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“We’ll do it another night.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong. None of this is your fault.”
“I know. But I was really looking forward to it.”
“Now we’ll get to look forward to it for a little while longer.”
She smiles a little. “Will you stay? You can go after I fall asleep.”
“Of course I’ll stay.”
While she’s getting ready for bed, I go into her bedroom and get the room ready for her, turning back her comforter and turning on the lamp on the side table. She comes in wearing a different long sleep shirt than yesterday and bare legs. She gets into bed and we curl up together, my arm draped over her and her body pressed against me.
I don’t plan on falling asleep so quickly, but it’s so comfortable lying with her like that. One minute I’m conscious and the next I’m drifting off into slumber.
* * *
I wake early to the sound of winter birds outside her window. Blinking awake, I let out a yawn and come back into waking life.Right. I’m in Haley’s bed. And last night someone almost…nah. I’m not going to think about that. I’m just going to focus on the beautiful creature here in my arms.
Haley stirs and makes a sweet little sound as she wakes up. As her eyes start to open, a smile lifts the edges of her lips.
“You stayed,” she says softly.
“Is that okay?” I ask.
She nods and lets out an adorable yawn. “I’m so glad you’re still here.”
I brush some strands of hair off her face and admire how beautiful she is. I was definitely in denial about her beauty before. Part of me wishes I’d realized it sooner. But I also think it’s a good thing that we went this long as friends. It means we’re solid. We know each other better than we know anyone else.
“I had the craziest dream,” Haley says, laughing a little. “I finally owned my own bakery, and it was opening day. The whole entire town showed up and I sold out of everything within minutes. Which was awesome, but then everyone was demanding more baked goods, so I was frantically whipping up all these batches of stuff at the same time.”
I laugh. “Damn. Sounds stressful.”
“It was. But then everyone started cheering me on, and every time I’d bring some freshly baked goods out from the kitchen, it was this huge burst of celebration.”
“I think this is a sign that you need to go for it. Seriously, Haley. You should do it.”
She thinks for a few seconds. “I guess I don’t really have any excuses now, do I?”
“Nope.”
“Well…I’ll think about it. It’s scary, the idea of actually doing it. But exciting, too.” She falls quiet for a second, then goes on. “There was another part of my dream, too.”
“Tell me about it.”
“You were there. We were married, and…” She pauses to laugh. “Well, we had six kids.”
“Oh, yeah?” I say, unable to help the grin on my face. “Were they good kids?”
“No. They were total troublemakers. They kept eating whatever I baked.”
“Oof. And what was I doing?”
“Oh, you were being helpful. You were being an amazing husband.”
“So basically you’re saying that you had a premonition of the future.”
