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Perfect. Just like the roses his grandmother used to fill the apartment with. It was time to do that all over again.
He walked up the stairs to his apartment building with trepidation in his heart. As he pushed open the door to his apartment he already knew she wasn’t there. He could feel it. Just her presence in a room made it light up.
His feet were on the stairs in an instant, thudding upstairs and knocking on the door of her apartment. The snow had started to clear, but most people hadn’t returned to work yet; the subway still wasn’t completely open.
Please don’t be at work. Please don’t be at work.
‘Carrie? Are you there? It’s Dan. I need to speak to you.’ He waited a few seconds, then dropped to his knees and tried to peer through the keyhole.
The door behind him creaked open. Mrs Van Dyke’s thin frame and loose cardigans filled the doorway. ‘I think the person you’re looking for is in here,’ she whispered.
‘She is? What’s she doing?’
Mrs Van Dyke shrugged. ‘It appears I need some help with tidying up. She’s in my spare room.’
He hurried inside, knowing exactly where to go. That was just like Carrie. Now that she knew about Mrs Van Dyke’s hoarding she would be doing her best to try and help. He walked over to the room, hearing the muffled noises of falling cardboard boxes inside.
‘Yikes!’
His heartbeat accelerated as he elbowed his way into the room, past the teetering piles and fallen boxes, finally reaching Carrie in a heap on the floor. He grasped her hand and pulled her upwards, straight into his arms.
‘Dan!’ She looked dazed, and it took him a few moments to steady her. Then the arms that had rested on his shoulders fell back to her sides.
‘What do you want, Dan?’ She sounded sad, tired even.
‘I wanted to see you.’
‘Why? Why did you want to see me, Dan?’
He reached up and touched her cheek. ‘I wanted to speak to you. I wanted to make sure you were okay.’
Her hand reached up and covered his. ‘I’m fine, Daniel. I’m just glad that Abraham is back with his mother.’
His gut was twisting. She was still hurting, still in pain because of the whole situation he’d allowed her to become involved in.
‘Abraham is fine. Mary Shankland is fine—well, not really, but she will be. But what I’m most interested in is you, Carrie. Are you fine?’
Her eyelids widened, as if she was surprised at his words.
He pulled her a little closer. ‘I’ve been thinking about you all night and all day. I couldn’t get away—I had a mountain of paperwork to fill out. I’m so sorry I had to leave you, Carrie. I know how hard it was. But I had to take Abraham back to his mother. I had to make sure they were both okay. Even though the person I wanted to be with was you.’
‘It was?’ Her lips were trembling. Her whole body was trembling.
‘Of course it was, Carrie.’
‘But you didn’t say anything. You didn’t ask me to stay.’ She was shaking her head as if she was trying to make sense of things.
‘I couldn’t, Carrie. I didn’t want to start a conversation with you that I couldn’t finish. Not when I had things to sort out. I wanted us to have time. Time to talk. Time to see what you wanted.’ He brushed her hair behind her ear and whispered, ‘What do you want, Carrie? What do you want to happen now?’
She was hesitating. As if she was scared to say the words out loud. He was praying inside it was because she was nervous and not because she wanted to let him down gently.
He lifted up the hand-tied bouquet and handed it to her. ‘My grandmother’s favourite roses. I bought you some, to say thank you for helping me these past few days.’
‘Oh.’ The little spark that had lit up her eyes disappeared. He wasn’t doing this right. He wasn’t saying the right things. None of this was working out how he’d planned.
‘They’re beautiful. Thank you.’ She was disappointed. She’d been hoping for something more. And so had he.
He moved forward, pulling her close, and whispered in her ear, ‘Look closely, Carrie.’
She held up the bouquet to her nose and took a deep breath, savouring the smell of the roses. ‘Where did you get them in the middle of this snow, Dan? They must have cost a fortune.’ She still hadn’t noticed. She still hadn’t seen what he’d done.
He held up the bag he had in his other hand and pulled out a bundle—also tied with pink ribbon. She looked surprised and took the bundle from his hands. It was DVDs. The Great Escape, Dirty Dancing, Finding Nemo, Toy Story and a whole host of musicals. A little smile appeared on her face. ‘What did you get these for, Dan?’
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sp; He gulped. He was going to have to spell it out. ‘I figured if we were staying in a lot, we might need to expand our DVD collection. I thought we’d start with some favourites for us both.’
Her eyes finally caught sight of it. The key hanging from the pink ribbon on the bouquet. ‘What’s this for?’
‘It’s for you.’
‘For me?’ Her smile was starting to broaden and the sparkle to appear in her eyes again.
He caught a whiff of her scent. Freesias. More subtle than the roses. Sweeter. Something he could happily smell for the rest of his life. Who needed candles?
He pressed his hands firmly on her hips, pulling her closer to him. ‘What’s the point of having two apartments when we could easily have one?’
She wound her hands around his neck. ‘One?’
He nodded and smiled. ‘One.’
‘What about the getting-to-know-you dates?’
‘What about them?’
‘Aren’t we missing some stuff out here?’
‘Honey, if you want to do some getting-to-know-you, then I’m your man.’
He bent to kiss her.
‘You know, Dan, I think you could be right.’
‘Carrie McKenzie, you’re killing me. Will you look inside the roses, please?’
She wrinkled her nose and caught the glint of a diamond nestled inside one of the roses.
He sighed. ‘Finally!’
He got down on one knee. ‘Carrie McKenzie, I’ve never connected with anyone the way I’ve connected with you. I don’t care where we stay, whether it’s here or in London. All I know is I want us to be together. Carrie McKenzie, will you be my wife?’
He slid the ring onto her finger. She smiled. ‘Aren’t you supposed to wait for an answer?’ She held up the ring, watching the perfect diamond glint in the sun.
He whispered in her ear, ‘I’m not going to risk it. I’m hoping it’s a yes.’
‘Oh, it’s definitely a yes,’ she whispered as she wrapped her hands around his neck and started kissing him.
* * * * *
