Oh my God did I actually ask if he was going to kiss me?
“Yes, you did,” Evan says from behind me.
“Wait, did I just say that out loud?” I cringe.
“Yeah, you did. And I can see your mind going a mile a minute. Please feel free to share the rest of that inner monologue, I’m dying to see how that brain of yours works,” he taunts.
My phone alarm goes off.
“Pizza’s ready!” I yelp as I shoot off towards the kitchen, only to be stopped by two massive hands grabbing ahold of my waist.
“Easy there. Last thing we need now is you burning yourself grabbing the pizza pan with your bare hands,” he says as he nods to the two oven mitts I left behind on the couch when I bolted to the kitchen. “Let’s try not to get any more use of that first aid kit. I spotted some Hello Kitty bandaids I’d like to keep for myself.” He winks as he hands me the pitcher of margarita instead. “Oh and for the record, when I went full hulk smash back there, I was trying to aim for the recycle bin that’s a solid three feet away from the sink.” He blushes and scratches the back of his neck nervously. “Sorry, but I don’t have those Dominican baseball player genes.” He smiles and walks towards the oven chuckling to himself. I smile and try to force myself to relax a bit.
We decide to eat on the couch while watching TV since we clearly need some background noise to flush out all of our lingering thoughts.
Once I’m done eating, I lean back on the arm of the couch with my margarita in hand and stretch my legs out. I’m facing the floor to ceiling glass windows and it’s breathtakingly beautiful. The soft snowflakes continue to cascade from the sky and blanket the patio and backyard beautifully. The days are starting to get shorter, which usually makes me grumpy. But for right now it means that I am being treated to a beautiful late afternoon sunset. I’m pretty sure artists would beg for my spot on the couch to paint this masterpiece.
Also in my line of view is Evan on the opposite couch sipping his tequila neat, looking at me from above his glass.
I’m not quite ready to talk about our earlier conversation, so I try to think of safe conversation starters.
“So. Why did you buy this place?” I ask.
“It was a good investment.” He shrugs.
Okayyyy thanks a lot, chatty Kathy.
I give him a look that lets him know I’m going to need a little bit more than that, and he chuckles into his drink.
“I knew I was moving back to the city, but wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to buy. During that process, my realtor heard about this place possibly hitting the market. He knew I was interested in a private vacation property as well so—”
“No Evan. I’m not asking for the logical reasons. I’m sure you could buy any home on the planet and call it a good investment with your kind of money. You could have bought a vacation home in the Dominican Republic. I’m asking why here? Why now? Do you have any ideas for how you want to live in this kind of space?”
“Well if you’d let me finish, I was about to tell you that I am also buying a vacation home in the Dominican Republic, but…”
“Stop deflecting.”
“Nothing gets past you huh.” He shakes his head while mumbling something under his breath. It kinda sounded like “now or never,” but I could be wrong. “I was lonely in California. I missed my mom, my friends, my surrogate Dominican family… you.” He locks eyes with me, and my stomach takes a deep dive. “So, I let my company know that I was moving back to the east coast. All of our meetings are mostly remote nowadays, so it doesn’t really matter where my homebase is workwise. I decided to come back home and try to plant roots again. When I saw this house, truthfully I thought it was way too big for me. But when I thought of Vanessa and her five kids running around outside, Antonio and I spending hours in the game room trash talking each other, my mom and all the doctors drinking and cooking up a storm in the kitchen… The family is growing, and as much as I love celebrating in small apartments, I knew that eventually the gang would break up and start doing their own, smaller celebrations with their new families. I figured if I bought a large property that was close enough for everyone to get to by car, we could continue the tradition.”
And just like that, my stomach dive makes a U-turn and shoots right up into my heart, performing what I am pretty sure is an impressive fireworks show.
This man …
“Oh. Wow. Evan, that is so sweet of you. Obnoxiously sweet. Teetering on me never being able to be an asshole to you again, sweet.”
“Teetering, huh?” He grins. “Don’t worry, I fully intend on earning that heart of yours.” He winks.
GULP. Earn?! Not win but earn. How does that sound a million times more romantic?!
“Evan,” I warn.
“Amelia,” he mock-warns back.
“Evan, there is no full heart to earn here, just scraps. I am not currently in the market for a man, so feel free to turn off your charm any minute now, thanks.”
“Ha. You’re cute.” He takes a sip of his drink. “If you think I’m going to let another opportunity to date you pass me by, you’ve clearly underestimated me. I’ve waited ten years, Amelia. Ten years. And that’s on me. I was too chicken shit to tell you about my feelings before, but now it’s out there. So, if we don’t end up together, it’ll be because that was the choice you made, and I’ll respect it. But don’t you think for a second that I’m going to be deterred because you need time to heal. You’ll have all the time you need, but in the meantime I'm making sure you know I’m here. And that I’ll always be here regardless.” He leans back draping one arm over the back of the couch. “Besides, I’ve got a secret weapon.” He raises his eyebrow. Clearly feeling confident with himself.
Holy moly. I’m failing miserably at containing my smirk. “Secret weapon you say? Can you please enlighten me?” I indulge.
