50. Dom
Chapter fifty
Dom
I ’m sitting in the passenger seat, waiting for Ellie to join me in the car. She’s taking an extra minute saying goodbye to her parents and Luca at our front door before she makes her way down the driveway.
My muscles tense with worry that it’s still difficult for her to leave Luca, but my fears vanish when her eyes catch mine, full of excitement as she sits next to me, buckling herself into the driver’s seat.
“Okay, before we go, I have something for you,” she says, a mix of mischief and glee evident in her demeanor.
“Started my morning with a massage, I’m on my way to a date planned by my wife, and you’re telling me there’s more?” I pull her close with a firm hand around the back of her neck, brushing her lips with mine. “What more could I want?”
She presses her lips against mine in a quick kiss before I feel her grin. Something falls into my lap and I look down to see an unsealed envelope.
“You’ll definitely want these,” she says with confidence.
I quickly dump the contents out and laugh when I see a roughly drawn sketch on a piece of paper. There are two horribly drawn stick figures holding hands, with giant shoes on their feet and faces so warped I can’t tell their noses from their mouths.
“Honey, you are the most talented woman I know…but maybe we stick to photography, huh?”
She pokes me in the shoulder before I unfold the second paper in the envelope. I quickly scan the text and my mind finally pieces together what Ellie’s got up her sleeve.
A lifetime of games with you by my side.
With you, I’m winning every time.
Hold on tight and walk with me,
Rolling back to where we dreamed.
“Ellie,” I say, speechless. I swallow and take a few seconds to gather my thoughts, failing. I can only ask, “Is this what I think it is?”
“You took me on the first date to end all first dates when we met,” she says with a cheek-splitting grin. She puts the car in reverse before adding, “Now, it’s my turn.”
The poem and the drawing…both over-the-top, cheesy shit I gave to Ellie every day the week before I took her out on our first date.
She’s doing the same for me now.
The pulsing rhythm of my heart is the only thing steadying me as I reach across the console to grip Ellie’s thigh.
“I fucking love you, Ellie.”
“Let me show you how much I love you back.”
***
“I think our first date was the first and last time I ever tried this,” Ellie says, clinging to the wall of the roller rink. “Now, I remember why.” She’s unsteady but in good spirits and joking around as I coax her off the wall, taking her hands in mine .
“Jake and I used to come here every weekend growing up,” I say. “Maybe we should start coming as a family. Luca might grow up loving it. Who knows? You might become the best skater in the family.”
“I hate the idea of spending more time on unstable footing, but damn, Luca would be so cute wiggling around in tiny roller skates, a helmet, and kneepads.”
I laugh and skate backward, pulling Ellie along with me, her hands gripping mine tightly as she fights to keep herself upright.
“Of course he would be.”
The lights dim and the announcer comes over the speaker. “Aaaaaaattention,” he sings. “We have a very special song request for Dominic from Ellie. “
The slow and steady beat of “Ellie My Love” by Ray Charles fills the venue, and I laugh, remembering when I dedicated this song to her years ago.
Ellie gasps as I pull her into my arms, stealing a kiss and stroking my thumb along her jaw as I thread my hand into her hair.
“I love this song,” I whisper in her ear as couples skate past us.
“I tried to find one with your name, since I wanted to put my own spin on things while recreating this date,” she says with a laugh. “But all I could find was a song about a Christmas donkey. Didn’t quite fit the vibe.”
“As much as I would have seriously enjoyed that,” I say, skating to position myself at her back, my arms wrapped around her waist. “You made the right call,” I whisper into her ear as I push us both forward. Her hands drop to my wrist, gripping tightly as she holds on to me for balance.
“I won’t let you fall,” I murmur in her ear.
“You never do,” she says, chancing a look at me over her shoulder.
We spend the next thirty minutes skating around the rink, Ellie getting more comfortable by the end, before we take a break and grab a drink from the concession stand.
“Have you had your fill?” she asks, unable to mask the hope in her voice.
“This was incredible. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
“Great, then come with me. Wait, let me get these off first.” Once we’re both back in our regular shoes, Ellie drags me over to the photo booth, just like all those years ago .
I smile at the memory of the first time we were here together.
“Come on, Momma,” I say, patting my thigh in the tight booth.
She squats, barely resting her body on my leg. Can’t have that.
“Get over here, baby,” I say, pulling her flush against me. She turns to me, a look of surprise on her face, and she wraps her arms around my neck when the first flash goes off. I kiss her before I hear the next click. Then she rests her head in the crook of my neck, before the final photo snaps. We stay like that for a moment and it feels like I’m the same man from years before, in disbelief of the gift in my arms. The perfect, sunny woman in my arms.
I can’t reconcile the two emotions hitting me. It feels like yesterday that I held this incredible woman in my arms, the future unknown but full of possibility and hope. Almost everything has changed, but not the important things.
I reach around Ellie to grab the photo slip from the printer. She takes my hand in hers and I laugh knowing what’s next.
***
“I hope you know none of this embarrasses me. In fact, I love it. I’m going to wear it all the time,” I say, pulling the hem of my T-shirt away from my body so I can once again admire the image of me and Ellie in the photo booth. The picture is massive and spans the full width of the T-shirt with a massive red heart around it.
Fun fact: the roller rink has a T-shirt printer. Years ago, when I took Ellie on this very same date, on my insistence, we had shirts made, screen-printed with a photo of us from the roller-rink photo booth. We wore them to dinner at the same restaurant we’re sitting in now. The small, family-owned restaurant’s Greek food is as incredible as it was years ago.
She rolls her lips, biting them before letting her smile grow. “You know none of this embarrasses me, either, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Please, our friends never let me live down the stories from our first date. Admittedly, it’s a miracle I didn’t scare you off. ”
“It was refreshing, actually. To be with a guy who didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. Who lived as big as I wanted to. Who didn’t let nervousness stop him from enjoying himself and making sure everyone around him felt that way too. I don’t think I had ever met anyone who laughed as much as you.”
“That had everything to do with the beautiful woman who let me drag her around a roller rink and then wear my face on her chest the rest of the night.”
“It’s a cute face.”
“Okay, if the shirt didn’t embarrass you…” I say, voice trailing off.
“Neither did this,” she says, standing and reaching a hand out.
I take my hand in hers and join her, standing next to our booth. I lift our joint hands and wrap my other around her waist, pulling her close. She doesn’t hesitate, leaning in to rest her cheek on my chest before we start swaying side to side, slowly circling ourselves in the narrow space between tables.
“Do you remember what you said when I asked you to dance with me?” I ask.
“I have no idea,” she says with a laugh.
“You said we couldn’t because no one else was dancing.”
“Because only you would insist on dancing mid-meal in a place clearly not meant for dancing.”
I shrug, continuing to rock us back and forth in small circles, catching the eye of our waiter, who smiles at us as he walks toward the kitchen.
“Some occasions call for dancing, no matter the circumstances. I didn’t want to go one more minute without you in my arms. I wanted to feel your hand in mine. Your pulse beating alongside mine. Your smile against my neck.”
“How can you tell?”
“I can always tell, Mrs. Moretti.”
“Cocky.”
“Confident.”
She laughs and I hold her tighter against me .
“Does it feel different? Being here with me now?” I ask, curious to know where her head is tonight.
She looks up, resting her chin on my chest, and her smile reaches her eyes. “It feels different, but not in a bad way. I can’t stop thinking of the people we were then. How much those two would go through together and how strong they’ll make each other.”
“What would you say to us, knowing what you know now?” I ask.
“I would tell you to calm down and to stop acting so nervous, because the girl is into you.”
“I wanted everything to be perfect for you.”
“Maybe I liked that it wasn’t perfect. Maybe it was perfect for us,” she says.
“And what would you have told yourself?” I swallow my nerves, needing to know.
“I would have told her…to grab onto that man by the ridiculous T-shirt he was wearing and never let go. I would have told her that her life with you will be filled with laughter, passion, and understanding. I would have told her that her life was just beginning and that even the hard days she’ll face will be easier with you by her side.”
“I want you to be happy, Ellie.”
“I am. I promise, I am.” Her fingers dig into my skin and she leans against me. I welcome it, the closeness a reassurance to my heart that her words are true.
We dance quietly for one more song, holding one another before we split dessert and settle our bill. I think I can safely assume where we’re headed to end our night.
***
“This next song is for Dominic from Ellie,” the pianist announces into his microphone.
Ellie and I are at the same dueling piano bar from years ago. We haven’t been back since and I have no idea why. I forgot how much fun the environment is. Ellie and I spent the last hour throwing out requests with heavy tips for the musicians as they show off their talents, and we scream-sing along to our favorite songs. I have no idea how they perform with this much spontaneity in their set, but I’m as impressed as I was last time .
“What’s it going to be, Ellie?” I shout over the noise of the crowd and the two pianists running their fingers over their keys, warming up for the next song.
Ellie smirks over the rim of her glass before taking a sip. “You’ll see.”
The familiar, upbeat chorus of “Marry You” by Bruno Mars sounds through the bar, and I slide my chair closer to Ellie’s so I can tuck her under my arm and kiss her temple. “This is a surprise. I don’t remember this one from last time.”
“Because it’s new. Think of it as an homage to what you told me the last time you brought me here.”
This is probably the part of the date I get the most grief over with our friends.
“But it’s my turn to say it,” she adds.
She must catch the surprise in my expression because she laughs and leans in closer, her lips brushing my ear as she speaks over the noise of the bar.
“Dominic Moretti, I’m going to marry you.”
My face explodes into a smile and I wrap Ellie tightly into my side and feel her, more than hear her, laughing against my body.
“I believe this is the part where you asked me how I could possibly know that,” I say.
“And you said it was the surest you’ve ever been about anything in your entire life.”
“And then you called me crazy and kissed me stupid.”
“Yeah, I think I did,” she says, her eyes bouncing between my stare and my lips. I don’t hesitate. I take her face in my hands and do the very same thing.