We both looked down at the bottle and there seemed to be only one thing left to do. I opened the lid and tipped the entire contents in. We smiled at each other once the last of the salts and dried lavender pieces was in the bath.
“There’s still a bath oil.” I pointed at the last bottle.
“Let’s give that a miss, you always feel slimy after bath oil.”
“Okay, baby,” I said.
“Baby,” she repeated, smiling contentedly. There was such a sense of peace and contentment in this moment, making a bath together. It was comfortable and easy, as if this was exactly as it should be, and exactly as it had been for the last thirteen years. We had fallen back into that ease that I’d loved about us.
We locked eyes while undressing. I didn’t even look at her body. Her eyes were what I wanted to look into. We dropped the last of our clothes onto the floor and climbed in. The temperature of the water was perfect and we settled on opposite sides, our legs tangling up into each other’s. I breathed in the smell of lavender while I watched her pick bubbles up in her hands and crush them, small bubble debris falling back into the bath.
“I want this to be us every single night, Ash.” I sat up in the bath and moved closer to her.
“We would go through a lot of lavender bath salts.” She smiled at me. That huge, massive smile that bowled me over every single time.
“This is how it always should’ve been.” I took her hands in mine, and our fingers tangled in and out of each other’s, a playful game. We both watched our hands as if they had a mind of their own.
“What did the ring look like?” she asked, while tracing my ring finger with hers.
“Small, probably wasn’t even a real diamond.”
“I bet I would have loved it.”
My heart pounded in my throat. “Do you want to see it?” I asked, pulling my hands away.
“You threw it in the woods.”
“Seems like my mother fished it out and kept it all these years,” I said.
“And she’s had it this entire time?” Ash asked.
I nodded. “She even remembered where she’d put it, a miracle in itself.” I sat up and moved closer to her in the bath. “I took that as a clear sign.”
“A sign of what?” Ash asked, matching my lean.
“A sign that perhaps I should do now what I should have done all those years ago.”
Ash inhaled sharply and her eyes widened. I smiled at her and then she gave me the best gift she could have in that moment, that vulnerable moment where I’d totally exposed myself to her—she smiled back at me.
“I’d love to see it sometime,” she said.
“What about right now?”
“You have it?”
“I do.” I stood up out of the bath and carefully climbed out. I could feel her eyes on my naked body as I crossed the room and took the ring out of my bag, and then I slipped something out of her bag too. I walked back to the bath, hiding one of the items on the table next to the bath and climbed in.
“Here.” She held her hand out, I opened my fist and the small ring tumbled into it. Her eyes were full of all the emotions that I should have seen all those years ago if I’d actually done this.
She looked down at it. “I love it,” she whispered, a tear slipping down her cheek. “Can I put it on now?” The question was such a loaded one.
“Yes,” I said.
She slipped it onto her finger slowly, and it slid down as if it was meant to be there, as if it was always meant to be there. And in that moment, I don’t think it was possible to love her more.
“It fits.”
“I secretly measured your finger one night while you were sleeping, and it seems that hasn’t changed.”
