“Probably not. I’ll see you in Hawaii.” She hugged me and pleaded her brother’s case. “Please don’t be too upset with him.”
Jake tried to hold on to me, but I grabbed our blankets and wine case and went out to the car. I turned on the music and sat patiently waiting for Jake to arrive. He probably only took a few minutes to talk to this person but it felt like hours. A myriad of thoughts ran through my head, but I decided to shut it out and enjoy the rest of our day together.
Jake jumped into the car with a most guilty look. “I’m so sorry about…”
“It’s OK,” I cut him off.
“Don’t you want to know why she was here?”
“I prefer not to know, if that’s OK with you. I know you didn’t live under a rock before you met me. You’re thirty. I’m sure you’ve dated many girls before I came along. Though you only told me about Kelley. I prefer not to know what you did before us, OK?”
Jake started the car and headed north.
“Where are we going? I’m really hungry again, not to mention exhausted, after our marathon biking session.” I couldn’t tell whether Jake’s silence signaled guilt or anger about this morning’s ordeal. Not liking the silence, I decided to explain why I didn’t want to hear about Allison.
I reached over to hold his hand. “Jake?”
“Hmm?”
“Why are you so quiet? Did I do something wrong again?”
“Emily, why would you think you did anything wrong?”
“Well, generally when someone stops talking to you, it’s because they’re upset with you. All right…let me explain why I don’t want to hear about that vile woman.”
This brought a chortle out of Jake.
“When I was waiting in the car for you, I realized you were right when you said it’s not good to know too much about each other’s past. Watching her kiss you unsettled me to a point where my mind raced in all directions, jumping to conclusions about your relationship with her, past and present. Unpleasant would be a mild way of explaining what I felt.”
This explanation only brought on a guiltier look.
“But then I thought about what you had to witness on Friday with me and Max, and I decided whatever I felt this morning couldn’t have compared to what you must have felt meeting my only boyfriend of four years. So, I thought it only fair to let everything go and enjoy the rest of the day.”
His eyes expressed appreciation and we enjoyed the rest of the day at an oyster farm about an hour north of the city. It never ceased to amaze Jake how much I ate. He watched in amusement as I tried to shuck an oyster with no success. Jake also found no success trying to top oysters with the goodies that we brought. His toppings fell off the shell or slid to the side. We decided he should shuck the oysters while I created my masterpieces of oysters with caviar, oysters with mignonette and hot sauce, and grilled oysters with melted cheeses, hot sauce, and pancetta—that was the winning combination. A bottle of wine later, I needed dessert and coffee to wake me up or I would end up asleep on our picnic blanket among a crowd of people.
“Jake, how did you know Parisian macarons are my favorite dessert? I don’t think I ever told you this, did I?”
His lips curled into a most endearing expression. “You have this almost wistful look in your eyes when you talk about or see something you like.”
“That’s exactly what my mom used to tell me. While you call it wistful, she called it covetous.” I laughed. “How boring and predictable am I when you’ve figured me out this easily and so quickly,” I stated with chagrin.
“On the contrary, I find you to be the most interesting and desirable woman I’ve ever met. I can’t get enough of you.”
I felt blood rushing to my cheeks. “That’s only because I’m the one girl who hasn’t jumped into bed with you on the first date.” I saw blood rushing to his cheeks as well.
Waiting out a delay on the runway at SFO, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Jake pulled up the armrest, placed his arms around my waist and had me snuggle into his chest. I could never tire of this sense of being desired. Drifting into unconsciousness, Jake kissed the top of my head whispering three words that gave me goose bumps. Perhaps I was only dreaming.
Chapter 5 Max’s Regret
The phone rang way too early for my liking.
“Hello?” I answered, annoyed.
“Emily. You’re back. Where were you yesterday? I tried calling you all day.” It was Sarah, probably calling for a minute-by-minute recap of my date.
“Sarah! It’s awfully early to be calling. What time is it?”
“Get up! It’s 6:00a.m.”
Was she kidding? 6:00a.m? “I just got to bed a few hours ago. Leave me alone.”
“I’m coming over right now. I got you some coffee.”
Sure enough, the doorbell rang within minutes. Ugh. I pulled on a robe, slowly brushed my teeth, and washed my face before answering the door. Sarah was dressed to go to work and ready to attack if I didn’t start talking.