“How do you take your coffee?” I asked both of them.
“Emily,” Aunt Barbara said, “I’ll get our coffee. Why don’t you sit down and eat with us?”
“I’ll wait till Jake comes down. Oh…speaking of, there he is.” My mouth grinned from ear to ear.
I heard Barbara turn to Sandy and whisper, “Look at how her face lights up at the sight of him.”
Sandy in turn said, “You think that’s bad; my son’s a hundred times worse!”
Jake ambled into the kitchen and our eyes locked immediately. With his back to the family, he grabbed me and devoured my lips. A bit friskier than I would’ve liked with an audience, I turned crimson, but didn’t pull away. I was learning to cherish every touch without being so self-conscious about what others might think. Brazen? Bold? Audacious? Whatever it was, I was enjoying it too much to stop.
“Hi, Beautiful. Did you sleep well?” Jake asked with an adoring look.
“I slept very well, all four hours of it.”
“You got up at four this morning?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“You could’ve come into bed with me.” He looked vexed I didn’t.
“The thought did cross my mind,” I mused.
As we tried to continue our conversation, Aunt Barbara and the chief began clearing their throats.
“Ahem! Hello, nephew. Don’t I get a good morning kiss?” the chief asked facetiously.
Startled, Jake turned his body around. “What are you doing here, Chief? Hi, Aunt Babs. Good to see you.” He tried to hold me with both arms while leaning over the island to give his aunt a kiss on the cheek.
“I need a ride to the hospital with you this morning. Your aunt and I have a dinner to attend, and she’s going to come pick me up later,” the chief explained.
I told Jake that Aunt Barbara was here to help us with wedding decorations. Whether or not he was interested, we three gave him a rundown of all the vendors coming to the house and what would be accomplished today. While I gave more wedding details, Jake jerked his head up and startled me.
“Emi!”
I jumped and answered, “Yes?”
“I forgot to tell you, you need to stop by the bank today. The manager is expecting you.”
“Why?”
“I sent in the paperwork yesterday to add your name to all my accounts. I was supposed to tell you to stop by the bank yesterday, but I forgot.
“OK,” I answered.
He reached in his pocket and took out a card for me. “Here’s your ATM card. You need to activate it.”
I sheepishly smiled reading the ATM card. Below the sixteen-digit punched card, I saw in bold print, EMILY REID. I whispered the name aloud. It sounded even better than I imagined. I saw Jake grinning from the corner of my eyes.
“Also can you deposit my paychecks into our checking account while you’re at the bank?”
The words our account sounded so wonderful they gave me goose bumps. I knew it was silly to be so animated over the obvious joining of names and official documents, but those chosen words made everything sound so much more real.
Without thinking, I opened up Jake’s paychecks, shocked to find how many digits were in the dollar box. I turned to Jake with eyes wide open and said a little too loudly, “Do you really get paid this much? Is this a monthly or every other monthly paycheck?”
I could hear all the chuckles coming from the left side of the island.
“Emi, this is a two-week paycheck,” Jake answered back in a somewhat offensive tone. “You do know that I save lives by operating on hearts, daily. Sometimes it’s multiple hearts.”
“Well, you do know that I save lives by teaching children their fundamentals before they can get to their higher medical learning, but my paycheck looks nothing like yours. I probably need six paychecks to equal one of yours,” I responded back.
He chuckled and added, “We need my paychecks if we’re going to enjoy trips like Paris. We probably spent at least one paycheck in Paris.”
“Are you kidding me? We spent that much money there? We cannot vacation like that anymore. What a ludicrous amount of money we spent.”
“Well, it shouldn’t be as bad next time since we won’t have to get two rooms,” he answered, reaching over to kiss me again.
The words two rooms seem to be of interest to everyone else at the island. Aunt Barbara was the first to ask, “Why did you have two rooms at the Ritz?”
Jake rolled his eyes and answered, “Don’t ask. I got into big trouble for telling Gram that Emily’s a virgin.”
My head automatically dropped into my hands and Jake realized his big mistake, again. My cheeks turned bright red and once again, I was hoping to be swallowed up by the floor. My lips were shut tight, my eyes squinted and my head came up just long enough to give Jake a you are in big trouble look.
The conversation that ensued troubled me even more than the topic of my virginity.