“You know me so well.” Her hand comes to my nape as her head tilts back and she kisses me. “Oh! You know what would be amazing with that?”
I already know this is going to be one of her weird mixes. “What?”
“Oranges!”
The hairs on my arms stand with disgust. “You want oranges on your pancakes?”
“Yes! God, that’s going to be so good!” She’s practically salivating.
I chuckle and shake my head. “All right, whatever my girls want.” I grab her by the waist and lift her to her feet. “Come on, up, let’s go feed you.”
“Wait, don’t you want to call your family and tell them?” She pulls my hand to keep me in place when I stand from the bed.
“They can wait until after dinner, but you probably should call your parents.” I drag her out of the room and toward the kitchen.
“Oh, right! I forgot.” She bites her lip and blushes.
Once in the kitchen, Aubrey prepares the batter for me, then kisses my cheek and heads to her phone on the counter, picking it up and video calling her mom while leaving me to myself to cook the pancakes. I’m not a great cook, but I can still manage to make a meal.
I watch Aubrey gush over the ring and talk with enthusiasm to her mother while flipping pancakes and making sure I don’t burn any. I’m happy to see her so excited about us getting married.
For a moment there, when I saw her get her purse and say she was leaving, my heart stopped in my chest. I thought this was it, that she was leaving me and never coming back. And even after she said she would return, I still felt like I couldn’t breathe as Iwatched her drive off. I told her I was going to go work out, but all I did was sit around the house, waiting for her to come back to me.
Praying she really would.
I took the time to go over every single interaction we’ve had, from our past to our present. I searched for something that I may have done or said that could have made her unsure. But no matter how many times I went over it, I couldn’t find a single thing.
In the end, I simply accepted that she just wasn’t ready for marriage, and I could understand that. I might be thirty-eight, but she’s only twenty-four. She’s still young with her entire life in front of her.
We already live together. We’re already starting a family together in such a short amount of time. I could understand that she just needed some things in our relationship to go slow, but it didn’t stop the sting of rejection from taking root.
When she finally came home, not even two hours later, calling my name repeatedly, I didn’t answer. I was too afraid of what she wanted to talk about, what she had to tell me so desperately. I had never expected her to say no, so suddenly, I was fearing what else she could surprise me with.
And when she begged me to ask her again, I was afraid she was only asking out of fear that if she stuck to her answer, it would destroy us. I didn’t want her to feel pressured into something she wasn’t ready for. I would never do that to her.
But then she dropped down to her knee and surprised me all over again, but in a good way. Because when I searched her beautiful pale doe eyes, there was no hesitation in them. No fear, no worries. She was ready.
And my heart began to beat once more.
I can’t imagine my life without Aubrey in it. I would have eventually been fine even if she told me she never wanted toget married. I would have accepted our future as being only partners, but never as husband and wife. It would have taken some time, yes, but I would have accepted our fate. Because I’d rather only have her as my girlfriend than not at all. Like she said, I want to do it all with her.
She’s always been mine, just as I’ve always been hers.
I turn off the gas stovetop and set the last pancake on top of the pile, then walk over to the fridge and pull out the whipped cream, maple syrup, and an orange. I set it all down on the counter, then wander to the pantry to grab the hazelnut spread.
Aubrey’s still talking on the phone as I slice up her orange and make her a plate with three pancakes, whipped cream spirals separated by slices of peeled oranges. I then pour a bit of spread into a cup and heat it slightly to be able to drizzle it above her pancakes the way she likes. If I’m being honest, the plate looks delicious, but I know that mixture will be horrible. Well, at least to me.
“Angel, your dinner is ready.” I come up behind her and kiss her neck then wave to Nancy and Andrew.
“Oh, thank God. I was starting to die of hunger.” She leans into me and smiles.
“What concoctions did you make her for dinner this time?” Nancy asks with a knowing smirk. She’s been hearing all about the strange cravings Aubrey has.
I walk over to the counter and return with the plate in hand, showing it to them. Nancy begins to laugh while Andrew looks horrified by the creation. “Chef’s specialty. Pancakes with whipped cream, hazelnut drizzle and… oranges.” I chuckle.
“Nancy, that child is weird. Are you sure she’s ours?” Andrew says to his wife while shivering with disgust.
“Oh, stop it. I used to cut up pieces of cucumber into my ice cream when I was pregnant with her. That’s not much better.” Nancy continues to laugh.
