“Where are you and Elijah off to tonight?”
“We thought it would be safer if we went to dinner in Fayetteville. No one should know us or recognize us there.”
When I first found out that Julien and Elijah were in a relationship, my mouth dropped. To say it was a total shocker is an understatement. All the times Elijah showed up to the events, races, and parties we went to wasn’t for him to see me. It was Elijah’s opportunity to see Julien. They are both scared of what will happen if their friends or kids at school find out about them. It makes me mad that there are still such close-minded, bigoted people out there. Julien and Elijah are two of the kindest, most loving, people I know. I love Julien with all my heart, and he deserves to be happy without having to live his life in fear or feel shame because of who he is. Because to me he’s already perfect.
I’ve always liked Elijah, and he and I have gotten closer since Julien told me about their relationship. I’ve grown quite protective of Elijah, and he trusts me like Julien does. I make plans for the three of us to hang out together alone when Jayson isn’t occupying every waking minute of my life. I want to give them every opportunity to be able to express their relationship with one another, to provide for them a moment where they can hold hands, kiss, and be affectionate, without fear of being judged. I cherish those times with Julien and Elijah because I see how much they care for and adore each other. I know Jayson and Ryder would feel the same way as I do if Julien would give them the chance.
“Julien, Fayetteville’s like over an hour away!”
“Better to be safe than sorry,” is his reply. “Liz, hold on. I think I just heard Jayson leave the house.”
“Shit! I’ve haven’t even put my dress on. Love you!”
“Bye, Liz. Keep our boy in line tonight.”
I snicker, “Yeah, you know that’s not going to happen.” I blow him a kiss and end the video call.
I hear my mom calling my name from downstairs. I rush to shimmy into my chiffon dress, step into my yellow strappy heels, spritz on some perfume, and dash downstairs. If I wasn’t holding on to the stair banister, I would have tripped and fallen down the stairs, making this Valentine’s very memorable. The reason for my falter is the handsome man standing at the bottom, looking up at me with love and adoration in his eyes.
I have not once seen Jayson in anything fancier than khaki slacks and a dinner jacket. Tonight, however, he’s wearing a dark charcoal men’s dress suit, blue dress shirt, and dark tie with blue and silver accents. He has styled his thick brown hair so that his bangs are parted to the side and up. Jayson’s resting his shoulder against the bottom banister, one hand casually in the pocket of his slacks looking every bit like a GQ model. He is breathtaking.
Jayson’s intense gaze slowly rakes up my body in increments, from my strappy heels, to the panels of my dress that seem to float around my knees, to the deep V of the dress’s bodice.
“Liz, you are captivating. So damn exquisite.” The butterflies in my stomach wake and scatter into a million fluttering wings.
Thankfully, my unsteady legs are able to make it to the bottom of the stairs, but I’m not going to take any chances. As soon as Jayson offers me his hand, I latch onto it, but he stops me on the next to the last step. Careful of my hair, he reaches one hand around my neck and spreads the other across the dip of my spine, pulling me in. He holds me like that, mercurial eyes travelling over my face, before inching in and capturing my lips in a sensual kiss. My toes curl and my center throbs.
“If I didn’t have to make the reservation months in advance, I would take you upstairs right now and eat you for dessert,” he mumbles against my ear.Oh my. Yes, please.
Mom clears her throat behind us. So embarrassing. She and Dad are standing at the front door, camera in her hand.
“Is this how it’s going to be at prom next year?” my dad asks her.
“Oh, much worse, I’m afraid.”
My dad groans.
We stand for what seems like hundreds of pictures because once Mom is done, Hailey jumps in with her phone to take more.
Jayson apologizes to everyone saying we’ll be late if we don’t leave now and guides me outside, hand placed possessively at my back.
On our way to his truck, bright twinkling lights catch my attention. Our oak tree, which I call our date tree now, is lit up from top to bottom with lights, and an old-fashioned swing hangs from the bottom branch. When did that happen? Among the crystal lights, silver origami stars hang down from the branches. I take it all in and decide that it’s the most wondrous thing I have ever seen. I look over to Jayson who is beaming at me with pride knowing his romantic gesture is what put the awestruck look across my face. I decide that the tree is the second most wondrous thing - Jayson is the first.
“I’m speechless. It’s so magical. I don’t have words.”
Jayson threads his fingers with mine and brings them up to his mouth for a reverent kiss on each of my wrists.He leads me over to the swing and holds it steady for me to sit down. “Aren’t we going to be late for dinner?”
“Already planned for that. Trust me,” he smiles waiting as I smooth down my dress and gently lower myself to the polished wood board of the swing.
Once I’m settled, he gives me a small push. “You keep surprising me,” I say tilting my head back to look up at him.
“I used to daydream about doing this for you when I was younger.”
“Your dream was to push me in a swing?”
“Actually, yeah. I would daydream of you wearing your blue princess dress, the one you wore the first day we met, and that plastic tiara. Your hair would be loose and tumbled down your back and every time I would push you, it would whip back and float down like a cascade of golden silk. I imagined your smile and your laughter as you swung high into the sky to catch the stars.”
He lifts his hand and pulls one of the silver origami stars down from its string that holds it tied to part of a branch and hands it to me.“Open it.”
