me back into the building, down to my floor.
“Are you going to take them up on their offer?” he asked.
“Not anytime soon,” I said. “I don’t have my cello anymore, and I don’t have the heart to buy another one.”
He raised his eyebrow, and I changed the subject.
For the rest of the night, he sat next to me and we worked in tandem, occasionally stopping for a kiss.
Around four in the morning, he set a fresh cup of coffee in front of me. “Still going strong, or will you need to take the rest of the day off?”
“I’ll be fine.”
He smiled, but it slowly faltered. “I need to ask you something, Kate.”
“Yes?” I hoped this was it, that he would finally allow me to tell him my side of the story.
“What happened to your cello?”
Close, but no cigar... “I had to pawn it,” I said, tears pricking my eyes. “I managed to hold onto it in almost every city, but I couldn’t afford it anymore in Philadelphia.”
“I’m sorry.” He moved next to me and caressed my back. “Why would you ever need to pawn anything, though?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I buried my head in his chest and tried to hold back the tears, but they fell down anyway. “I waited a very long time for you, James. All you had to do was come back...”
...
Kate
~ June 1, 2009 ~
THIS MAN WAS TOO GOOD to be true...
I stared into James’s eyes as we lay on the hood of his car. As usual, he’d picked me up at six this morning and it was now nearing dusk. I was trying to hold on to more time, stretching out the minutes as long as I could, so I wouldn’t have to go home.
“I want a pet,” I whispered, still staring into his eyes.
“What type of pet?” He ran his fingers through my hair. “Something that doesn’t need that much attention from you, I hope.”
“A dog.” I smiled. “A grey and white Siberian Husky.”
“That’s very specific.”
“My parents never allowed us to have anything living in the house unless it was a plant,” I said. “One Christmas, after Sarah Kay and I begged for a puppy, they led us outside and promised to give us the best alternative.” I paused. “It was a framed picture of a German Shepherd. That was as close as we ever got.”
“You know that your parents are assholes, right?”
I laughed. “They always have been.”
“Do you have a name picked out for the dog already?”
“No, but it’s needs to be something short and cute. I’ll let you pick, since I picked everything else.”
“Noted.” He let out a breath. “I need to talk to you about something, but I don’t want to do it here. You feel like taking a ride?”
“Always.”
He smiled and pulled me up. Then he grabbed my hand and walked me down the deck. Showing me inside the white boat, he helped me into a life vest and untied the boat from the posts.
I sat next to him as he drove across the sparkling waters, wondering if this was going to be the “I know you’re the one” type of proposal I’d been dreaming about.
When we approached his house, I took my spot in the swing he’d made me.
Settling next to me, he grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes. “I got offered a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said, his eyes bright and hopeful. “One of my clients made me apply to his alma mater and I got in. He said a few words to the admissions team and they’re going to award me a full scholarship in his name.”
I blinked, unsure of what to say. “I didn’t know you wanted to go to business school.”
“I always have,” he said, caressing my hands with his fingertips. “I never thought I’d be able to afford it on my own, so I didn’t try. I mean, I knew my former grades and experience would get me in, but I would never borrow or take any...” His voice trailed off. “I always said I would only go if I was paying for it or if I received a scholarship.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?” He smiled. “That’s all you have to say?”
“Which school is it?” I forced myself to smile.
“Wharton School of Business. It’s in—”
“Pennsylvania,” I finished the sentence for him. It was one of the most prestigious schools in the country, and plenty of my peers had bragged about getting past their nine percent acceptance rate. “It’s on the East