She was home for the holiday weekend,
alone. Two years out of college, by now nearly all her friends were
married, and she was striving to be content with a burgeoning career
in public relations.
She spied the fried onions on the
lowest shelf, all the way in the back. She had to get on her hands
and knees to reach the closest package. She pulled herself out of
the shelf and sat up wiping dust from her shirt.
“I admire your dedication to green
bean casserole,” a masculine voice chuckled above her.
Amber's face reddened, “It wouldn't
be Thanksgiving without it,” she quipped, looking up and nearly
choked.
Before her, as handsome as the day
they graduated, stood her high school crush.
“Marco! It's been a while.”
He nodded, smiling. “I saw you as
you turned down this aisle and thought I'd say hello. Unfortunately,
I didn't make it in time to offer to dive for the fried onions
myself.”
“Where has chivalry gone?” Amber
smiled, standing up and brushing herself off. “So what are you up
to these days?”
He shrugged, scrunching up his face.
“I am attending law school in Virginia. So still not done with
school although I only have one more year so...”
“That is great. I can definitely
picture you as a lawyer.” She remembered the debates they had done
in speech class, he had always done really well.
“What about you? What are you
doing?” he asked leaning forward slightly as if genuinely
interested.
“I'm working at a PR firm in DC.”
“Do you enjoy that?” he asked, his
eyes intent on her face.
“Yeah, its good,” she said lamely,
wishing she could come up with something intelligent to say instead.
“Are you married or anything?” he
asked his eyes flickering to her hands.
She shook her head, “Nope. You?”
She was so glad he had asked first. She wouldn't have had the nerve
to ask him if he hadn't but she would have wondered all weekend.
Probably longer.
He shook his head, his eyes focused
once again on hers. “I've not had time to even date much. Law
school is pretty intense.”
“I bet.” She shrugged, trying to
think of something more to say to him. She had daydreamed about this
guy for four years straight in high school and even some in the six
years since graduation and now that he stood before her in the flesh
she could barely carry on a conversation. The silence lengthened.
“Do you come home often?” she
asked. He hadn't seemed aware of the awkward pause in the
conversation but it had lasted an eternity.
“Not too much. It is funny that we
live closer to each other now than either of us live to here. I am
about three hours to DC and it takes me about ten hours to drive
here.”
“I am about seven and a half away.”
“Three isn't bad,” he said almost
under his breath.
She nearly corrected him that she was
seven not three hours away when it occurred to her that he might have
been talking about something else.
A crotchety old woman glared at them
as she bumped her cart into Amber's to get her attention.
“Oh! I am so sorry! I didn't
notice you there!” Amber moved her cart to the same side of the
aisle as Marco's and tried to ignore the grumpy mutters she heard as
the lady walked past.
She grimaced and shot an embarrassed
smile at Marco. He gave her a conspiratorial grin and wink in
return. She blushed once again.
It must have been the blush that
emboldened him because he came around her cart to stand beside her
and spoke in a low, husky voice, “I promised myself that if I ever
had this chance again, I would take it.”
She shot him a questioning look.
Could he really mean...? Her
breath caught in anticipation.
“I know you are
busy on Thursday,” he nodded to the fried onions in her hand, “but
would you like to go to dinner with me on Friday night?”
Amber felt like
jumping up and down and screaming but she managed a casual, “Sounds
great.” She barely heard the details of time and place as she kept
mentally pinching herself at this dream come true.
No comments:
Post a Comment