by Don P. Bick
I Await
A short story
By
Don P. Bick
Copyright 2012 by Don P. Bick, all rights reserved.
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Author’s Note:
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Table of Contents
1. I Await
2. About the author
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I Await
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There are so many things I would tell you if I were able, Trevor. I don't have the slightest idea why I didn't speak my heart to you before now. It is perhaps my deepest regret. Why is it we always put off saying the most important things to the ones we love? Then all of a sudden we wake up one day and find out it's too late, we no longer have the opportunity to do so. I wish so many things, and yet, I'm also filled with peace. I see you and feel you beside me; my mind is filled with all of the memories.
"Hey! Hurry up! We're going to miss the plane." Trevor yelled at me from the street below. I hurried down the front steps as fast as I could, my arms filled with last minute items I had forgotten to pack.
"What is all of that, Lacy?" He asked, his jaw dropping in amazement at the amount of stuff I had dangling from my arms.
"Some things I thought we might need," I replied, dropping the load onto the back seat of the car and jumping into the front.
"A bath mat? And Wizard?" he questioned, shaking his head and staring at the strange array of items now filling up the back end of the small car. "Just where are we supposed to put all of it?"
Wizard is a stuffed doll, a miniature of the wizard in the movie The Wizard of Oz. I've had him ever since I was eight years old. He brings me good luck. "You'll figure out something. You always do," I said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. I could see the beginning of a smile as he started the car and pulled away from the curb. It was mid morning.
Trevor is my boyfriend. We met a year and some months ago at a night class at college. I was working on my Master’s and him his Bachelor’s. I had been taking classes whenever time and money permitted for several years. And still, after all this time I haven't completed enough credits to earn the degree. I sure am close though, I thought, reminiscing about all the time I had spent going to school.
Since the two of us met we've spent a lot of time together. Even though I am only 25 and he is 28 we have some values many of our friends consider old fashioned for this day and age. The main thing they think is odd is the fact we don't live together. As close as we are, they all ask why haven't you two moved in with each other? The truth is we did what we felt right for our relationship and it just didn't seem right. Neither of us felt uncomfortable with the way we lived, either. Even though we didn't live together, we spent all of our free time with one another.
Trevor wove his way through the thick traffic toward the airport. It was unusually warm for a mid December day in Southern California. We were headed to Aspen for a week of skiing and to celebrate my birthday.
Whenever possible we tried to get away on short trips up the coast or out to the desert. Money was still very limited, although we both held good jobs. The high cost of living and our attempt to finish getting our respective degrees kept us conservative. This trip was a long awaited treat for which we had both scrimped and saved. We pooled our combined resources and came up with enough money to go in style, and not have any left over credit card bills when we returned.
We arrived at the long term parking area, some two miles from the terminal, and Trevor and I began to pack up the rest of the items in the back of the car. Although I was sure he wanted to, Trevor didn't ask why I was bringing some of the things he was having difficulty forcing into our three bags. I tried to help but the truth is he is much better at packing suitcases than I am. Soon we were finished and on the shuttle bus to the terminal.
We were still an hour early. That's Trevor, always dependable and reliable. If it had been left up to me we would be pulling up in front of the airport about the time the airplane was supposed to leave. Not that I'm unreliable or late all the time. It just seems like there are so many things to get done and not enough time to do them. I always seem to be rushing from one place to another with barely time in between. I don't plan it that way. Really! But I just never seem to be early; I always seem to be running behind schedule.
Trevor disappears off to the bathroom or to buy a book or something and I settle in one of the hard seats in the waiting area. I open a mystery novel I was about half through reading and try to get back into the story. Fifteen minutes go by and this strangely dressed man sits down next to me, in the seat I had saved for Trevor. I glanced up with the beginning of an agitated look on my face and couldn't help but break out laughing. There was Trevor wearing a T-shirt with a silk tie perfectly knotted around his neck, no shirt, just a T-shirt. He was wearing Bermuda shorts with different colored socks on each of his feet and no shoes. All the other people sitting in the waiting room were staring at him. Trevor sat there with the newspaper open as though nothing at all in the world was different. I laughed so hard tears ran down my face as I watched him for a couple of minutes. And then I threw myself in his lap and gave him a great big kiss. That was Trevor also, making me and everyone he knew laugh at his unexpected antics.
I should have told him then that I loved him, but I didn't.
We landed in Denver, rented a car and drove up the pass to Aspen. Darkness was descending over the Rockies when we arrived. We had reserved a cozy little condo, complete with a wood fireplace and view of the ski slopes. It was snowing as we checked in. Everything was absolutely perfect, the room, the view, and most of all the relationship.
The first day we spent skiing and then sat in one of the gorgeous ski lodges scattered throughout mountainous area. We talked and simply enjoyed each other's company. I have never in my life spent any time with another man who makes me feel as comfortable as Trevor. He was entertaining as well as a serious conversationalist. I'm definitely attracted to that versatility of his. It was a very special day. And the events of that evening made it the most special day, by far, of any I could have ever experienced.
Trevor made dinner reservations at a quaint restaurant on the edge of town. He rented a snow mobile and that was to be our transportation to dinner. It was just about dark when we left the condo. There was magic in that romantic ride. I sat behind Trevor and held him tightly around the waist. Not because I needed to hold on to keep from falling off, but because I instinctively felt it would be a special night between us. I was feeling a deep intimate closeness as I rested my head on his back during the greater part of the trip.
I still can hear the whine of the engine and the crunching of snow beneath us as we rose higher and higher above the valley floor on that snowmobile ride, our breath freezing in the darkening night air as we zigzagged between snow laden pine trees.
The restaurant sat on the very top of a high hill overlooking a large part of the valley. We were seated near a large picture window, not too far from a roaring crackling fire in the corner fireplace.
The restaurant was quiet and relatively empty for a Saturday night. I remember kidding him about how bad the food must be with all the people skiing at Aspen for the weekend and no one eating at that particular place. But Trevor’s choice of restaurants turned out to be perfect. In fact, at this moment I don't even recall how the food tasted. It wasn't really that important.
Trevor ordered a bottle of wine and when it arrived he proposed a beautiful toast to me and my birthday, which was the following day. He asked the waiter to give us some time before ordering. Then he produced a sma
ll wrapped box from his jacket pocket and gave it to me, wishing me a happy birthday.
The box contained the most precious engagement ring I had ever seen. I didn't even wait for him to ask the question. I blurted out yes, causing the older couple sitting at the table next to us to look in our direction, and then smile as they realized what was taking place between us. I saw them reach out and take each other's hand before turning my attention back to Trevor, who had taken the box from me and removed the ring. He gently placed in on my finger. It fit perfectly.
If I could I would shed a tear this moment. It was another time I could have told him how much I loved him. It wasn't something I had ever done, so didn't. I had this crazy notion that I would tell him on our wedding night and not before. I wish now that I had.
All that evening during dinner I kept glancing at my left hand and then at Trevor who seemed to have taken on a new glow. He looked more handsome and somehow even more mature than he had before. I loved him so much. At least I feel confident my eyes
