My Real (17 page)

I wait for her on a bench outside of the dorm for her to pack up, change, and check out. When she finally walks out of the building, she takes my breath away. She has her hair up in a twist off her face. The dress that I got her is a simple black dress that falls just above her knee but it hugs every curve of her body. I also got her simple black high heels which she is wobbling on a little but they make her legs look fantastic. I jump up to grab her bags from her.

“You are breathtaking.” I lean in to give her a gentle kiss, then throw the bags over my shoulder. I take a step back and ask, “Do a little spin for me, so I can get the full effect.”

She looks down blushing at all the attention. I grab her hand and lift it up over our heads and help her spin on her toe.

“Damn, I can pick an outfit!” I exclaim as I check her out.

“You did good. The shoes are a little snug, but I think it’s helping me walk a little better.” I drop our hands, intertwine our fingers, and start walking toward my truck.

“So, where are we going in these very fancy outfits?”

“There is a restaurant just off campus that has a great outdoor patio. I thought we could grab some dinner then walk around town a little bit.”

I open her door for her and help her up into her seat. I put her bags in the back seat of my truck and pull out the second pair of shoes I got her hand them to her.

“For the second part of our date.” She opens the box and sees a pair of shoes the sales lady called ballerina flats. “The lady at the store said these would be much better for walking around.”

When I get in my side of the car, she has a blank stare on her face.

“What’s the matter? You haven’t said too much.”

“I’m just stunned. Flowers, a new outfit, shoes, dinner out at a fancy restaurant. What did I do to deserve all this,” she asks.

“You are you.”

A few minutes later, we get to the restaurant and are seated on the patio. I purposely picked this place because of this patio. When I passed by earlier this morning, I saw the trellis covered in a flowery vine and all the tables had candles on them. I thought this would be a nice romantic, quiet place to have a very serious talk.

After the waiter came with our drinks and left with our order, I figured it was time to get everything out in the open.

“Okay Bailey, let’s talk. I couldn’t even Google what you said, because I didn’t even hear when you said it.”

Bailey twists her napkin around her fingers. I grab them and squeeze. “There is nothing to be nervous about. I’m not going to change my mind about anything. I just want to know the details.”

“Okay, it’s called Endometriosis. I was having pretty bad pains in my abdomen last year. I went to the doctor. He put me on some medications to control pain and hormone medications to stop it from getting worse, because I still wanted to try to get pregnant. When they weren’t helping, I had to have surgery to remove the areas of Endometriosis. I also had to have one of my ovaries removed.”

I start asking all of the questions that have been running through my mind since she first told me.

“Is there anything we can do that will make your chances of getting pregnant higher when that time comes?” She shakes her head sadly at me.

“My doctor told me that if I had a mild case I might have a better chance, and he told me that fertility treatments might be an option but not to get my hopes up. Most women that have the Endometriosis at my severity are infertile.”

“Have you ever gone to get a second opinion?”

“Well, no. This was all right before I caught Dave cheating on me so I never bothered. There really was no point since I wasn’t going to be getting pregnant anyway,” she explains.

“Well, your doctor sounds like a quack to me. When the time comes, we will go for a second and third opinion if we need to. And after that, if we find out that we still can’t get pregnant, then we will talk about our other options,” I offer.

She sits there staring at me, and I can’t read the look on her face.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I beg.

“I’m not quite sure how I got so lucky to have you in my life,” she admits.

“It wasn’t luck, it was fate. It just took a little while to catch up with us.”

The waiter comes with our dinner, but I can’t eat. All I can think about was this man that I am falling hard for. I don’t think it’s so much as falling for him. I’m sunk. I’m officially madly in love with him. I want to tell him right now, as cliche as it sounds, I want to shout it from the rooftops. For God’s sake, we just had a conversation about having a baby together. Why can I just say those three little words out loud to him. I go to open my mouth to tell him and he interrupts me. I chicken out. Soon. Very soon.

“So, after dinner I thought that we’d go downtown. I found a bunch of little shops that I thought you might like,” Andrew says as the waiter brings our check.

“That sounds good, Ella’s birthday is coming up. I have to find her something spectacular. She was a really good friend this week when I was being a whiny pain.”

“We’ll get her something extra nice, because if it weren’t for her and my mom, I wouldn’t be sitting with you here right now,” he claims.

“Oh, don’t tell her that. Her head is big enough as it is,” I joke.

“Well, I know how much she loves her wine, so let’s go to the vineyard and winery down the street,” Andrew suggests.

“Oh, we can definitely find her something there.”

On the short ride to the vineyard, Andrew tries to figure out what kind of wine I would like.

“My dad used to make wine every fall. We would go to Philly and get the grapes and crush them ourselves. I even made a few batches of my own with him when I lived in Georgia. I used to make a really sweet Riesling that I think you’d love.”

“Really? I don’t see you much as a wine person. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink wine.”

“I haven’t since he died, but I used to all the time. We would sit on his porch at night and shoot the shit and have a glass of wine together.”

“You shouldn’t stop then. That’s a great memory you have of your dad. He’d want you to carry on that tradition.”

We pull up to the vineyard and see the most beautiful sunset over the rows of grapes. We watch for a few minutes from the deck off the barn when a man comes out to greet us.

“Welcome. Beautiful isn’t?” he says motioning to the view.

“It’s amazing,” I reply in awe.

“How about a glass of wine to enjoy while you relax out here,” he says, pulling out two chairs. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll take a Chambourcin and I think she’d prefer something sweet, so maybe a Niagara.”

“Great choices. I’m Bob, the owner by the way. I’ll be right back with your wine.”

I sit down in the chair Bob pulled out for me and lean back to relax. I could really get used to this.

“That was really hot,” I tell Andrew as he pulls his chair up next to me.

“What was?”

“You, ordering wine like that,” I compliment.

“Oh, that ain’t nothing. What ‘til you see me drink it,” he says in a super low sexy voice.

I’m laughing as Bob comes back out. “I brought out a cheese tray as well. Let me know if you guys need anything else.”

We thank him as he leaves and pick up our glasses. Before I could take a sip, Andrew holds his up toward me.

“To new beginnings with old friends and many laughs along the way.”

With a smile I clink my glass with his and say, “I’ll drink to that.”

“So, when is Ella’s birthday?”

“Friday.” I answer taking a sip of my wine.

“Hey, that’s Emerson’s birthday too.”

My head snaps in his direction. “It is? How did I not know this? What do you have planned?”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“For her birthday. What kind of party is she having?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “Last year, we drove up here and had a cake and ice cream at my mom’s house.”

“You didn’t have a party?” I can’t believe it. Didn’t he understand how important birthday parties were to little kids?

“Well, my mom and I got her presents. Jessica was away that weekend I think, so I’m not sure she really celebrated with her, but that’s not surprising.”

“What about her friends?” I ask. Andrew just shakes his head again. Men!

“I’m planning her a real party. We are inviting her friends from your mom’s church, from her daycare, and the kids from down the street. We can do it outside. We’ll play games and have prizes, balloons, streamers, cake, ice cream.” I start making a mental list.

Andrew grabs my wine glass and puts it on the table next to us. Then he takes my hand and pulls me out of my seat onto his lap and wraps his arms around me.

“You are amazing. Do you know that?” I furrow my brows not understanding. “You just planned an entire party in the matter of one minute.”

“Well, it’s not planned, they’re all just ideas. If I had more time I would go really crazy, so you should be lucky I only have a week.”

Andrew wraps his hand around the back of my neck and brings my head down to his as he whispers, “Amazing,” in my ear just before kissing me.

Our kissing is interrupted by Bob coming out making sure we are okay. I stand up quickly, embarrassed.

“Do you guys need anything else?” Bob asks as he picks up the tray.

“Actually, I need a birthday gift for my friend.”

“I can help you with that, let’s go in and look around.”

We end up bringing home a bottle of for us, a bottle for Ella, and a pretty wine rack she can hang from her ceiling.

On the way home, I made a list of all the party supplies that I’d need for Emerson’s party. I also ended up ordering quite a few things online too. This was going to be the best party ever as it should be for a five-year-old.

“Ella, can you get the cakes out of the oven before they burn?” I yell in the house to her. I am literally wrapped up at the moment in streamers trying to finish decorating the deck.

“Do you want them flipped onto the cooling rack just pulled out. Heehee. Pull out.”

“You have the humor of a 15-year-old boy. Just pull them out then come help me hang these streamers.”

She walks back out, and I throw a roll to her. “Just wrap them around that post please. I’m going to have the boys hang the ones from the ceiling when they get back from the gym.”

“Boys?” Ella asks as she starts taping the first streamer up.

“Yeah, Jake and Andrew will be here any minute.”

“Shit.” Ella yells dropping the streamer and runs into the house. A few minutes later she comes back out hair done, makeup on, and clothing changed.

I have to ask even though I know the answer. “What was that all about?”

“What, I just wanted to get dressed for the party.”

“Sure, it has nothing to do with the fact that Jake will be here any minute.”

“What about Jake?” he asks as he walks out on the back deck.

“Good. You boys can hang the streamers from the deck’s roof going that way,” I motion from the left to the right. “Then there is a list of things for each of you to get done while Ella and I finish in the kitchen.”

I turn around to see Ella staring at Jake as he stretches up to hang the streamers, so I pull her into the kitchen with me.

“I think I’d like to finish hanging streamers,” she pleads when I hand her the bags of fruit to put out on the trays.

“Get your butt back in here woman. I need your help in here. You can gape at Jake’s butt later.”

“Oh, I’d like to do a lot more than just gape at it.”

“Ella,” I hiss at her. “He might hear you, the window’s open.”

“He did,” Jake yells in the window at us laughing.

“It’s a very fine ass, and he knows it,” Ella shouts loud enough for Jake to hear.