Indelible Love - Emily's Story
Page 7
#10—I also want to be a judge on Iron Chef
“That’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. Of course, you covered a few of them already with our gastronomic feast in Napa and Carmen. Although, if I had a choice, I’d see Carmen performed in Paris. And speaking of Paris, #11—I want to picnic at the Tuileries Garden with someone I’m madly in love with. That’s all,” I finished with a satisfied smile.
“None of those are too hard to accomplish, except for those two items toward the end.”
“I’m a simple girl,” I answered. “Can we go shopping today? I still haven’t bought your mom a gift. I can’t show up to your house for Christmas dinner without a gift for her, especially not after she takes me to Hawaii. You have to help me buy something for her.”
We walked through the flea market, attempting to find Sandy a clock. Jake told me his mom collected clocks from around the world. It took many hours to leisurely walk through the entire flea market, but I finally found the perfect gift.
At dinner, Jake continued to ask about my pre-Jake years.
“Emily, what did you and your family do during the holidays? Do you have a lot of family?”
“No. I don’t think I have much luck when it comes to family. Both my parents were only children and my paternal grandparents passed away when I was young. They were old when they had my father. We didn’t know each other very well,” I replied while trying to decide between eating the uni or amaebi sushi.
“When my parents were both alive, we used to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at home, and my maternal grandparents would visit us. After my dad died, the four of us spent holidays together in LA. It wasn’t too festive, as you can imagine, cooking a Thanksgiving meal for four people.”
We must have been hungry from the three-mile hike today. We plowed through a dozen orders of sushi and were already on to coffee and dessert.
“Green tea flan and a café con leche, please,” I asked the server. Jake just ordered a cup of coffee.
“So after your mom and grandparents died, who did you spend your holidays with?”
I could see where Jake was taking this conversation. That same sadness in his eyes that I had seen during our weekend away, when I told him about my parents dying, made an appearance again. He wanted to share in my sorrow. He felt my every pain. Deep in my heart I knew I loved this man as much as he loved me. How could I not? He was already so much a part of me.
“I spent a few holidays with Max’s family, and a few with Sarah’s family. One Christmas, both Max and Sarah were out of town visiting relatives so I spent it alone. That was a sad Christmas.” I tried to smile, not wanting Jake to feel this loneliness that had suddenly landed back in my heart. “I sound so pathetic, huh?” I grinned and fed him a bite of my dessert.
“Why didn’t you go with Max to visit his relatives? Were you not invited?” Empathy caressed his voice.
“Are you seriously asking me why I didn’t go on a trip with my boyfriend at the time? Shouldn’t you be thrilled that we never went away together? Well, I guess there were a few group trips.” I made a concerted effort to lighten this conversation. “To answer your question, Dr. Reid, I didn’t go with Max because I never felt completely accepted by his family. They were very nice to me, but I always felt like an outsider. I couldn’t break into their family bond. No matter, obviously I was not meant to be a Davis.”
Jake reached over and caressed my hand. I didn’t think I needed comforting, but I accepted his touch.
“Oh, my sweet Emily…my love…” Jake murmured. “I hate thinking about you being alone. Why couldn’t we have met earlier? I would’ve filled your void. I won’t ever let you be alone again.”
With all my heart I wanted to believe Jake.