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Joanne was looking at me like I’d suddenly grown two heads. She clearly hadn’t been expecting my energetic response, but her lips started curling up in an automatic response to my enthusiasm.
“I promise,” I said, finding it adorable that she still looked confused.
But clearly—whether it was just due to sleepy confusion or the assumption that I wouldn’t have anything more than another pretty bouquet for her—Joanne wasn’t anticipating any kind of surprise. Not atthishour.
I laughed, too happy to contain it, and added, “It’s gonna be a good day. But I need you to get dressed and come downstairs for a minute, please.”
“What? Why?” The line in her forehead was so cute I had to kiss it, even though that only made the crease deeper when she looked up at me. “What’s going on, Brady? It’s like… seven in the morning or something crazy.”
I grinned. I knew how ridiculous it was to expect her to put clothes on and go down to the shop before she’d even had her morning coffee, but I also knew it would besoworth it. Assuming I could talk Joanne into moving her cute little ass, of course.
“I know, babe. Just trust me. You’re gonna want to come down pretty quickly.”
Joanne was still giving me a funny look, but she wasn’t arguing, and at least she was finally—slowly, but finally—moving to get dressed. I helped as much as I could, setting out her shoes and calling out encouraging words after her as she disappeared into the bedroom.
I restrained myself from following her inside to be evenmorehelpful, though, suspecting from much experience that that kind of “help” only delayed things.
In a fun way.
Areallyfun way.
But… no. I refocused, not even my libido was enough to pull me away from the excitement I felt at showing Joanne my love this way.
“I’ll get your coffee going while you get dressed,” I called out. “We won’t be long, then we can come back up here like normal.”
Joanne poked her head out of the hallway. “So… I don’t need to fix my hair?”
“Nope,” I said promptly, widening my eyes in an attempt to look believable. “What’s wrong with it? I love it.”
The look on her face told me I might be overdoing it, just a little. But itwastrue.
I loved everything about Joanne, and that included her unruly bed-head. If I was honest, I found it fucking adorable.
Joanne ran a hand through the floppy tangle, opening her mouth as if she was going to argue the point, and I knew I had to take more decisive action. No way did I have the patience for twiddling my thumbs for twenty minutes while she did whatever-the-hell it was with the assorted hair products she kept in the bathroom.
“Here,” I said, crossing the room quickly and grabbing a hat. “You look amazing—” I leaned in for a quick kiss before relinquishing the hat, because it was true “—but you can wear this if you don’t believe me.”
Joanne hesitated for a second, then jammed the cap onto her head with a smile. “Well, if you’resurewe’ll only be gone a few minutes…”
“You have my word,” I said solemnly.
“Okay,” she said, laughing. “Then let’s do… whatever it is you’re so impatient about.”
Impatient? No.
I had waited a year for this. A lifetime, really, even though I hadn’t known what I was waiting for until I’d finally found it. And once I was finally ushering Joanne out the door of our apartment and down the stairs? Yeah, that smile that had been hurting my cheeks somehow got even wider.
Joanne stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around the shop as if she half-expected something to jump out at her.
“Keep going,” I said. Then I thought better of it and took her hand. “Actually, I’ll lead the way. You should probably close your eyes.”
“Close my eyes?” she asked, blinking at me in confusion. “What? I thought you wanted toshowme something. I don’t think—”
“Just trust me, babe,” I interrupted, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ve got you. Now, close your eyes and don’t open them until I say, okay?”
“Fine.” Joanne sighed dramatically, but I could see the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile. “Don’t let me bump into anything.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, holding the door as Ifinallyled my love outside. “Almost there, babe.”
