Page 96 of A Lifetime of Afters
Immediately, his entire demeanor changed. “Of course. Tea or wine cooler? If I remember correctly, and I remember everything, a wine cooler will get you into bed faster.”
I laughed, thinking how horrified he would be when he realized he offered his pregnant fiancé, (FIANCE!), a drink. “How about both? We’ll start with a tea and see if you still want to have a drink after our talk or if you want to head to bed.”
“I’ll want to head to bed,” he assured me, his hand drifting down over my bum to give it a squeeze. “Go sit down. I’ll make you a cup of tea.”
While I waited, I assessed his home through new eyes. It would be easy to childproof. The bedrooms were all on the main floor and a heavy door barricaded the basement stairs. Three bedrooms were more than enough.
To start.
I laughed to myself. I don’t even know how many children he wants. We never talked about that.
Friggity-frack.
I sat up straight in the chair. What if he doesn’t want kids period? My palm went to my tiny bump, covering it protectively.
“You okay over there?” He walked toward me, a tray with my tea, his beer, and a wine cooler on it. “You look like you were getting into an argument. I’m hoping it wasn’t with me.” His eyes dropped to my hand. “Is your tummy sore? Is that why you wanted peppermint tea?”
“No, no,” I waved away his concerns. “I’m good.” I reached for the tea, my trembling hands betraying my nervousness.
“Hey,” he called softly. “No need to be nervous.” Reaching into his pocket, he took out the paper. “Here. You can see everything.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. Oh, boy. It was time. I dropped my eyes to the page in front of me.
He had drawn a line down the middle of the page and then sectioned it crosswise into six rows. Twelve squares all together, one for each month.
In January, he wrote:
Say goodbye to Hunter.
Make peace with the accident.
Propose to Noelle.
Move Noelle and Bruce into the cabin.
I looked up, my finger on the last item. “It’s January 29th.”
“I have two days. I want you here. I don’t want to spend another night without you.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay?”
I smiled. “I can do that.”
He relaxed back into his chair. “Go ahead and see the rest. That’s the only part I was worried about.”
Every single square had at least one item in it. Some were things he wanted to do with me, others had to do with planning for our future, still other things he wanted to plan with his family and mine.
“Are you flexible? Can I move things around?” This was how I would tell him.
“Of course. It’s our plan. We do it together.”
He scheduled a trip to his family’s cottage up at Moose Lake in July. That would not do at all. I tapped it. “Why July?”
“Black flies aren’t too active after June. I hate those nasty fuckers.”
“Makes sense,” I muttered. “How would you feel about going up there for Thanksgiving?”
