AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Ben
I pulled intoJessica's driveway and checked my pocket for the twentieth time since I had left the house, feeling the outline of the item it held. I swallowed hard and turned up the music, trying to calm my nerves. We both graduated from college yesterday, and we were setting out to celebrate together. I was about to get out of the car and go to the door when the porch light turned on.
The inside door opened, and Jessica came walking down the front steps. She looked amazing, her long blond hair flowing freely behind her, tight jeans that hugged her in all the right places, and a white T-shirt with a matching jean jacket overtop. I watched as she bounced down the stairs and smiled as she waved excitedly at me. Seconds later, she pulled the door open and hopped in, my car filling with the light scent of her jasmine perfume I had gotten her for her birthday a few weeks earlier.
"Hey,"I said, leaning over and meeting her lips. "You ready to go?"
"MMMM... yes." She hummed as she kissed my lips. "Exactly what did you have in mind for tonight? Where are we going?" she asked, kissing me one more time before pulling her seatbelt across her.
"Let's go find out, shall we." I winked and reversed out of the driveway.
We drove up the coast, Jessica looking out over the water at the sailboats that weremaking their way into the harbor. Finally, I turned down an old dirt road and continued driving until we came to a crossroads. I made a left and pulled the car into a makeshift driveway.
"I thought we would come out here, to the site my dadand I have been working on. This way we can have some privacy, and I can show you what we've done to this old place."
"You guys are working on this? I always loved this place. I always wondered who used to live here, what they were like." She undid her seatbelt and slowly climbed out of the car into a field of overgrown grass.
We'd come out here last summer, and she had talked about what it would be like to fix up this old place together. She meandered toward the house, smiling to herself.
Reaching into the backseat of my car, I pulled out the red-checkered blanket and the picnic basket thatI'dpacked earlier and caught up to her. She was already up near the frame of the recent addition that we added. She looked around, a slight smile on her face.
"You're adding on to it?"
"Yes, it was rather small, so my dad decided it needed to be larger.It's onlya frame now, but once the walls go up, it will be so much easier to envision," I said, dropping the blanket and basket down in a grassy areathat hadbeen recentlycut.
I walked over and began showing her where things would go. "I know it doesn't look like much now, but just wait."
"I'm sure it will be amazing. I always loved this old house the way it was, and I can't wait to see what it looks like once it's finished."
After she had looked around a little more, I grabbed her hand and together we walked over to the blanket I had spread out. "I brought us a picnic."
"That sounds wonderful."
Jessica sat down first and patted the space next to her, looking up at me with her blue eyes. I knelt down, removing the small light from the picnic basket, and turned it on, lighting up the area in which we sat. I pulled out our dinner and opened the lids on the containers. "I hope that roast chicken and potato saladare okay?" I questioned.
"That sounds wonderful. I'm so hungry."
I reached into the basket and pulled out two forks, and we each took turns digging into each dish. We ate, talking about graduation and our plans for the future, as the crickets started their evening song. Once we had finished dinner and we putthe containers back in the car, I rolled my jacket up under my head and lay back, staring up at the stars, Jessica cuddling into my side.
"One day, I want to build us a house like this," I whispered, kissing her forehead. "Our master bedroom will have a skylight so we can fall asleep looking up at the stars like we've done since we were kids. I will give you your dream country kitchen that you've been telling me you want. We'll have a second bedroom for when our little ones come along, and in the backyard, I'll build them a tree house, like the one I had in my backyard growing up," I whispered.
"You mean like the one I fell out of when I was ten and broke my arm." Jess laughed into my neck.
"If that is how you remember it, yes." I laughed, squeezing her side playfully. "It was also one that you snuck into on a weekly basis to fool around with me too," I said, kissing her.
A cool wind blew over us, and Jess snuggled her nose into my neck and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "I'd love that. It will be like our dreams coming true."
I wrestled to give her what was in my pocket, until my stomach turned rapidly, threatening to redeem its contents. I had saved for the last four years and I prayed that she liked it. She hummedlightly in my ear while she rested her head on my shoulder, and that was when I decided I needed totake a chance and do it.
I reached my hand into my pocket and felt the ring that had been waiting there for me. I pulled it from my pocket and pushed myself up on my elbow, carefully holding her.
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking up at me.
"I know it’s not much, but it’s what I could afford right now," I said, holding the ring out for her.
Her fingertips grazed mine as she took the ring from me. "It's beautiful."
