She leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “I want to be your forever girlfriend too. I know we talked about this on our first date… but… well, I guess now it’s just beginning to really sink in.”
I took my glass and clinked it against her’s, and then our lips found each other. It was just like that night in the garden under the stars, where we made love, and nobody was around. But tonight, we were at Jake and Julianna’s, and the next thing we heard was the sound of their glasses clinking and cheering coming from behind us.
Crystal pulled away and looked back at them, completely mortified. “How long have you guys been watching us?”
Annie and Julianna opened the screen door and walked out on the porch with smirks on their faces.
Julianna was just dying to take credit. “None of this would have happened if it weren’t for Annie and me!”
I put my hands up to shield their view, leaned in, and went back to kissing Crystal. At that exact moment, with our friends and family cheering us on, I had everything that I had ever wanted. And I hoped and prayed it would last.
13
Crystal
Ihad just arrived home from another wonderful lunch with Gavin. Today, he had taken me to another five-star restaurant, this time Chinese, and we spent most of his two-hour lunch break together before I had to return to the yoga studio to teach a class. After several months of dating, we were enjoying getting to know each other a little more each day.
I kissed him before I got out of the Lamborghini and rushed inside. With a few minutes to spare, I put my purse in the desk drawer and reviewed my schedule for the next week. Within moments, the door opened, and my students began filing in, eager to start there lesson. I waved at Joyce, one of my favorite students. “Go ahead and start your stretches, I’ll be in shortly,” I called out to her.
As I rushed to log off my desktop computer, I heard my phone jingle, and my attorney’s name appeared on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Good afternoon, Crystal. I know you are probably at work, but I finally have news about your mother’s estate that I know you’ve been waiting to hear for quite a while now.”
“Please be brief. I have a class to teach in five minutes.”
“Of course, I understand. Are you sitting down?”
All I could do was nod as I felt my heart beating faster. I had been waiting for months to hear from my attorney, eager to finalized Mom’s estate and collect my inheritance.
I was so excited that I couldn’t even think straight.
My attorney became concerned when several seconds went by without me saying a word. “Crystal? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m sorry, and yes, I’m sitting down. Tell me everything.”
He cleared his throat before he explained, “The good news is that you’ll be inheriting approximately ten million dollars.”
“Oh, my… I wasn’t expecting this--”
“Please let me continue.”
“I’m sorry. I was just so excited.” I said, giggling. “Are you serious? I hadn’t dreamed it would be that much money! Oh, my God! Ten million dollars means that I can pay off all of my student debt, buy a house, and start my own practice! Ten million dollars? Are you sure?”
“There’s also bad news…”
“Bad news? What bad news? Are you sure about the amount?”
“Yes, I’m sure about the dollar amount. Before you get too excited, please listen. Remember those stipulations we talked about previously?”
I swallowed the lump suddenly forming in my throat. “Well, I remember being told there were stipulations, yes.”
“To collect the ten million dollars, you have to be married and living a stable life.”
“What?” I gasped.
“It sounds strange, I realize. But in circumstances such as yours, naturally, judges are concerned about people forging marriage certificates. That means that you’ll have to appear before a judge in Moldova, along with your husband, and show your marriage documents. Once all of that is done, then he or she will release the funds.”
