t,” she responded with a heavy kiss of her own.
I gave in to her purity demands…for now.
Since my “ablutions” took half the time of my girlfriend’s, I packed up our picnic basket and got us ready to leave. Tenderly, Emily came up behind me, encircling her arms around my waist. Without looking, we knew each other had a smile.
“Thank you for this special weekend. You have made many of my dreams come true. You are too wonderful!”
I wanted to embrace her but Jane walked out and Emily turned to ask her if she was joining us today.
“No,” Jane and I answered simultaneously. Jane didn’t look happy I didn’t invite her. I didn’t care.
“My old roommate, Allison, is coming over and we’re going out for lunch.”
“Allison?” I asked, wondering why she would be up here hanging out with Jane. I hoped I didn’t have a look of guilt when I asked this question.
Emily looked at me with an inquisitive stare, and Jane gave me a peculiar one. Please, Jane, if you’ve figured out our connection, don’t give it away to Emily, I begged in my mind.
Too late as Jane shouted, “Oh, my gosh. You didn’t finally succumb to her wiles, did you? Jake! Did you two date? Did you sleep with her? You’re such an idiot! No wonder she kept asking about you.”
Whatever Christmas present I promised Jane—canceled! I couldn’t believe she revealed my past to Emily. What would Emily think now, especially after she told me how she wanted to save herself for someone special? She might believe I went around sleeping with every girl I dated. Crap!
I kept mum to all questions and rushed Emily out the door. Aargh! There was Allison, rushing over to see me. Even with my one hand on the picnic basket and the other holding Emily’s hand, Allison came and hugged me a little too longingly for comfort. If panic had yet to set in, it went into overdrive when Allison kissed me on the mouth in front of my girlfriend. Emily abruptly let go of my hand and stepped aside. My heart did a nosedive, and my sense of alarm sped out of control.
“Hello.” Allison introduced herself to Emily. “I’m Allison, Jake’s friend.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Emily, Jake’s girlfriend.” Even in the midst of this scary situation, I chuckled to myself. Emily actually had a mean side to her. She most surely told Allison who was in charge here.
“Jake. I rushed over here because I need to talk to you. Can you spare a few minutes for an old flame?” She sounded desperate.
I was about to say no when Emily whispered, “I’ll see you at the car.” She was graciously walking away, allowing us to talk and helping me out of this so very unnecessary ménage à trois.
As my love walked away, I turned to Allison and asked, “What is it?”
“Jake, I’m moving back to LA and was wondering if I could stay with you at your house. Would you want to be with me again?” Her tone was a lot more suggestive than her words.
“No!” I had to cut off the oxygen supply to her hope. “I’m in love with Emily. She’s the girl I plan to marry, so if you’ll excuse me…” With that, I left Allison and ran to the car.
I prayed Emily wasn’t crying. Very slowly I opened the car door, and Emily was sitting there calmly listening to music. Her face was unreadable and her body language, unapproachable.
“I’m sorry about…”
“Don’t worry about it,” she cut me off.
“Don’t you want to know why she was here?”
“I prefer not to know, if that’s OK with you. I know you didn’t live under a rock before you met me. You’re thirty. I’m sure you’ve dated many girls before I came along. I prefer not to know what you did before us.”
She sounded hurt and I too was a bit hurt she wouldn’t let me explain that nothing happened. I understood what she said but the many girls I dated couldn’t compare to the one man she loved enough to want to marry. I drove without saying a word.
Emily must have sensed my disappointment. She put her hand on mine. “Jake?” She tried to start up a conversation.
“Hmm?” My mood, glum, I didn’t really want to talk.
“Why are you so quiet? Did I do something wrong again?”
I couldn’t understand why she always thought she was in trouble with me. “Emily, why would you think you did anything wrong?” It shouldn’t have, but it sounded like I was accusing her of some wrongdoing.
“Well, generally when someone stops talking to you, it’s because they’re upset with you. All right…let me explain why I don’t want to hear about that vile woman.”
That was funny. My laughter broke our solemn mood.
She started by telling me about all the disturbing thoughts that went through her mind as she was waiting for me in the car. “Watching her kiss you unsettled me to a point where my mind raced in all directions jumping to conclusions about your relationship with her, past and present. Unpleasant would be a mild way of explaining what I felt.”
“This doesn’t make me feel any less guilty,” I told her.
“But then I thought about what you had to witness on Friday with me and Max, and I decided whatever I felt this morning couldn’t have compared to what you must have felt meeting my only boyfriend of four years. So, I thought it only fair to let everything go and enjoy the rest of the day.”
As expected she was thoughtful and insightful. She knew exactly how I felt when she wouldn’t let me explain my side of the story. Perhaps she would understand soon how deeply I loved her and how much I wanted her to know every part of my life. Very possibly, I would confess this to her soon.
We spent a brilliant afternoon picnicking. We bought a bag of oysters, and I shucked while Emily assembled them with all the condiments we bought. We thought of Charlie and Sarah, as more than half the food we bought went uneaten. When we were done, Emily lazily sprawled out on our blanket. She looked radiant gazing at the scenery.
“What’s on your mind, Beautiful?”
“Um…I was wondering whether I should kiss you.”
What an odd thought. “Why would you wonder that? What’s stopping you?”
“Because you kissed another woman—a vile but stunning woman—this morning.”
/> “But I didn’t kiss her! She kissed me.”
“It doesn’t matter. Your lips touched. They’ve been defiled as far as I’m concerned.” She fell to her back and started laughing.
I pounced on her and covered her mouth with mine regardless of how she felt about Allison or PDA. Locked in our embrace she didn’t resist. Our closeness lasted longer than I would have ever anticipated in public.
“Jake?” Eventually pulling away she called out my name with gentleness. “How did you know Parisian macarons are my favorite dessert? I don’t think I ever told you this, did I?”
A bit of a random question, but I could tell this was important to her. So many times she fell into a childlike awe and wonder about my attitude and feelings for her. She still didn’t get her place in my life. There was none higher than Emily on my scale of importance—apologies to my parents and siblings.
“You have this almost wistful look in your eyes when you talk about or see something you like.” She looked excited when I told her this.
“That’s exactly what my mom used to tell me. While you call it wistful, she called it covetous. How boring and predictable am I when you’ve figured me out this easily and so quickly.” She sighed.
“On the contrary, I find you to be the most interesting and desirable woman I’ve ever met. I can’t get enough of you!” I declared.
“That’s only because I’m the one girl who hasn’t jumped into bed with you on the first date.” With that she proceeded to take a bite of each of the macarons and finish only the ones she liked.
This weekend had come and gone far too quickly, and to my chagrin, reality awaited my return to LA. Paused on the tarmac, Emily couldn’t keep her eyes open. I pulled her into me and held her to sleep. While she dozed off, I finally professed what I’d been wanting to tell her all weekend.
“I love you, Emily,” I whispered and kissed her off to sleep.
Chapter 9 Do You Love Me?
After an entire weekend with my love I got up early to visit her before heading to work. Today would probably be an insane day since the hospital left me alone all weekend. I figured Emily would be asleep and would jokingly scold me for waking her up. With a croissant and a latte, I sped to her doorstep.
Ding dong. The door opened immediately.
“Good morning, Beautiful.” I planted a longing kiss on her, as it had been a whole six hours since we last saw each other. I continued my kiss even though I heard Sarah’s annoying attempt to break us up.
“Hello!” Sarah demanded.
“Hey, Sarah. What are you doing here so early?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“What are you both doing here at this hour?” was Emily’s attempt to join in our conversation as the phone rang, and Sarah ran to answer it.
Emily wondered why I was here so soon after a date. She knew it would be a crazy day for me as well. I asked her to come by the hospital to have lunch with me since I probably wouldn’t see sunlight today.
She laughed. “Oh? What time should I come by for lunch?”
I was about to give her a random time when Sarah yelled over to tell her that Max and Peter wanted to have lunch with Emily. My sour look reappeared.
With a wicked smile, Emily asked, “Well, Dr. Reid? Lunch today? I’ve got another offer on the table. Can you match that?”
I knew I couldn’t. “No. Go ahead and have lunch with your ex. I don’t know when I’ll get out of surgery.” After spending a wonderful weekend together, the thought of Emily being with Max bugged me.
Emily made some snide remark about not kissing Max like I had kissed Allison and sent me off for the day. My mood spiraled south.
My day at the hospital was worse than expected. I was thrown into surgery then went to assist the chief with his operation. When I got out, it was almost 1:00 p.m. Work kept me so busy, I actually forgot about Emily. I wondered if she was still at lunch. I texted her.
Are you done with lunch yet? You did keep your promise with Max?
She answered immediately.
What promise? I didn’t make you or Max any promises, did I?
She loved toying with my emotions. I was definitely the weaker link.
Yes, you did! You weren’t going to allow him anywhere near you.
Well, he picked me up, drove me to lunch, and is now sitting next to me. Does that break my promise to you?
Are you kidding me? was what I wanted to write. Instead I wrote,
Emily! This isn’t funny. You’re torturing me.
I’m not the one who kissed another woman in the middle of our weekend together.
I would live to hear this story the rest of my life.
I thought you said you’re going to let that one go. I promise! I didn’t kiss her back. When will lunch be over? You want to come visit me at the hospital?
I don’t know when lunch will be over and, no, I don’t want to go to the hospital anymore. After the ER incident, I’m afraid of doctors now. Everyone at my table is giving me an unpleasant look because I’m ignoring them while texting you. Come over tonight and I will consider whether I want to kiss you since you’ve now reminded me of Allison. I have to go. Bye.
“Jake.” I turned to see the chief calling me. “David is coming by in a few minutes. You want to have lunch with us?”
“Sure. Where are we going?”
The chief’s phone rang. “Let’s go,” he said, “David’s outside.”
Uncle Dave picked us up and we arrived at the dim sum restaurant and found Mom and Dad waiting for us as well.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.”
“Hello, Son, long time no see. How was your weekend?” Mom asked with a knowing smile.
“You didn’t talk to Jane yet?” I answered.
“We talked to her last night, but I thought I’d get your version as well.” Mom smiled again.
“I heard you dropped a pretty penny at French Laundry,” Uncle Dave added to our conversation. “Thomas Keller told me you added every supplemental item to your meal. I assume you enjoyed it?” He too had a knowing smile.
“So obviously, you all know I had a good weekend. What answers are you exactly looking for?”
The chief also joined in. “So is she still the one after two full days together? You’ve never once spoken of marriage till this Emily came along.”
“She is most definitely the one! This weekend only solidified what I already knew.”
The dim sum cart started coming around and everyone began picking their favorites. I saw my mom choose the shrimp and scallop har gow; Uncle Dave picked out the pan-fried dumplings; Dad decided on the siu mai, and the chief picked Chinese broccoli and shrimp rolls. I picked a deep-fried pork dumpling, and I thought of how much Emily would have enjoyed having lunch with us. There wouldn’t have been anything she didn’t like at our table.
“So what makes her the one? After years with Kelley, you never mentioned marrying her. Were you too young back then?” This time my dad wanted to know.
Considering how close we were as a family, it was only fitting that every Reid expressed not only curiosity, but also concern about my relationships.
“Dad, when you meet her, you’ll understand. She is such a sweet person. She’s honest and open and down to earth. She’s had a tough life. Her dad died when she was thirteen and her mom followed him when Emily was only seventeen. At times, I see signs of loneliness and sadness, but rather than being down on life, she’s playful and affectionate and heartfelt. I can’t get enough of this girl.”
“Does she feel as strongly about you?” That was a legitimate question from Uncle Henry.
“Not yet, I don’t think. Because she’s been alone for so long, I think she wants to lean on someone entirely but is also afraid to do so. She told me this weekend she felt abandoned by her parents for leaving her so early.” I decided to leave out the part about Max and their four years together. This wasn’t something I wanted anyone to know since it wasn’t important to her or me.<
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I saw my mom start to tear. “How heartbreaking to lose not just one parent but both of them so early in life. I will definitely dote on her when I meet her in Hawaii.” Knowing Mom, she would most assuredly do so. “Jane called to say Emily was wonderful. She told me they made a pact to be sisters regardless of what happens to your relationship.”
“I guess we have a new Reid in the family. We can’t wait to meet her next week,” Uncle Dave declared as we finished up lunch.
The rest of the day flashed by. When I got to Emily’s doorstep it was already midnight. The lights were off but I couldn’t resist seeing her. I had missed her all day.
Ding dong. The lights turned on like a domino effect—the family room, the kitchen, the dining room to the living room.
Incredibly excited to see my love, I wanted to hug and kiss her the moment I saw her. Instead I was shocked to see Emily’s face.
“What’s the matter, Emily? Have you been crying?”
“How’d you know?” Her face looked even more surprised than mine.
“Your eyes are puffier than a marshmallow. Why were you crying?” We walked hand in hand, and while I went off to the couch, she went to look at her eyes in the mirror.
“Does this have something to do with your lunch with Max today?” I knew her meeting with Max would be a bad idea. I hoped he didn’t undo all our progress this weekend. “Do you mind telling me what happened?”
Without missing any detail, she told me Max regretted breaking up with my girlfriend when she was his girlfriend. When I asked her how she felt about Max’s regret, she gave me all the right answers, but I still couldn’t understand why she had cried.