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“Welcome home, my bride…” he murmured tenderly – and she felt tears sting her eyes as she looked around.
There was a small loveseat in the living room, along with a tiny table and two chairs that was covered with a tablecloth that looked much too big. In the center of the table was a bottle of bubbly, a small birthday cake… and her wedding bouquet in a vase. The lights were dimmed, and the candles created a glow that was accented by the hallway light in the distance.
“Is it your birthday?” she whispered hoarsely, seeing the numbers on the cake. “You look really good for forty-eight…” and Killian burst out laughing.
“I should have flipped them around,” he joked easily. “They were the only numbers at the grocery store, and I was afraid to get the sparkling ones that didn’t blow out.”
“It’snotyour birthday?”
“No, but this was as close as I could get to a last-minute wedding cake for us…”
Destiny looked at him in surprise as he pulled out his cell phone and took a photo of the table, moving to her side.
“I think we should have a few pictures together, don’t you?”
“I look awful,” she protested immediately, pushing the phone away and feeling her throat close with emotion that he was trying to do all of these sweet things to draw her in.
“Alright,” he said softly, putting the phone away… and she felt like a heel.
“One photo,” she said begrudgingly, feeling very self-conscious right now. “I’m a mess and…”
“I am too,” he admitted. “I’m not in my dress uniform anymore and wearing a shirt that has bleach and paint spots on the front of it.”
“Did you paint something?” she asked in alarm, looking at him.
“Nahhh… This is one of my favorite t-shirts and I’m not ready to give it up,” he grinned. She saw the threadbare Aerosmith concert shirt and nodded as he continued smiling, tugging at the fabric as if to accentuate what he was saying. “Sorry. You married a music fiend and I saw them perform live. That’s a wild show and loved the energy of it.”
“I’ve never been to a concert.”
“Maybe we can go to one together… although, we might be doing Disney-On-Ice or something else instead in the future.”
There was something to his voice that caught her by surprise as he slid an arm around her waist, pulling her close and holding up the phone to take a photograph. She leaned back from him nervously – and heard him laugh.
“Have you ever watched Pepe LePew?” he asked, chuckling.
“Yes.”
“Remember the cat that was always struggling to get away?”
“Yeah?”
“You look like her, right now… which makes me feel just like him,” he laughed nervously. “Maybe I should change my call sign fromRicochettoSkunkorLePew?”
She looked at him, feeling slightly embarrassed as he pulled her close again to take the photo of the two of them and smiled briefly, just before he let her go.
“Here,” he offered, moving forward to pour two glasses of bubbly for them, handing her one pointedly. “I promise, I am not going to hurt you – and ifthatdoesn’t happen? It’s really okay. I would rather us become friends than for me to be some creep that just gets you pregnant – and then leaves.”
“Wow, that sounds harsh…”
“It feels that way,” he admitted. “Because I’m not that guy. I want to do this right… even if it’s different.”
He pressed a button on his phone, and she heard music playing in the background. Taking a sip of her bubbly, she saw him cut the cake into slices and then hesitated, looking at her.
“Were we supposed to do this together?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’ve never been married or been to a wedding.”
“Same here,” he grimaced. “All of my friends have been getting married, but I’ve been overseas. I’ve missed all of their weddings and kinda going blindly at this. If I make a huge mistake or faux pas, please forgive me.”
