Nick: Well, it was pizza. Now it’s more like toast.
I picked my remote back up and scrolled through the available movies. Nick preferred comedies. I was a classic romance girl, which meant romcoms usually won. There wasn’t anything newly released that we needed to see, and all the titles that rolled through seemed anticlimactic. Disney Princess it is! I clicked on Tangled, and stared at my phone, waiting for the reaction.
Nick: Again?
I snickered, not feeling even a little bit of a need to defend my selection because I couldn’t even count how many times I had watched every Adam Sandler movie. Instead of responding to his reaction, I pushed play on the movie, and changed the subject.
Me: You didn’t cancel your reservation for Mapleton, did you?”
Nick: No, why? Your date not go well?”
Me: “It was fine. He would have been husband material, but he took me to this pub, and it ended up being the pub Jon always used to go to. You know I don't drink but I didn't complain. So, the second I walked in, Jon found me, and of course, he hovered over our table, talking the whole time.”
Nick: “What? You spent your date talking to your ex-boyfriend?!”
Me: “He didn’t know he was an ex.”
Nick: “You do know that is a terrible thing to do on a date, right?”
Me: “Yep. After twenty minutes, he said he was going to drive me home. ?”
Nick: “You are lucky he was that nice, I would have left you.”
Me: “I never said I was good at dating. If I were, I wouldn’t still be doing it after all these years. I mean it, Nick. I’m about to give up. I hope you weren’t joking about our marriage pact.”
Nick: “Never.”
Me: “I’m helping my boss this weekend by watching her sister. I’m not going to even think about men.”
Once Rapunzel got put in her tower, I got up to use the restroom. One of the advantages to having every scene memorized is that you can do other things and never get lost in the plot. I had a sudden craving for hot chocolate and found my way into the kitchen. While I waited for my teapot to heat up, I texted Nick again.
Me: “Nick, are you still there?”
Nick: Yeah, just watching the mean old mother climb up. It’s prosperous to think no one ever saw her do that. I mean, it doesn’t look suspicious at all!
Me: “So, about Mapleton, I’m thinking I should book a flight now. Are you going to be there? I know we joke around a lot.”
Nick: “Already got my flight.”
I set my phone on the counter and prepared my hot chocolate. Meeting in Mapleton is what we did every Christmas. He’d fly home from New York to visit his folks, and I always made time during my Christmas break to meet him. I loved his little Christmas-perfect town. Living my whole life in Texas, I had to take a yearly trip to see snow. We’d enter some whimsical Christmas village, and it did everything to put me in the Christmas spirit.
This year felt different.
Clearly, it was the marriage pact joke we had been tossing around, but sometimes it seemed Nick’s words had double meaning, leaving me wondering if maybe it wasn’t a joke?
I bit down on one side of my lip, letting my mind replay our conversations.
It was a joke, right?
I mean, he wouldn’t actually want to get married. Guys hate marriage, right? Hence why I haven’t gotten there yet. He was merely blowing smoke to make me feel better about not finding a husband yet. We practically shared a brain. Nick understood how much I wanted to settle down and have a big family. I wasn’t being greedy. It was the opposite, as I just had so much love to give. I was raised as an only child, and never wanted for anything material-wise. My dad did the best a single dad could do, staying career-oriented to provide, but I was left with nannies—a lot.
Nannies who were friendly as they tended to all my needs. Still, they only stayed a year, and then left to go back to college after crossing me off their life experience list. It sounds petty because I had a great childhood and don’t deserve to have a list of grievances. And I don’t, but I’m in charge of my future. I want, more than anything, to have a home filled with love and people who stay, not because they are paid to be there, but because it’s home.
I placed my mug on a tray and dug through the pantry for some chips before heading back to the living room. When I tried to get back into the movie, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about Nick. This marriage banter was clearly making me a little batty. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to make light of something I wanted the most in life? It would be best to text him and tell him I was excited to see him, but I wasn’t expecting anything more.
Surely, he wasn’t expecting anything more?
Before I could talk myself out of it, I texted him again.
