“Huh? I haven’t really thought about that,” I confessed.
“Are you planning on having kids right away?”
“No.” We hadn’t discussed this, but Jake probably didn’t want kids right away either.
“Then you better decide what you want to do about birth control. Go see your doctor immediately and get on something.”
“OK,” I answered. “I guess I should’ve thought of this earlier, but I kept pushing it off. I’ll talk to Jake when he gets home. How are you and Charlie doing?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“It’s been heavenly. Married life is definitely better than dating life. There’s more work and compromise, but the love and commitment we feel toward one another is absolutely at its highest level.”
This was wonderful to hear that married life would be an even greater extension of what Jake and I had right now. I didn’t know how I could possibly love him more, but I looked forward to finding out.
Sarah also carefully brought up the subject of Max during her stay. I knew that this was inevitable, as he did not seem happy when I saw him at dinner.
“Emily, did Max say anything to you when he drove you home?”
“No, but he didn’t seem happy. What’s going on with him?”
“He’s happy for you, but not happy for himself, is the best explanation I can think of. He thinks of you as the one who got away. He still believes that if he proposed on graduation night, you’d be his bride and not Jake’s.”
My heart broke for Max. What he was thinking could have been true, but it wasn’t, and there was no point in beating himself over what could’ve been.
“Did you try to knock some sense into him?” My voice turned irritated. “What’s the point in thinking about what could’ve been?”
“I know…Charlie and I have had many conversations with him but he can’t shake off what’s in his heart.”
“Wait, wasn’t he the one who led Jake back into my life? Jake told me that Max encouraged him to pursue me again. Why did he do that if he felt this way?”
Absolutely, I was forever grateful that Max helped me find Jake again.
“Emily, don’t you see? Max loves you. He always has. He loves you enough to let you go to the man you love. That’s what bothers him more than anything—the fact that you love Jake and not him. Know that he’s happy that you’re happy—that you’ve found your true love. He just wishes it were him.”
I exhaled an uncomfortable breath. I thought Max was in a good place and now I felt this burden to make sure he would be OK.
“Let me think about this, Sarah. I don’t know what I should do.”
“There’s not much for you to do. He’ll get over it.”
Sarah looked at her watch and it was already 8:00 p.m.
“I gotta go. Charlie’s waiting for me at home.”
“Thanks for coming by.” We walked toward the front door together. “I’ll come by and visit you at work again so we can have lunch.”
I opened the front door to let Sarah out and simultaneously, Jake walked in and surprised us.
“Jake, you’re home early!” My heart and face beamed.
“Hi, Jake,” Sarah said. “Look at your fiancée’s ridiculous grin.” Sarah giggled and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, Sarah,” Jake said, giving her a hug and a peck on the cheek. “You’re leaving already? Stick around.”
“Look at Emily. Does she look like she wants me to stick around? I have to go. My hubby is waiting for me.” Her face glowed talking about Charlie, but it couldn’t rival my delight. “See you soon.”
“Bye,” we both said.
We entered the house and Jake picked me up again and repeated last night’s steps. We kissed all the way up in one piece, but did not make it to the bed as I wriggled down and pulled Jake to the couch. I had much to discuss with him.
“How’d you get home so early?”
“Your lunch must have put the chief in a good mood. As he was leaving, he told me that I could leave if there wasn’t much going on. So, after checking on all the patients, I bolted.”
“I’m glad you’re home early,” I uttered, making another mental note to be even nicer to the chief.
“Me too,” he said between kisses.
I pushed Jake away so that we could talk over more wedding details, as well as a few other matters that he may not care to talk about. He sat on one end of the couch and I moved to the other end, with my legs stretched out and my feet on his thigh. He started massaging my feet.
“We need to talk wedding.”
“OK. I thought I deferred all decisions to you.” I could tell he too just wanted to say “I do,” without any of this fuss.
“You did, and I gave your mom our proxy, but there are a few matters I’d like for us to decide. First, where are we going for our honeymoon?”
Jake’s face pondered that question for a long time. Neither of us had a preference as long as we were together.
“Do you want to go more toward an island honeymoon or a city honeymoon?” I added to help in the decision-making process.