Sweeter Than Fiction

Chapter Thirty-six

Abby

“Are you sure I got all the mud off me?” I ask. “I feel like I’m still dirty.”

He looks me up and down from the driver’s seat. “As much as I love it when you’re dirty, I think you’re good.”

I look at my fingernails…or the spot where my fingernails once were before I bit them off. “I feel like it’s under my nails.”

“Abby, nothing could get under your nails if it wanted to.”

I laugh. “Fair point. So, where are we going?”

“Hey, you got to have your surprise earlier. Let me have mine,” he says with a smile.

“But I’m much more impatient than you,” I quip.

“I know. But I’ll make with worth your while.”

“With the surprise or with your penis?” I ask.

He grins. “Yes.”

“Is the surprise your penis?”

“You get that all the time. How would that be special?”

My mouth drops. “Uhm, clearly, you’ve never been fucked by that thing, or you wouldn’t be asking how it’s special.”

He reaches over and takes my hand in his. “You’re something else. Do you know that?”

“Something else good, or something else bad?”

“Oh, very, very good.”

We pull into a big empty field that’s surrounded by trees. “Don, what exactly are we doing? As much fun as I had earlier, I don’t know that I want to get dirty again. That would be my third shower of the day. Your mom is going to send us an invoice for her water bill.”

“Oh, I’ve got something else in mind,” he says as he parks the truck. “I think I dropped my phone between the seats. Do you think you could look for it real quick? I have to grab something out of the back.”

“Uh, sure.”

Once he gets out, I shove my hand in between all the cushions but feel nothing. I look on the floor and in the console. Still nothing.

To find it, I pull out my phone to call it to see if I can hear exactly where it slipped to. But I don’t hear anything. Did he leave it back at the house?

Wait…

I think I hear something. It gets louder, and when Don opens my door, I can hear it perfectly.

“Don, was it in your pocket the whole time?”

He holds out his hand for mine as I end the call. “I have a confession.”

“Okay?”

“I didn’t really lose my phone. I just needed to keep you distracted for a minute.”

“Distracted from what?” I ask as he leads me to the back of the truck.

But when I see it, I don’t need an answer anymore. In the back of the pickup truck, there’s blankets laid down and pillows propped up against the cab. A big picnic basket sits in the middle, and a set of string lights is draped around the bed.

“What is this?” I ask.

“Well, you said you never really get to see the sunset back in New York. While we are here, I figured I’d give you a front-row seat for one.”

He walks me to the back and helps me up into the bed, telling me to get comfortable. When he joins me, he opens the picnic basket, pulling out a bottle of wine and a couple of red plastic cups.

“Sorry, I couldn’t find any fancy wine glasses,” he says.

“Still drinks the same,” I tell him.

Already the sky is turning a pinkish orange color, and it looks like someone painted it directly into the sky. The most I get in New York is seeing the sun going down between a couple of the buildings. Part of that is because of the tall skyscrapers, but I’m also aware that it is probably because I don’t get out all that often.

“I can’t believe you did all this,” I say to Don.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“How did you find the time?” I ask.

“Mom helped me out. Speaking of which, how did you plan the paintballing thing today? You have never even been here before. How much Googling did you have to do to make that happen?”

“None,” I confess. “I told Jill I wanted to do something special for you, and she helped me plan it all.”

“It was awesome, and I had a blast. You looked super sexy out there.” He gives me a quick kiss. “But I have to ask why? I loved it, but what made you think that you needed to do something like that?”

I take a few sips of wine before replying. “Jill told me about Alicia.”

He looks confused. “I already told you about Alicia.”

“No, she told me about how you would always do all these grand gestures for her, and she would never do anything in return. It was really one-sided. I am well aware that you do grand gestures for me all the time, and I don’t always do a good job of reciprocating. I don’t want you to resent me or anything.”

“Abby, I don’t resent Alicia because she didn’t do nice things for me. That’s not even why we broke up. We broke up because she cheated, and wanted to be with someone else. While I appreciate Jill looking out for me, she didn’t know the ins and outs of that relationship. Did I do more for Alicia than she did for me? Probably. But I didn’t see it as one-sided. She still did things for me. Just because Jill didn’t see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

My cheeks burn red because I feel silly for not getting all the facts first. “Sorry,” I say in a low voice. “I just thought—”

He stops me with his lips on mine. His kiss feels so good that I almost forget that I’m supposed to be holding onto the cup of wine and almost drop it.

When he pulls back, he says, “I love you so much.”

“Huh? You’re not mad at me for just assuming?”

“Abby, you went out of your way to make plans with my sister—in a town that you’ve never been to—just to make me happy. I think that may be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“You just said that Alicia would do sweet things for you.”

He smiles. “She never wanted to take me paintballing. Ever. That will be a memory that only you and I share.”

He grabs my chin and tilts it up so that I’m looking at him. “And for the record,” he begins. “I love doing grand gestures for you. And I’m never going to stop. That doesn’t mean that I need something from you every time. You have given me more than you realize.”

“Well, I was going to suggest that I repay you with dirty things in the bedroom, but if you’re saying that you don’t need anything in return, I guess we don’t have to.”

“Now, now, Abigail. Let’s not get hasty.”

We both start laughing so hard I worry that wine’s going to come out of my nose.

When we settle, I look out at the sky. “Do you ever miss living here?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know. There are certain things that I miss, I guess.”

“Like what?”

“Like having some quiet time. New York is never quiet. The noise was really hard for me to get used to, but I seem to be doing better with it.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Now, when I need quiet, I just come see you.”

“Me? Have you met me, Don? When I am in my apartment, I’m not exceptionally quiet. I even talk to my cats.”

He laughs. “I don’t mean you’re literally quiet. I mean that I come see you, and it’s easy to shut the rest of the world out. When you are I are together in my apartment or yours or whatever, it’s like the world outside disappears.”

“How is it that you always know the perfect things to say? I swear sometimes, I think God has to be a woman because no way could a man make a guy as perfect as you.”

“I’m not perfect, Abs. And I’m sure the longer you and I do this, the more you will realize that. I do have flaws.”

“Maybe,” I say. “But I can guarantee that your good qualities will outweigh your flaws.”

“I hope so. Don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Impossible,” I reply with a kiss on his cheek.

As he starts pulling out some snacks from the picnic basket, he changes the subject. “Okay, so I have to ask. What else did you and Jill talk about on your little excursion yesterday? Was it just the Alicia thing?”

“Are you worried she will scare me off or something?” I tease.

The slight worry on his face makes me think that maybe I’ve hit the nail on the head.

“Don, let me tell you something,” I begin. “I have read hundreds, probably thousands, of romance novels. I’d read about the men who were wonderful to their women, and I’d think how great that was…for someone else. I never fathomed that a guy like that would ever even look my way let alone want to be with me. And then, you walked into my life. Everything changed. You make me feel in ways that I didn’t even think was possible. There’s no way in hell that I’m letting you go—no matter what your sister may or may not say.”

I can see the relief wash over his face. “You make me really fucking happy. Do you know that?”

“Back at you, babe.”

He holds me close while we watch the sun go down. I still can’t get over how gorgeous this view is. I love New York and all it has to offer. I never see myself living anywhere else.

But this sure as hell is a nice change of pace for a few days.

And it helps that I’m sitting here with a gorgeous man who treats me like a queen. When this whole thing started, unbelievable was the only word I could think of that would describe it. It felt like there was no way this could actually be my life.

But now, the only word I can think of to describe it is grateful. Although sometimes, I still think it’s a little unbelievable. I’m damn sure happy that it’s happening.

And I plan on enjoying every single second of it…starting with this gorgeous sunset.