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"Oh I… you're just… ahem," I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself.
I was never the type to do something as cliche as fumble over my words because of a woman, but it was happening. I had just met her but my heart was pounding insanely fast and I didn't know how to stop it.
"Just go ahead and compliment me," she sighed.
"What?"
"'you're just'" she repeated, "You were clearly about to say something about me or my looks. Go ahead, let's hear it."
I regained my composure and adjusted my glasses, "Isn't that just fishing for compliments?"
"Fishing for, what do you think I am? Desperate?" she asked with a sigh as she shook her head negatively. "Let me ask you something instead. Were you or were you not about to compliment me?"
"I was," I replied.
"And now he doesn't hesitate," she murmured. "So, if you think about it, it's not really fishing for compliments when it was about to happen. Besides I am pretty, so I can understand if you wanted to compliment me."
She was something else. If I heard anyone else speak like the way she did, I would have written them off as pompous or a pick me girl. But there was just something about the way she said it, like she was teaching me a lesson and at the same time confident of herself.
"Still dumbstruck?" She sighed, "I'm sorry, I come off as proud right? You just seemed fun to tease. What would you like to order?"
"How often can I come here and talk to you without getting kicked out and without you losing your job?" I asked.
The question caused a smile to form.
"So you aren't put off huh?" She smirked, "Am I that irresistible?"
"Well I think you're beautiful that's all, although we need to fix your talking pattern," I said, "I take it you're not from Richmond?"
"Alabama, and please don't make the jokes," she groaned.
"What jokes?"
"Never mind," she sighed. "Oh, and thank you for the compliment. I could tell it came from the heart. The next time you see a beautiful woman that catches your eye or heart, be sure to let them know they're beautiful. They love that."
"What about you?" I asked.
"Me?" She raised a brow and flipped her hair backward, "I'm your master in this. My job is to teach you the ways to a woman's heart. The techniques I'll teach you won't work on me."
"You're something else." I shook my head as the smile formed. "Where's your hairnet? You serve food, you're not supposed to walk around with flowing her."
She touched her head and realized it wasn't there. "I didn't wear it on purpose."
She sped off into the back and returned with a hairnet on. "What will your order be?"
"One chiffon cake and your finest beverage," I said.
"To go?"
"I'll eat here."
That was how I became a regular at her shop. She'd teach me things, that I knew I would never use on any other woman but her. Within three months, she displayed the same feelings for me. We were… in love. I had never experienced anything so powerful, so moving like her love for me. She'd visit at my old place and spent the weekend with me if I didn't have anything to do at work.
I found out she was a terrible cook during one of her visits. She tried making pasta sauce from scratch and failed. She failed a lot of meals that day, and she never got over it. But she was good at her cakes, cookies, whatever involved baking in an oven. Then her beverages were heavenly. Her tea healed my fatigue, her coffee energized during work period, and her cocoa… made me feel like a child again.
I remember praising her pastries and she said, "Well, if that's what you like, get ready to eat so many pastries your belly would burst."
Five months after we met I proposed and bought my new house that we remodeled according to her taste. One year later, we were married. It was a happily ever after set in stone. Then her health started to deteriorate, and I didn't know why. I consulted with various skilled medical doctors but none of us could do nothing. What made me panic a little more, was the fact that she was pregnant.
