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“Sure Mum,” I say with a small smile. Hope blooms inside me with the thought that after all these years, we may be able to repair what is broken. Small steps.
“Chat later then. Bye Sophia,” she says, as she stands and grasps her paper coffee cup in her hand before she walks back the way we came. The coffee warms my throat as I take a sip, lost in my thoughts. A few minutes pass before I push my own chair back and carry our lunch and drinks back to the shop for us.
Lorenzo sits behind my desk and his eyes meet mine as I walk over.
“You wanna talk about it?”
“Later. Let's eat,” I say, as I hand over his sandwich and coffee. He chats to me about the car he’s working on which is a good distraction from thoughts about my mum. Once we finish eating, we both head back to work and we are so busy we don’t get a chance to talk again until the car ride home.
As Lorenzo reverses the car out of the parking spot, he asks what my Mum wanted.
“She wants to rebuild our relationship.”
“How do you feel about that?” he asks, as he pulls onto the highway in the direction of home.
“She seemed sincere. And it’s just her. I still want nothing to do with my dad.”
“That’s good then. I’ve never had an issue with your mum so maybe she does want a relationship with you.”
“I guess time will tell.” My head leans against my window and Lorenzo lets the conversation drop as we ride the rest of the way home in silence as my thoughts flow through my head.
Lorenzo parks the car in the driveway and as we walk up to the front door, two large packages are there waiting.
“They arrived,” Lorenzo whispers, as he looks the flat white boxes over to check they’re addressed to him.
“Were you waiting for something?” I ask, as he unlocks the door then carries the big boxes in.
“These will brighten your day,” he says over his shoulder, as he carries the boxes down the hall to the kitchen table. He places them gently down before he grabs the pair of scissors from the knife block and cuts the tape away with care. “Close your eyes,” he instructs, which makes my smile grow at his enthusiasm. I stand there and close them while my smile grows, and an excitement builds in my belly. The sound of him cutting through the other box builds the feeling and I can’t imagine what it could be that has him this excited. More shuffling soundsaround me before he stands behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.
“Open your eyes little bird,” he whispers right by my ear. My eyes flutter open and adjust to the light again as I take in his surprise. My breath hitches as two big canvas prints from our wedding day stare back at me. One is of me in the dress I wore for the wedding at the exact moment I walked around the corner of the house and saw Lorenzo waiting for me. My happiness shines on my face through the photo and I turn my neck to see Lorenzo behind me.
“These were my two favourite ones,” his soft voice says, and I can’t help the tear that drops onto my cheek.
“They’re beautiful,” I reply. He kisses my lips before I turn back around to the photos. The other is of us as we stand face to face holding each other's hands. You can feel our happiness through the photo as we gaze at one another and I’m glad he picked it.
“Where do you think we should hang them?” he asks, as he squeezes my waist.
“How about in the living room?” I suggest.
“Perfect,” he says, as he kisses my cheek before he releases me. He picks up the two big canvases and I follow him down the hallway to the living room. We debate over the perfect spot until we are both happy and then he grabs his hammer and nails from the garage and gets to work at putting them up.
Once they are hung, we sit on the couch with his arm wrapped around me and I let the rest of the day wash away and enjoy the feeling of the moment. We may not have started out in the most traditional way of falling in love first, but as I stare at the photos, I can’t help but feel the love that shines from them. I believe what we have is something that could last a lifetime.
Chapter Thrity One
Lorenzo
A new restaurant in town opened this week so I surprised Sophia earlier by telling her I was taking her on a date for this Sunday. We haven’t gone on many of those, but I want to wine and dine her today. Starting full time work has taken a toll and she’s been exhausted learning the ropes and falling into routine. Plus, since the conversation with her mum, she’s been a bit lost in her thoughts. I wanted to do something nice for her and take her mind off that for a bit.
As we get seated at the crowded restaurant, I can’t help but take Sophia in. Her long fiery hair is lightly curled today, hanging down her back. Her freckles are on full display as well which I love. We aren’t dressed up just wearing casual wear asit’s not a fancy dress type of restaurant so I’m glad we can eat in comfort. It didn’t stop Sophia changing her purse last minute though, so it matched her outfit.
“Here are your menus,” the waitress says, handing over the vinyl fold out menu for us to look through. “Would you like to order drinks and then I can come back for your food order?” I glance at Sophia with a raised brow.
“I’ll take a peach iced tea, thanks,” she says, smiling at the waitress before her eyes drop back to the menu in front of her.
“I’ll take a lemonade, thanks.” The waitress jots down our drinks before saying she’ll be back and walks away.
“It’s busy here. I hope that means the food is good,” Sophia says. I grab the plastic in my fingers and flick through the food items. It’s always so hard to choose what to order when everything looks so great.
