GREG
“Are you really just not going to talk to me? You have to talk to me. This is not going to happen like it did last time. I have given you some space, but I am coming to see you and Alfie. You are not going to stop what is happening here. I won’t let you do this to us again.”
I hung up, more upset with myself that I had let my emotions get the better of me. It was a pattern with her, one that I was accepting of, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t want her to know how much in love I was with her, but there was a part of me that knew I needed to be truthful. I couldn’t let it happen again and I was always going to wonder if it was because of my lack of talking. I wouldn’t let it go without saying all that I needed to say.
She hadn’t answered for a week and since I was about to make my way back to Watertown from the city, I knew that I was just going to have to track her down. I didn’t mind, though I knew that I wasn’t going to leave her side again until I had a promise that I needed to hear. I needed her to be mine and I had already thought about what I was going to do for the long term. I wasn’t joking when I said permanent. I was going to make her mine for good this time and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
I made the rest of the day go by pretty quickly because I was getting everything ready to go back home. I had talked to Aunt Dawn and she was in a rather chipper mood. I hadn’t told her about me and Mandy yet because I was still unsure what it was that we were doing. I wanted to get that yes answer before I went public with everything, but I was hoping by the end of the weekend I would be able to have her to hold forever.
***
I knocked a little harder and took out my phone to call her again. I had left another message on my way down, telling her that I was going to be there at eight and I was starting to think that it was a mistake to do so. Maybe instead of being there, she would stay away and I had just given her the time and date to hide from me. I didn’t like the idea of it and was about to dial her number again when the door opened.
She was beautiful and she was there. “Sorry I was in the bathroom and just heard you. I hope you weren’t out here long.”
I shook my head that I wasn’t. I would have waited hours out there to see her if that is what it would have taken. She invited me in and I was already smelling her shampoo again as she passed me. “What kind of shampoo do you use?”
Mandy giggled and told me that it was a queer question to ask.
“I just want to know. It is the same as before, isn’t it?”
She looked at me a little stranger and told me that it was. I knew that she was wondering what it was that made me know that, but there was so much that I knew about her that she would never know. I remembered everything.
“It’s Finelle.”
I repeated the name and knew that I would never forget it again. I shouldn’t need it though, not if I could convince her that it was time for us to be together in all ways.
“Is he home?”
“No, he is at a friend’s for the night. He will be back in the morning. I figured that we would need a little time to talk.”
I didn’t like the way she said it, but I was going to focus more on the fact that we were there alone. I wanted to see my son, but his mother was the one that I had to convince, Alfie was already a part of me. Now I just had to convince Mandy that she needed me as well.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Well you have called me all week, so I figured that you were the one that had some things to say.”
She was leaving the ball in my court, but I wasn’t sure how much more I should say? Should I just come right out and ask her, throwing all caution to the wind?
“You made love to me all night and then you didn’t really say much the next morning. I don’t know what to think and then you wouldn’t answer your phone Mandy.”
There was more to say, but the emotions were creeping back in and it was a bit more than I could handle. Why couldn’t she see that it was hard to go on without her? That I didn’t want to?
“I’m sorry about that Greg. Everything has been kind of crazy around here and it was a lot to process. Alfie is acting different although at least he is talking to me now. He said that you guys talked this week?”
She had walked into the kitchen and I knew that there was a good chance that she was trying to avoid me. I stopped her with a light hand on her arm, waiting for her to meet my gaze. It was like she didn’t want to and when she finally did I could see that she was upset.
“What is wrong?”
Mandy shrugged and tried to turn away, but the grip on her arm wouldn’t let her.
“I just, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what this is and it is just too much.”
I moved closer and pulled her to me, bending down to kiss her. She was shaking in my arms, but her lips responded to me like they always did. Soon I was the one that was losing my place and not sure anymore. Every time we were together lately I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her and this moment was no different. Her brown eyes were so big and she had a vulnerability that I hadn’t seen this time around.
“I want us to be more Mandy. I want what I wanted for us back then. Do you know that I was going to ask you to marry me on your birthday? If you would have waited another week or so, you would have seen that I wanted you as my wife and to have a family with you. It is what I always wanted Mandy. College was not the end of the world and even if I would have lost the scholarship, I would have figured something out.”
“You wanted to marry me?”
She was using past tense and I was going to let her for a time.
“I loved you Mandy. I wanted to marry you after the first date. I know that we were young, but I have always loved you Mandy and I still do.”
“How can you love me after all of this time?”
“Because I never stopped.”
I kissed her again and I could see that she was shocked by the turn of events. I was as well and the need to ask her was overpowering.
“I want you to marry me now Mandy.”
“You can’t mean that. We haven’t seen each other in years and a lot has changed. You don’t even know me anymore.”
I shook my head and didn’t agree. “There is nothing about you that has changed that I don’t love. You are still the same girl I fell in love with all of those years ago and now that I know what it is like to live without you, I am not letting you go again. I meant it Mandy. I want to make you my wife.”
I got the ring out and I saw her eyes go to it. I went down to my knees like all of the movies suggested and she covered her mouth as her eyes started to redden.
“Will you marry me Mandy and make me the happiest man in the world?”
She kind of giggled at the last part and while it was cliché, I knew that it was how I would feel if she would just give me the yes that I needed so much.
Mandy shook her head and whispered yes very low before I kissed her. It was not loud enough that I really heard it that well, but it was good enough. My heart soared and my body was shaking as I pulled her to me. Mandy melted against my chest and I knew that she was going to be mine forever. Now that I had a second chance with her, I was never going to let her go again.