a vacation?” She jumped into his arms, making cat-like noises. “Cheetah’s don’t like the ocean, you know.”
“Oh, are you a cheetah now?” Lucas said. She wrapped her arms around his neck and growled.
“Yes! And I’m going to bite you!” She squealed. Lucas placed her on the bed and gave a fake cry of horror.
“You forgot one thing,” he said. “Cheetahs also hate getting tickled!” I knew the cue. Both of us glanced at one another, until we both reached out and tickled across her armpits.
“No!” she yelled, giggling loudly. “No, stop! Mom!” We stopped, laughing and falling across the bed.
After some time, Jen turned to me and said, “Are we going back to Seattle? I miss our old house.”
Lucas glanced at me. I arched my eyebrows. Seattle. The home of my many miseries. I didn’t see it like that though. I saw it as my real home, the home that got stolen from me right when I was getting settled in.
“Remember when we’d walk on the beach?” I asked her.
She nodded, quiet and cute, as a child often does. “And we found our secret tree world. Do you think it’s still there?” Her eyes grew wide with imagination. Years ago, we had found a spot off to the side of the beach with an endless set of twisting trees. That was the secret tree world and it was all hers, her first discovery.
I smiled and kissed her cheeks. I missed all of those memories. Monroe was like a freeze frame on our life. It put so many of the things that we dreamed of on hold. “Yep. It’s been sitting there for years. The tree people have been waiting and waiting for you to come back, but you never did.”
“I want to! I do!” she yelled, turning to Lucas. “I’ll take you there if you want. You’re my mom’s new boyfriend, right? I bet they would let you in without a fight.”
Boyfriend, huh? Well, I guess that was accurate. He did just ask me to move in with him. “I would never fight the secret tree people,” he said, playing along. “They’re a beautiful people from a vast land. We have to protect them!”
“Yes! That’s what I said!” Jen exclaimed. “Mom we have to go back!”
Lucas looked at me and shrugged. “I was thinking Seattle, but I didn’t want to say it out loud. I’ve never been and I heard they have good coffee. That’s all a man needs, really.”
“Coffee and quiches, right?” I laughed.
“Or a good omelet,” he added.
So it was settled. He’d put the old house up the bend on the market and together we would take off for the coast.
When Jen left the room to go play, we had some more peace and quiet together. “So I’m your boyfriend now, huh?” he asked. A sly smile had snuck up onto his face.
“Only if you want to be,” I whispered.
“I guess that’s fine. I’m not really a man of titles,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Weren’t you a made man? Isn’t that a pretty prestigious title?”
“I’m not sure prestigious is the right word. But you’re right. I’m a man of many titles. But I’m trying to change that. I’m trying to be a man of action, rather than words,” he said, getting out of bed and walking toward the door to the hallway. “Come on. Let’s eat some breakfast. I’m making waffles.”
Uhhh. So he didn’t want to be my boyfriend? I was confused. What the hell was going on here anyway? We were moving in with each other, yet he couldn’t take the plunge and call me his girlfriend? After feeling stupefied and a little let down, I caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “Fine. Don’t be my boyfriend then. I just thought—”
He placed his finger across my lips. “Shh,” he whispered. Okay, I thought, a little patronizing. Maybe I was going to regret being with this guy after all.
“Cue the mood!” he suddenly yelled. All of a sudden, an old, beautiful folk song turned on the kitchen speakers. It was something like Donovan or Simon and Garfunkel. It instantly reminded me of driving from the coast to Michigan.
“What the hell?” I spat out. He grabbed my hand and led me out into the kitchen. Jen had shut all the curtains to the house and there must have been at least a hundred candles lit across the entryway of the kitchen.
I loved you before. I’ll love you again. Until the rose petals fall all over again.
The