“Only for you.”
“Okay, what’s next?”
“Next, we go home.”
“What? I thought we were having dinner?”
“We are. It’s my turn to cook for you.”
After we make the drive back to my house, I open the front door to reveal the entire living room and kitchen decorated with electric tea light candles and yellow hydrangeas, Elodie’s favorite color and flower.
“How on earth did you do this?” Her stunned expression is exactly what I wanted to see.
“Let’s just say that I have a sister who is beyond eager to help me keep you around this time.”
When Elodie and I returned from Los Angeles a few days after I surprised her last month, my sister nearly beat my ass for not telling her everything that happened. But then I explained my talk with Carol and Nick, how the meeting with Meghan helped me see the light, and when Elodie reunited with her and Laney, Dilynne broke down in tears when she told me how much she loved me—how proud she is of me for finally vowing to move past the pain I’ve been holding onto.
Never thought hearing that from my own sister would make me break down too, but fuck, we’ve come a long way from where we were as kids.
So, when I told her my plan for Elodie, she was more than willing to help me with this surprise.
“Wow.” She peers up at me. “This is beautiful, Henley.”
“I’m glad you like it. Now, I want you to go to my bathroom and relax in the tub while I make our dinner. Everything you need for a bath is in there, then we’ll eat and I have something I want to give you.”
Elodie tips her head to the side. “A girl could get used to this type of spoiling.”
“Not too bad for someone that’s never been in a relationship before, huh?”
While Elodie is in the bath, I prepare the steak, potatoes, and asparagus, topping it all off with an Oscar-style sauce that I practiced making three times before tonight just to make sure I got it perfect.
We eat and drink wine from Hart Winery, laughing and reminiscing about the past few weeks and how excited we were when Remy started crawling, but how intense it is now that she doesn’t stop moving.When we’re finished, I clear our plates and bring over the gift I’ve been working on, hoping like hell that she feels what I have to say is enough for her.
“What is this?”
“You know, the concept of giving gifts is quite simple. You rip the wrapping paper off of them to reveal what’s inside.”
Elodie glares at me, a playful smirk on her lips. “I’m not sure I like happy Henley. His sarcasm is a bit over the top. Where’s gorilla man?”
My head falls back as I laugh. “Oh, he’s still in here, but you’ve tamed him a bit, sweetheart.”
Elodie tears the paper from the book and gives me a confused look when she sees what’s inside. “You—you gave me the scrapbook I made for you?”
“I did.”
“Uh…”
“Open it up, baby.”
Elodie slowly opens the book up and turns past the first few pages she had already filled with pictures, but stops as she realizes there are words on them now. “Henley, you…”
“I added to it,” I finish for her, scooting my chair closer to her so that I can point out the new features. “I’ve been filling in notes next to the pictures of my thoughts, like how terrified I was during her first bath.” Elodie chuckles. “And then, I added some photos of my own.” Flipping past the pages that Elodie completed, I arrive at the ones I’ve worked on after she fell asleep—pictures of Elodie and Remy, or the three of us together, like at Remy’s first Thanksgiving that we spent with Elodie’s parents.
When Elodie insisted on still traveling to her parents’ house for the holiday, I was extremely hesitant, even after Elodie revealed that her mom actually did attend her performance and watched from afar.She was blown away by her daughter, and when Elodie told her mom and dad about her new music career, they actually all broke down together. Turns out, fear can make you say and do things that hurt the ones you love, and Elodie’s parents were so scared that she’d end up disappointed, they just wanted her to find something else more realistic.
Joke’s on them though, right?
“I’ve never even seen some of these. When did you take them?” she asks as she flips through the pages, admiring the details from our time together.
