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I walked away feeling like I was on top of the world.
Chapter Thirty-One
Julie
A few days later…
The waiter finished the final touches of the dessert and then removed our wine bottle from the table. I was surprised we’d already gone through an entire bottle. I was hoping that Ricky would order another, but instead he was keeping his eyes fixed on me. I couldn’t really blame him. I looked so hot tonight.
Ricky told me that we were going someplace special and that I should dress to the tops. That was one of his favorite expressions, but I had no idea where he got it from. It sounded old, but not too old. His parents, maybe? But I’d never heard of my parents saying that expression either.
“This looks delicious,” Ricky said. I could see the excitement in his eyes as he scooped a big glob of his dessert into his mouth. He began to moan. “Wow, this is sweet…oh, so sweet. Yes. This was the best choice of dessert.”
I laughed at his assessment. I wasn’t sure, but he was acting like he might have drunk too much wine. I was amazed we’d been able to get a table at La Reover, one of the most popular restaurants on our side of the city. I’d only been there once before and I was blown away by it.
The atmosphere was gorgeous. There were violinists who would casually walk around and play sweet melodies for you. There were celebrities who would stop by every so often. The food was amazing, and the wait staff was so professional and courteous.
“So, what are we celebrating?” I asked. “My triumphant return?”
Ricky laughed. “Sure, we can celebrate that.”
“But seriously, why did you decide to plan this wonderful evening out? I know this place costs a fortune.”
Ricky shrugged. “Sometimes, money should not be any object. That’s the philosophy that I try to live my life by.”
“Yeah, that works until you are broke,” I joked.
“I just wanted to have a very special evening with you,” Ricky said. “This is the first of what I hope will be a lifetime of beautiful memories together.”
I finished the dessert, which was a cross between peach cobbler and a hot fudge brownie alamode. It was just fantastic. I was now full, stuffed like a tick. As I sat there watching Ricky finish up his own dessert, the violinist came over to our table and began to play a beautiful melody. It was sweet and romantic.
Before I realized it, Ricky was reaching across the table and taking my hand in his. “I want you to have a wonderful time tonight, so if there is anything that you want to do, or need, just let me know babe.”
I nodded and squeezed his hand twice. I wanted to see if I could gauge how drunk he was, but Ricky appeared now to be very sober and in control of things. “I’ll be sure to do that,” I said. “But for right now honey, I’m fine. This has been wonderful. Thank you so much.”
“Sure,” Ricky said.
The past few weeks had been a bit of a rollercoaster and we were finally starting to normalize and get back to where we had once been. Ricky and I had talked things over a bit and we were on the same page now. I apologized for ever accusing him of standing in my way. That was so wrong of me and I felt terrible about it. We’d made love every single night since I returned home. I told him all about school and how bad it had gone down, and he didn’t make me feel like crap about it. I thanked him so much for that.
And now here we were. Our relationship felt like it had spread its wings and we were walking towards something beautiful. I wasn’t sure what life was going to hold for us, but it looked as if it was going to be wonderful. Our family had come together in such a random way. We were three people who really needed each other and somehow we’d found our way together.
I couldn’t have been happier.
The waiter came back one final time to lay down the bill. He was the best waiter who had ever waited on me in my entire life. There was something stylish and dapper about the way that he had taken care of us. It was like the waiter you would have at other restaurants, only he would go that extra mile to make sure you were well-served. It was like he’d been trained well to be a professional. That was the sort of thing that patrons really liked to see. It would stick in their minds.
“So, I met a girl at the gym who is a web designer,” I said. “She likes my work apparently, and she wants to help me build a great website that will attract traffic. Then hopefully, I can start to build my audience online.”
“Wow, that’s great, sweetie,” Ricky said.
“Yeah, and she wants to help me set up a YouTube channel and I’m going to start blogging about the creation process and basically log my journey from where I’m starting to where I hope to end up.”
“Awesome,” Ricky said. “I knew bigger and better things were going to happen for you. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m not sure I would have the guts to be doing any of this without you. I wanted to say thank you.”
Ricky shook his head. “It’s all you. There is nothing to thank me for.”
“Yes, there is,” I said. “I know that sometimes I can be a bit temperamental or that I can close myself off, but I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world to be with you. Thank you for believing in me.”
