Indelible Love - Emily's Story (10 page)

“I see you’re wearing the ring. Did
you know he bought it after just one date with you?”

I nodded yes. “He told me
today.”

“Did you also know that he was
miserable the whole week you and Sarah were gone to New York? He
looked like a lost puppy. Every member of the Reid family teased
him mercilessly during Thanksgiving dinner. Uncle Henry says he’s
‘whipped’!”

“Jane, you don’t have to say anymore.
I understand what you’re trying to do. It’s not so much Jake that
worries me. It’s more me. He’s so perfect. This whole weekend is
like a scene out of a movie—it can’t be real in my life. My life
hasn’t been easy since middle school and I don’t want to start
believing it’s changed for this much the better.”

Before she could rebut my statement, I
gave Jane the long version of my life and told her about all my
insecurities. Deep into the night we spoke about my fears. Jane
listened like a sibling and encouraged and admonished all in
appropriate ways. Similar to the comfort I found in Jake, his
sister was no different. I could picture us being fast friends and
sisters.

We talked into the wee hours of the
morning, but I still found myself awake before the sun was up. The
light outside encouraged me to get up, brush my teeth, put on
Jane’s borrowed clothes, and step into the living room.
Surprisingly Jake was up already, reading the paper.

“Good morning,” I
whispered.

“Good morning, Beautiful. Why are you
up so early?”

“I can’t ever sleep well outside of my
own bed. Are you going somewhere? Why are you dressed like Lance
Armstrong?”

“I thought I’d go cycling this morning
to release some of this pent-up energy.”

Good thing he kept his head in the
newspaper. My lips tightly held together to keep from laughing.
Jake apparently hadn’t taken the news as well as I thought he
had.

“You want to ride with me?” As much as
I didn’t want to, I thought it would be better for the relationship
if I went with him.

“I don’t have any clothes. Plus, where
are we getting bikes at this hour?”

“All the bikes are downstairs in
storage and Jane has plenty of clothes for you to borrow. She used
to cycle in undergrad.” He walked into Jane’s room and blinded her
by turning on the light. “Jane, where do you keep your cycling
clothes?”

Extremely annoyed, she yelled at her
brother. “What is your problem? It’s still dark out. Why do you
need my cycling clothes?”

“Emi and I are going out for a
ride.”

“Jake…we got to bed a few hours ago.
Leave Emily alone. She and I are both tired.”

“Just answer my question.”

Jake kept the light on till he found
what he was looking for and handed me clothes and shoes to change
into. Not having done this since grammar school, I worried about
the challenge of riding a bike in this hilly city. Plus, the
professional gear looked ridiculous on me.

“Where are we going?”

“Let’s go get breakfast. There’s
nothing to eat here,” he answered, handing me Jane’s bike and
helmet. “You do know how to ride a bike?”

“Yes, but I’m no professional. It’s
been awhile since I’ve been on one of these.” Hesitation marred my
face.

“You’ll be fine. What do you want to
eat?”

“How about a greasy donut or an almond
croissant and a latte? Even after two huge meals yesterday, I’m
starving.”

“I know just the place. Let’s go.” He
led me out of the Embarcadero and headed south.

“Wait! You’re not thinking of riding
all the way into the Mission District, are you?” I asked
warily.

“Yup. You know this town better than I
thought.”

“Yeah, I’ve been around the block a
few times in this city.”

“Apparently you don’t go all the way
around the block in any city,” he answered sarcastically and rode
away.

I cracked up laughing. “Wait for
me…”

The ride to breakfast wasn’t as bad as
I thought it might be. The donut shop smelled heavenly. With so
many choices, I asked Jake to buy one of every donut and took a
bite of every flavor. I couldn’t get enough of the banana de leche
and lemon pistachio. Jake favored the maple-glazed bacon apple. I
wasn’t crazy about the sweet and savory combo of his choice. We
took the leftovers for Jane and went to our next
destination.

My favorite bakery in the Mission
District was located many, many blocks from the donut shop. Once
here, there were too many choices, so little room in the stomach—as
this was always my dilemma.

“Do I need to buy one of everything
here too?” he asked in a sour tone. He was still sore about last
night.

“Jake…are you going to be upset with
me every time we’re in an overnight situation?”

“If I say yes, will you do something
about it?”

“Yup, I will.”

“You will?” Jake’s eyes twinkled
again. I so didn’t want to crush this glow.

“I’m going to have to make sure we are
not in this situation ever again. You’ll have to apologize to your
parents for me and tell them I can’t go to Hawaii with
you.”

If Jake was sore earlier, he was
completely pouting now. “Emily!” He dragged my name in
frustration.

I put both my hands on his cheeks and
kissed his puckered lips. “Will you be OK with Hawaii or should I
stay home?” Jake knew he’d lost this round.

He tried to shake my hands loose but
instead, I grabbed him and kissed him longingly in front of a long
line of strangers. This did the trick. His dimpled smile
reappeared. “Jane was wrong about you,” I told him. “I find you
adorable when you’re mad.” I kissed him one more time.

A second breakfast of almond
croissants, bread pudding, an utterly tantalizing open-faced
sandwich with béchamel, gruyere, ham, and grilled asparagus, and a
last bite of coconut crème tart gave both of us the surge of energy
needed for the excruciating ride back home. Jake mapped out a long
route from the bakery to Dolores Park, up to the War Memorial Opera
House, then back to the apartment. I guess I should have been
thankful that he didn’t choose to take me up and down Lombard
“Crooked” Street. While my boyfriend rode with vigor, my sloshy
stomach struggled the last mile home. A few times, the contents of
my stomach slithered its way up, but in the end, they decided to
stay put. Finally back at home, we put our bikes away and walked
across the street to the Ferry building. To my chagrin, the
farmers’ market didn’t open on Sundays, so I followed Jake into the
myriad of shops instead.

Jake started at a cook shop and
purchased an all-inclusive picnic basket.

“Where are we going with this basket?”
What fun we would have today!

“Maybe
you
are not a part of the
we
. Didn’t you prefer
Jane’s company last night? I’m taking someone else on a picnic
today.” He smirked as I pouted. This had gone far enough. I turned
the table on him and followed him around the marketplace but
stopped talking.

He walked into a French-looking pastry
shop, and bought two of every flavor of their Parisian macarons.
How did he know macarons were my favorite dessert? We walked into
the cheese shop for cheese, wine, and crackers; the salumeria for
all things salty and pig; an oyster shop for clam chowder,
mignonette, and hot sauce. He also bought caviar, foie gras pate,
and we stood in the longest line I’d ever witnessed for coffee. I
didn’t realize we were hosting a party today with all this food.
What looked like a haphazard shopping trip translated into a
wonderful picnic lunch. With a satisfied look, he led me back to
the apartment, not noticing that I hadn’t said a word the entire
time. How was I going to stay mad when he picked out only my
favorites? His attentiveness might have saved him this
time.

When we got back, Jane was grazing on
everything we had brought back from our bike ride.

“Why did you guys ride this far? You
could’ve just gone across the street.”

“I don’t know. Ask your brother.” I
pretended to sound angry and headed into Jane’s room to take a
shower.

Jake ran in behind me as I struggled
to curb my giggle. He grabbed my hand and stopped me right before I
shut the bathroom door on him. I tried my best to put on an angry
face.

“Emily…” He dragged my name again.
“Are you mad?”

“Yes.”

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.” He tried to
kiss me, but I purposely moved away and startled him. He never
liked it when I turned away his embrace.

“Jake,” I paused momentarily to
swallow the guffaw that screamed to be let out. “I can’t be in this
relationship with you if you continue to stay angry at me for not
having sex with you. Here, let me give you back this ring.” I
fumbled at the necklace, hoping that he would stop me before I
unclasped it.

Locking my hands behind my back, he
brought his lips hard on mine and left me gasping for air. If he
knew only in the slightest how much I wanted him, there would be no
apology necessary.

“OK, I’m sorry. I won’t be upset
anymore.” His lips came down on mine a few more times. “But I’m
still going to try to get you in bed every chance I
get.”

“I’d be worried if you
didn’t.”

Jake was finishing our basket when I
came out ready for the rest of our day.

“Jane, you’re joining us,
right?”

“No,” both Reid siblings answered at
the same time. Jane looked offended that Jake had decided for her,
even though she gave me the same answer.

“My old roommate, Allison, is coming
over and we’re going out for lunch.”

“Allison?” Jake had a peculiar look on
his face. “What’s she doing in town, and why’s she coming over all
of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. I was going to ask you
the same question. She called out of the blue, asked me where you
were, and when I told her you were here, she insisted on coming
over right away.” Within seconds, Jane shook her head. “Oh, my
gosh. You didn’t finally succumb to her wiles, did you? Jake! Did
you two date? Did you sleep with her? You’re such an idiot! No
wonder she kept asking about you.”

“Who’s Allison?” I asked.

Jake ignored both of us and hurried me
out the door. Of course his past was not so kind, and Allison—tall,
thin, and gorgeous—came running toward Jake wrapping her arms ever
so longingly around my boyfriend’s neck.

“Jake! I’m so happy to see you.” I let
go of Jake’s hand so he could greet his whomever she is or
was.

“Uh, hi, Allison.” At this point this
woman had the gall to not only hug my boyfriend, but kiss him on
the lips. I was floored, Jake looked appalled, and Jane gasped,
horrified. Jake quickly pushed her aside and tried to grab my hands
again but I didn’t give him the pleasure.

“Hello,” Allison turned her hand out
to me. “I’m Allison, Jake’s friend.” She giggled.

Ugh!

“Nice to meet you. I’m
Emily, Jake’s girlfriend,” I answered as sweetly as
possible.
Take that
! As annoyed as I was with this woman, it didn’t rival Jake’s
terrified look as he kept searching for my perturbed
expression.

“Jake. I rushed over here because I
need to talk to you. Can you spare a few minutes for an old
flame?”

At this point, I felt bad for Jake
more than anything else. I decided to bow out and let them finish
their conversation.

“I’ll see you at the car,” I whispered
to Jake. “Jane, will I see you before I leave tonight?”

“Probably not. I’ll see you in
Hawaii.” She hugged me and pleaded her brother’s case. “Please
don’t be too upset with him.”

Jake tried to hold on to me, but I
grabbed our blankets and wine case and went out to the car. I
turned on the music and sat patiently waiting for Jake to arrive.
He probably only took a few minutes to talk to this person but it
felt like hours. A myriad of thoughts ran through my head, but I
decided to shut it out and enjoy the rest of our day
together.

Jake jumped into the car with a most
guilty look. “I’m so sorry about…”

“It’s OK,” I cut him off.

“Don’t you want to know why she was
here?”

“I prefer not to know, if
that’s OK with you. I know you didn’t live under a rock before you
met me. You’re thirty. I’m sure you’ve dated many girls before I
came along.
Though you only told me about
Kelley
. I prefer not to know what you did
before us, OK?”

Jake started the car and headed
north.

“Where are we going? I’m really hungry
again, not to mention exhausted, after our marathon biking
session.” I couldn’t tell whether Jake’s silence signaled guilt or
anger about this morning’s ordeal. Not liking the silence, I
decided to explain why I didn’t want to hear about
Allison.

I reached over to hold his hand.
“Jake?”

“Hmm?”