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.Chloe doesn’t show any signs that she knows we’re approaching.She’s probably so lost in her own little world that she’s not paying attention.“Hello, Mommy.Can I have a cuddle?” I coo in a baby voice, pretending to be Noah.Showing some signs that there’s life in there, she turns around, blinking a few times before opening up her arms to hold our son, as if on autopilot.“We missed you,” I whisper, joining in the cuddle and smelling her intoxicating scent that I’ve been dreaming about all day.She smells exactly as I remembered, sweet like candy, and boy do I love candy!“I missed you both too.”I turn Chloe’s face toward mine, planting a tender kiss like I’ve been wanting to do ever since I woke up and found her side of the bed cold.“Let’s go inside.”We all go inside, where Noah goes into his bouncy chair.His face lights up at seeing all of the toys hanging from the bar.It melts my heart every time that kid smiles.Spotting Chloe in the kitchen getting a drink of water, I walk up behind her and put my arms around her waist.“How was shopping?” I ask, hoping she might let me in to what really happened.I want her to be able to confide in me.“It was fine,” she replies robotically.“Did you find a dress?”I feel her body flinch in my arms, but I don’t let on that I noticed.She will tell me in her own time if she’s not ready to tell me now.As bad as it sounds, I know all this sadness will be worth it when she’s able to wear the wedding dress of her dreams at our wedding.And as much as I really want to tell her my plan, I want to surprise her.For that reason, I’m going to keep quiet.“No, not yet.We’re going to go and check out a different store another day.I couldn’t find one that was perfect.” I don’t miss the way her voice cracks at the end.Not risking speaking, for fear of giving anything away, I just nod my head.“Come on.Let’s relax, order some food in, and watch a movie.Sound good?”“That sounds perfect.” Chloe sighs, leaning into me.For the rest of the night, we eat takeout and watch the film Taken, one of our favorites, before putting Noah in his crib.Once we get into bed ourselves, I try to take away her melancholy mood by making sweet, passionate love to the woman who is my entire world.****“You definitely know which dress she wanted, right? I don’t want to end up buying the wrong one,” I ask Maisie for the thousandth time since I picked her up not even twenty minutes ago.“For crying out loud, Jake, yes, I know which dress she wanted! Please stop going on.You are driving me insane.”“I just don’t want to end up getting the wrong dress, Maisie.You know that this means everything to her.You saw how she was yesterday.She was like that all night after you left, and she’s still like it today.I don’t know how much longer I can stand to see her like this without showing her the dress in advance and ruining the surprise.” I’ve been thinking about it all night and day.Maisie suddenly stops, standing still on the sidewalk.“Jake, have you two even decided on a date?” People huff, getting annoyed at having to walk around her, though it doesn’t faze her in the slightest; she’s a woman on a mission.“No.No, we haven’t.” I try to rack my memory, but come up empty.“We haven’t even talked about when we want to get married.”“Oh, for God’s sake! Even Jesse and I have decided on a date.We’re getting married next summer.Obviously, you can’t leave it that long, what with Chloe being depressed.” Maisie rolls her eyes at that statement, which I don’t find funny.I hate seeing my girl down.“So, you’re going to have to choose the date yourself and surprise her.” She looks at me expectantly.“Oh no.No, no no.Nope, definitely not happening.” I shake my head adamantly.“And why not?” Maisie asks, growing frustrated.“Maisie, you know that every girl dreams of the perfect wedding day.How on earth am I supposed to know what Chloe wants her wedding to be like? What if I get it so terribly wrong that she decides that she doesn’t want to marry me? Fuck, she would totally do that, and then I’ll be alone forever.Nope, I’ve made my mind up.It’s definitely not happening.”Maisie shakes her head at me before playfully punching me in the stomach.“Oh, grow up, you big baby.You are not going to have to do it all by yourself.I will help you out.Chloe and I have spoken about this since we were kids, so I sort of have an idea of what she wants.Now, let’s go pick this dress up and make other arrangements for your wedding.We are going to have this wedding ready within the next few weeks, if it kills me.”There isn’t any point in arguing with her.I won’t win.I’m getting married within the next few weeks, and even though I’m not jumping up and down, on the inside I’m doing a little happy dance.Chloe’s going to become mine earlier than I thought.She just doesn’t know it yet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]