I melt a little. "Me too, Jake. See you tonight."
I hang up and roll over. I'm not sure what to feel. I wish I was more experienced at this. I take a deep breath. I either have to decide to trust him or not. I sit up, swinging my legs over the bed and standing up. Might as well start the day. I'm sure as hell not falling back to sleep now.
**********
When I walk out of work later that night, Jake is waiting for me, leaning against his car, wearing a dark gray suit and a pair of aviator sunglasses. He grins when he sees me, flashing those perfect, white teeth. Good God he's sexy.
"Hi," I say, smiling as I approach him.
"Hi." he says back, still grinning.
We stand there smiling at each other goofily for a couple seconds and then we both burst out laughing and he swoops me up in his arms saying, "God, I missed you. I missed your smile and," he sticks his nose in my neck and inhales, "your smell, your body against mine at night."
"I missed you too," I say quietly.
"You hungry?" he asks.
"Yeah, starving."
"Do you like sushi? There's this great place a couple blocks from my place."
"I do like sushi, but I can't go out dressed in my uniform."
"How about if we pick it up to go and bring it home?"
"Sounds great."
He lets me into his car and then walks around and slides into the drivers seat. We drive to a little hole in the wall looking restaurant and he pulls up in front. "I know it looks questionable, but it really does have the best sushi in town," he grins.
"I trust you," I say, smiling.
"What do you like?" he asks.
"Surprise me. There's not really anything I won't eat. I can even do the raw stuff." I smile.
"Brave." he winks, "Okay, I'll be back in a few."
He locks the car behind him and as he walks into the restaurant, I dial Nicole.
"Evie!" she sings into the phone. God, she should really bottle that cheer of hers.
"Hey, how's it going?"
"Oh good, you know, doing laundry, mopping the floor, the glamorous life I lead is ridiculous. What's going on with you?"
I laugh. "Jake just ran in to order take out for dinner. I'm waiting in the car. Listen, I probably don't have long but I wanted to ask you about something."
"Of course. Shoot!"
"Well, Jake went to San Diego on business Tuesday through Wednesday. We had plans for me to call him Tuesday night and when I did a woman answered and said he was in the shower." I hear her draw in a sharp breath.
"I know, right?" I say. "He called me at six this morning and explained it, but I just, I don't know, I wanted to run it by you to make sure that I'm not being a fool here."
"How'd he explain it?" she asks quietly.
I tell her what he told me this morning.
"Hmmm… well, that doesn't sound far fetched. I guess you just have to ask yourself what your gut feeling is."
"My gut feeling is that he's a really good guy and that he's really into me and that he really cares about me. I guess I also kind of feel like he was lying about the woman."
Nicole's silent for a minute and then says, "I don't know if those two things can both be true, Evie."
I sigh, "I know. I'm confused. My heart is telling me to trust him but… "
"I don't think you can ever go wrong listening to your heart, honey. I always like to think that even if you're wrong in the end, you're not wrong in the end. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah. Wise woman that you are," I smile.
"With that being said, I don't ever want to see you hurt. Go with your gut, but if something happens that you question, take some space to do that. Don't let him muddle your brain up with his pheromones."
I laugh, but then I see Jake coming towards the glass door exiting the restaurant. "Oh, hey, he's on his way back. Thank you, Nic. I love you!"
"Love you, Evie!" she whispers back.
Jake slides into the car, handing a brown paper bag to me that smells delicious and he pulls onto the road. It only takes five minutes before we're pulling into his garage.
We walk up to his condo hand in hand and as we enter, I immediately spot a white MacBook open on his dining table, a red bow on top. I look at him and he’s smiling an uncertain smile as he looks between me and the computer.
"Jake, you didn't - " I start to say.
"Evie," he says, putting his hand up in a 'keep quiet' gesture, "Don't say anything until you hear me out. I know your first thought is going to be to say no to accepting this gift but please, just listen."
I put my hands on my hips and raise one eyebrow.
"I want to do this but not because it's just for you but because I think you're amazing and I think that making your dreams come true will spread far and wide and not only affect you, but would affect me, too, and many, many people beyond that. Please let me do this for you, Evie, and all those people out there who will be changed when they read the beautiful words that are in your soul."
My eyes tear up and I take a deep shaky breath. "No pressure, right?" I say to Jake, laughing a little though. I walk over to the computer and start examining it, lifting the top, turning it on and watching the screen light up. Then I look at Jake and say, "You make it really, really hard to say no to you, do you know that Jake Madsen?"
He grins at me and I stare at him for a few seconds before saying simply, "Thank you."
**********
Later, after we've eaten and Jake's made love to me slowly and sweetly in front of the fire in his living room, I get up and turn on my computer to check it out further. I grin over at Jake who has moved to the couch and is watching the news on television. He smiles back and asks, "Checking it out? Ever used a Mac?"
"No, but I've always been pretty good with computers. I'll probably get the hang of it pretty quickly."