AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her brows furrowed, and I remember thinking it odd then, but when she said, “You’re too young to get married, Cris. You need to live, to find yourself first,” I assumed she said it because she was worried I’d move too fast. Now, I wonder if even then she and my dad were having problems.
For days Owen was all I could think about. Talk about. Dream about. My trip to Miami was torture. I’d forgotten his phone number, or it had been lost. Either way I couldn’t find it in my luggage. I damned myself for having waited to call him because of my date with Evan, feeling guilty over being with one guy and talking with another.
It hadn’t mattered, the entire night I’d thought of Owen, and when Evan had leaned in to kiss me, I’d turned my face at the last second, his lips landing on my cheek. He’d been crushed, and I tried to ease his pain by giving him a tight hug and telling him I just had too much going on. Yup, too much as in I didn’t want anyone else’s lips on mine except for Owen’s.
I was afraid I’d lose my chance with him, because I knew he was something special. That I’d screwed up.
Then again, he didn’t call me either. It wasn’t until over a week had passed and I’d pretty much given up on hearing from him, that he called me. It was lunchtime and I was sitting in the middle of a crowded breakroom. Not recognizing the number, I answered, and when I heard his voice I felt my blood rush to limbs as I fled to another room so that I could talk to him without so many witnesses.
He could hear it in my voice, I am sure, the giddiness at finally getting a call from him, and the annoyance that it took him forever to do so. “Why did you wait so long to call me?”
“Why didn’t you call me at all?” he demanded back, but there was definite humor in his tone.
“I lost your number.”
“Wow, that’s a terrible excuse. What was the other option, your dog ate it?”
“It’s the truth. I’m in Miami so I can’t very well look for it at my house. So, what’s your excuse?”
“My buddy told me I’d look desperate if I called before the required three days. Then afterwards, he told me that I’d look like an ass for having waited three days.”
“So you waited seven?” He didn’t answer. “Who is this friend giving you such awful advice?”
“Ray. But it wasn’t his doing. I didn’t call because I didn’t know if you’d want me to, or if what we did was just that one time. Then when I didn’t hear from you…”
“So what, you thought that I was like, ‘wham bam, thank you man?’”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
I pressed my weight against the wall, playing with the corner of a pictured frame that hung there. “What made you finally call me?”
“I found your bracelet.”
“My bracelet?”
“Yeah, the stretchy one with the black beads.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize I’d dropped it.” I had about twenty of those back then, they were so popular.
“I was at Denny’s this morning and I pulled it out of my pocket and brought it to my nose. It still smells like you.”
“What do I smell like?” I asked, a little winded imagining him rolling those beads between his fingers, thinking of me.
“Fresh peaches,” he said on an intake of breath, and I wondered if he held it to his nose even now. I’d have to give it to him, I had been wearing a peaches and cream lotion at the time, so maybe the scent had transferred.
“So you sat at Denny’s playing with my bracelet. Is that what did it?”
“They had Maury on one of the televisions. Honestly I can’t remember what the show was about, but I imagined myself on there one day, talking about you. The girl that got away because I didn’t call. My life would be hell, moping around wondering how I could have let the best thing in my life go.”
Almost jumping with glee at his words, I did a silent hop and sent a little thank you up to the heavens that I’d been given the chance to meet him. “Do you think I’m the best thing? We were only together once.”
“That’s all it took.”
That was all it took. Six months later we moved in together. Six months after that, we were married. The chemistry, that passion, never let up. For fifteen years, everything had been bliss.
