82. Chapter 82
Chapter 82
As David was leaving the grocery store with Jacob, he stopped at the long row of small toy, trinket, and candy vending machines, his attention immediately captured by the one on the end. David sighed heavily. Usually, they could make a clean escape, but not this time.
Stopping next to Jacob, David saw that Jacob was transfixed by what appeared to be new merchandise in one of the machines—brightly colored, miniature rubber balls mixed in with little plastic, bubble-shaped capsule (David didn’t know what the hell they were called), containing everything from fake spiders to cheap rings.
“Can I get a bouncy ball?” Jacob pleaded, right on cue. “Please?”
David’s knee-jerk reaction was to say ‘No’, but decided to fork over the quarter, instead. His excitement off the charts, Jacob put the quarter in and cranked on the metal knob, then lifted the metal flap underneath. Instead of one of the bright bouncy balls, there was a plastic bubble capsule, with a ring inside it.
Jacob’s expression crumpled into such disbelief and disappointment as he stared down at the ring with a pink stone in his hand that David almost laughed. “You can give it to Paige,” he suggested, trying to put a positive spin on things. “She’ll really like it.”
“Okay. But can I try again?”
David handed him another quarter, and Jacob got another ring, this time with a purple stone.
While Jacob glared at the machine, David gazed at the two rings as a small shiver went up his spine. “I think the universe is trying to tell me something,” he murmured, a plan starting to take shape.
David dug out his last quarter and handed it to Jacob. “Last one, Little Man,” he warned. “Make it count.”
This time, when Jacob opened the metal flap, there was a bright yellow bouncy ball.
At home, David told Jacob he could give Paige his ring when she arrived, and David was going to wait until after dinner to give her the other one. With that part of the plan out of the way, David then took the engagement ring he’d gotten for Paige and switched it with the fake, purple-stone ring in the bubble capsule. Then, feeling more nervous than he thought he would, he started preparing a nice dinner to go along with the Tiramisu he’d bought at the store, as well as Paige’s favorite red wine. By the time she arrived, his nerves were rather frayed, not even helped by the two fingers of Knob Creek he’d thrown back.
Was his plan really fun and sweet, like he thought it was, or was it lame? If it was lame, he’d never hear the end of it from Jules—because there was no way she wouldn’t hear about it.
After letting Paige in and giving her a kiss, he led her into the kitchen. As he poured her a glass of wine, Jacob, who’d been drawing at the table, jumped out of his booster seat to greet her with a hug around her legs.
“I got this ring for you,” he announced with enthusiasm, holding up the plastic capsule.
“You did?” Paige’s face lit up as she took it from him and popped it open to remove the cheap ring. She immediately put it on the ring finger of her right hand and then made a show of admiring the pink stone from all angles. “It’s very pretty,” she gushed, bending to give his cheek a kiss. “Thank you. I love it.”
“Dad got you one, too. But it’s purple.”
“Purple?” Paige asked, her tone teasing as she looked over at David. “Well, let’s see it, big spender.”
David inwardly groaned as his plan took a bit of a detour, and for a moment was at a loss, because he hadn’t mentioned the proposal to Jacob. In the event Paige said no, David didn’t want Jacob to be disappointed—or be a witness to it, either—which was why David had wanted to wait until after dinner to execute his part of the plan, while Jacob was occupied in another room. Then, if David got the answer he wanted, he and Paige would’ve gone to share the good news with Jacob together.
Giving Jacob a disgruntled look, at which point he made an Oops face, David reluctantly pulled the plastic bubble capsule out of his pocket, making Paige rub her hands together in exaggerated expectation.
Praying this didn’t go any further south, David handed it to her, and she paused for dramatic effect for Jacob, who was grinning widely, before she popped it open. She started to reach for the ring, only to freeze and blink several times, not sure what she was seeing. Instead of a cheap ring with a fake purple ‘stone’, this ring was basically all bling. The main stone was a large, round, brilliant cut diamond, encircled with smaller diamonds, and the platinum shank was decorated with trailing accent diamonds.
It was stunning. And obviously not something out of a vending machine.
“What the fuck?” Paige blurted out before she could stop herself.
Jacob’s eyes went round with shock. “You said—”
“I know,” David said and immediately began steering the little boy out of the kitchen, toward the hall, because it did seem like this was headed further south. Way further. “Why don’t you go to your room for a few minutes?”
“But Paige needs to put money in the swear jar—”
“I know. I’ll make sure she does. Now, please go to your room for a few minutes, okay?”
David added another little push, and with a frown, Jacob started walking toward his room. Waiting until he had disappeared inside and closed the door, David then turned back to Paige.
She could see the tense set of his shoulders, the wariness in his eyes as she clutched the plastic container holding the ring.
“So, are you going to marry me, or what?” he asked, forging ahead, his heart beating painfully fast.
The softly spoken words hung in the air between them, and she could feel herself start to shake a little now that the initial shock was wearing off. “Are you sure about this?”
His answer was immediate. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. Except for the first time I proposed.”
She swallowed hard and took the ring out, her hands shaking just enough that she dropped it on the floor, where it bounced and rolled several feet. “Shit. Sorry,” she apologized, quickly going after it and feeling utterly mortified, as David blinked at her.
After getting a solid grip on it, Paige simply stared at it in silence. She couldn’t help but admire the way it sparkled in the light, and briefly got caught up in wondering how much David had spent on it, so she almost missed what he said next.
“Remember what I told you the first time I asked you to marry me?” he asked. “I said there wouldn’t be anyone after you, and I was right. I’ve always loved you … even the five years we were divorced, I loved you. But now, after we’ve been together like we have for the past several months, it’s like my feelings for you have fucking exploded, and I know I’ll never want anyone as much as I want you.”
It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. “I’ve always loved you, too. But …”
“But what? Is this where you tell me you worry about us not making it this time, either?”
“And if it is?”
“Then I’m going to tell you to not worry about that, because I don’t.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“No.”
“You never worry? Come on, David. We have an honesty policy, or have you forgotten?”
“I am being honest. I don’t worry about us not making it this time, mainly because I don’t have time to worry about it, since I’m too busy being happier than I’ve ever been in my life—and that includes the first time we were married. I’m not just talking about sex, either, although that’s so good I’m almost blind from it. I’m talking about everything. All of you is with me this time and that’s the difference. I know without a doubt, that whatever comes our way, no matter what it is, we’ll be able to deal with it together and kick its fucking ass and be happy.”
Her heart was pounding so hard, she wondered if he could hear it. “Look at you, trying to make it seem so simple.”
“It is simple. I want you to be my wife, I want to be your husband, and I want us to be married again. End of story.”
“What about Jacob?”
“What about him?”
“How much does he know about this?”
“Nothing.”
“He has to know something. He helped set this up.”
“No. The plan was—”
“The plan?”
“Yes, the plan. And the plan was for him to give you his ring when you arrived, and I was going to give you mine after dinner, when he was watching TV or whatever. And he thought my ring was a fake one like his, only with a purple stone. But I switched it with that—” he pointed at the one in her hand, “—to be cute.”
“Cute?”
“Not lame,” he clarified. “Only Jacob blew up my plan by telling you I got you a ring, because he’s four—” he broke off as Paige smothered a laugh. “And so here we are, with another proposal gone awry.”
Jules was definitely never going to let him hear the end of this.
“So, had the plan gone according to plan, what would your proposal have looked like?” she asked, curious.
“Well, I would’ve begun with heartfelt declarations of love, obviously—”
“Good start.”
“—and then moved on to convincing you we’re meant to be together, which we are—”
“Bold strategy.”
“—and if that didn’t seal the deal, then I was going tell you I wouldn’t let you come again until you said ‘yes’.”
She blinked at him, the odd threat derailing her for a moment, because it sounded like something straight out of Jules’s playbook. “You were?”
“If I had to.”
“Hmm. Weren’t you telling me not too long ago, how much you hate it when I don’t come? That you want me to have an orgasm every time we have sex?”
“Yes.”
“But now you’re telling me you would’ve been willing to actively deny me orgasms—”
“Only until you said ‘yes’. Then you could have as many as you wanted.”
Paige looked at him for several long moments. She appeared to be more amused than not, so he thought the ruling was going to come down in his favor, when her amusement faded and she put the ring back in the plastic capsule, then set it on the counter. While that wasn’t necessarily a very good sign, he also couldn’t help but notice she seemed reluctant to do it.
“Before I can say ‘yes’, and let you put that ring on my finger,” she said carefully, “we need to talk to Jacob about this, because it’ll change his life. He’s had a lot of that lately, and I want to make sure he understands what will be happening, and feel like he’s involved in the process, before we go forward.”
If anything, David loved her even more, and he nodded. “Okay.”
She took his hand and started to head out of the kitchen, only to have David stop her. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“What?”
“Your payment to the swear jar.”
“Now? Are you serious?”
“Yes. We take the swear jar very seriously.” He tilted his head as something occurred to him. “Speaking of which, did you pay for your last transgression?”
“Yes, I did. You can ask Jacob.”
“I will.”
Letting go of his hand, she opened her purse and pulled out a dollar. “Here.”
“Nice try, but the F-bomb costs a Lincoln. And I’m not talking about the penny.”
“Five dollars? You say the F-bomb all the time—”
“Not when Jacob’s around, I don’t.”
She looked at the jar, with the change and loose bills in it, a few of which were five-dollar bills. “Then whose payments are those?”
“Dick’s.”
Pretending to be annoyed, she pulled out two more dollar bills and held them up. “Here. This is all I have.”
David took the money, then grabbed a little notepad and a pen out of the designated junk drawer. As she watched, he wrote ‘Paige IOU $2.00’, then put it in the jar with her three single dollar bills.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.
“What part of taking the swear jar seriously do you not understand?” he countered.
“No part, to be honest.”
Together, they went to Jacob’s room, where David started off by explaining how the fake ring had been switched out for a real ring, taking Paige by surprise, because the real ring meant something very important. If she accepted the ring, she and David would get married, which led to an explanation of what it meant for them be married and how their lives would change because of it.
“Would you like that?” David asked when he was finished.
Jacob nodded slowly before looking at Paige. “You’d live here?”
“Yes,” she answered, assuming that would be the case, even though it hadn’t been discussed.
“Every day?”
“And every night.”
“What about Sputnik?”
“He’d live here, too.”
“Okay.” Jacob seemed pleased at the prospect of having a third cat, only to turn slightly pensive. “So, you’d be my mom?”
“Technically, I’d be your stepmom,” she corrected him gently, “which is a little different.”
He thought about that, then asked, “Would I call you ‘stepmom’?”
Paige reached over and took one of his small hands. “You could call me whatever you want,” she told him gently. “It’d be up to you.”
“I don’t want to call you ‘Mom’.”
She was stunned at how much that hurt, especially his almost flat tone. But what he said next almost broke her heart.
“Moms can go away.”
It was clear to her that despite the lack of a close relationship with Ashley, her leaving had left a mark on Jacob, and it was also clear to Paige his growing attachment to her would make her leaving possibly crushing. Blinking away the threat of tears, she squeezed his hand. “You could just call me ‘Paige’,” she suggested. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
Just then a timer beeped in the kitchen, bringing an end to the conversation. “Dinner’s ready,” David said, and the words were barely out before Jacob was up and sprinting into the hall. “Wash your hands, first,” David immediately called out.
The sound of footsteps stopping, then heading back to the bathroom could be heard, followed by running water in the sink. David got to his feet and pulled Paige up until she was standing in front of him. Then, instead of letting go of her hand, he began gently rubbing her ring finger with his thumb.
“Well?” he asked.
“I think it’s time to put that ring on my finger.”
While they ate, Jacob peppered them with random questions, his curiosity now at full steam.
“When will you be married?” he wanted to know.
“Pretty soon,” David answered. “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”
Swallowing the bite he’d taken, Jacob turned to Paige. “Where will you sleep?”
“In my room,” David said, saving her from having to answer.
He then went on to ask if Paige would be making dinner every night, would she be taking him to preschool, would she make Rice Krispies Treats a lot, watch Scooby-Doo with him, and read him bedtime stories. David found all of these inquiries very interesting, given that Ashley had done none of those things, and yet, Jacob was wondering if Paige would. It made David think his son had missed a mother’s hands-on presence in his life more than David had imagined.
Halfway through the meal, Jacob looked at Paige with an intense expression. “Are you going to have a baby?”
Paige almost choked on the bite of gnocchi she’d just taken.
Instead of answering, David asked Jacob, “Would you like to have a brother or sister?”
“Not a sister,” Jacob negated quickly. “Patrick has a sister and she’s mean. She hogs the TV.”
“Well, she’s older than him. If you had a sister, she’d be younger than you, and younger sisters are hardly ever mean,” David said, even though he had no idea if that was true or not. It sounded good, though.
Jacob shrugged, still clearly not on board with having a sister, regardless of her age.
When dinner was over, Paige and David sat alone in the kitchen, neither in a rush to clean up, while Trick-or-Treat watched them from where he was perched on top of the fridge, and Marshmallow sat on the island washing her face with a paw.
“How are you doing?” David asked. “You’ve had that Oh, shit look on your face since Jacob brought up having a baby.”
She took the last drink of her wine. “I know. That sort of … took me by surprise.”
“It took me by surprise, too.”
“It did? You seemed to roll with it pretty well.”
“Only because I’m used to dealing with a four-year-old. You’ll get used to it.” He got up to get the bottle of wine, but she waved off a refill. After adding a little to his own glass, he sat back down again. “That being said, you and I probably should’ve had a conversation about children, before having one with Jacob.”
“Yeah, probably.” Her tone was as dry as the Sahara. “So, you never did answer his question.”
“Because it wasn’t my question to answer. It’s ours.”
She liked him saying that, but Paige knew it was only true on a sliding scale—that ultimately the decision to have a baby or not would come down to what she wanted. However, she still needed to know what he wanted. “Would you like to have another child?”
“With you? Yes,” he replied quickly, then took a sip of wine. “But let me say this: I want you, first and foremost, so not having a baby won’t have any impact on our marriage.” He shared with her how Ashley had been pressuring him to have another one, and he’d resisted because he hadn’t been interested. “I told her I was perfectly fine with Jacob being an only child, but only because I didn’t want to have another baby with her. And that was before our relationship went to hell.” He then told her how Evan’s sister, Evelyn, had hammered David with her opinions as to why having another baby with Ashley would be a horrible mistake.
“I think I’d get along really well with Evelyn,” Paige mused.
“I’m sure you would,” he agreed, then set aside his wine glass and leaned forward. “So, what about you? What are your thoughts on having a baby?”
“I think I’d like to try and have another one, but part of me is afraid I’ll miscarry again. Especially since I’m several years older this time around.”
Shaking his head, David told her, “You’re probably in the best shape of your life, physically and mentally. But it probably wouldn’t hurt to get yourself checked out under the hood and see if your eggs are past their expiration date, or whatever—” he broke off to easily duck the crumpled up napkin she tossed at him. “I can also go in for a tune-up to see if my swimmers are still swimming, and if everything looks good, we can decide what to do then. And if we decide to reproduce, we’ll just have to make sure it’s not a girl.”
“Wrong. We’ll make sure it is a girl, because I’m not popping out another clone for you. You already have one, and that’s enough.”
“What makes you think you’d, um, pop out another clone for me?”
Paige shrugged a shoulder. “I just have a feeling that if we had ten boys, every last one of them would look like you. So, no boys.”
“Well, I’m not sure if that was meant to be a compliment—”
“It wasn’t.”
“—but I’m flattered you think my genes are that powerful. And if that’s the case, a girl might look just like me, too.”
He was probably right, damn him. That, and the smirk on his face had her reaching for Jacob’s napkin, which she crumpled up and chucked at David’s head. Again, he ducked out of the way, this time with a chuckle.
After straightening up, he turned serious. There was one more thing he wanted to put out there, and even though Paige looked like she was starting to wilt from the events of the day, he cleared his throat and pushed forward. “So, I didn’t want to say anything in front of Jacob, but I thought we could get married on June fifteenth.”
“Our original wedding date? Really?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t think that would be … unlucky?”
“No, I don’t think it would be unlucky. It was the happiest day of my life.”
She picked up her phone to check the date, only to frown. “It’s on a Wednesday.”
“I don’t care. It’s the date, not the day, that’s important.”
“Even if we wanted to go with that date, it’s only three months away. That’s not enough time to get a church—”
“Actually, I’ve already got one booked.”
“No thanks. An Elvis chapel in Vegas doesn’t count.”
“I booked the church we got married in the first time.”
“What? How did you do that? You have to book a church months in advance—”
“I did book it months in advance.”
She tilted her head. “When did you book it?”
“October.”
“Jesus Christ.” Paige blinked at him. He’d booked the church five months ago, before they’d become a real thing and they were just fucking around, which made it even more crazy. “Are you kidding?”
He shrugged. “I figured I could just cancel it … if necessary. Luckily, that won’t be necessary.”
“You’re making me feel like I was a foregone conclusion.”
“You were never a foregone conclusion.”
“Really?” She glanced down at the beautiful ring that made her hand look really good. “When did you buy this?”
The smirk was back as he rubbed his chin. “The day I booked the church.”