Page 45 of Mia Amata

“Yes, I’m fine.” He seemed reassured.

After a few minutes of silence, Jacob asked, “You seem quiet today, is something wrong?”

Hesitating, “I don’t know Jacob. I’m… confused.”

“About what?”

I wasn’t sure what to say or how to bring up the subject. Finally, I sighed, deciding to just dive in headfirst. “You. Me. This… whatever is going on here.”

Jacob nodded his head. “What do you think is going on here?”

“I don’t know. You have hinted around before, but earlier today when you were leaving…” I trailed off.

“I said ‘love you’ when I left. Did that bother you?” He was watching me closely.

I looked at him, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Can you deny that you feel something for me?” He dared me.

“I do feel something for you. I’m not ready to call it love. In fact, I’m not sure that love even exists.”

Jacob said, “I know it does. I see it with my parents, with my sister and her husband. We both see it with Josh and Randy.” He stood up, coming around to where I was standing, turning me to face him. “I know it sounds crazy, but I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.”

I stared at the countertop, my mind going in 20 different directions at once. “Mia Amata?” he whispered. I looked at him, he leaned in and kissed me, so tenderly that I thought I would faint. I knew I should pull away, but I couldn’t. He finally pulled back, staring into my eyes. “Say something,” he pleaded.

“Oh, Jacob,” I cried. “You don’t know me at all. How can you say you love me?”

“I don’t know, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the moment I saw you. I realize we don’t know each other very well. We can start getting to know each other better.”

I pulled away from him. I could sense his disappointment, but I was so confused. I needed to think. He leaned against the counter; I started pulling out the vegetables to make a salad. I was working on the salad when I heard a car pull up outside.

Jacob went to the door, opening it to let Randy and Josh in. Randy and Josh walked into the kitchen, both giving me hugs. “Supper is almost done. Make yourselves at home.” Lucky was happy to see Josh and Randy.

Everyone gave him scratches behind his ears, and then he went over and lay down in his dog bed. Randy stayed in the kitchen with me while Josh and Jacob sat down on the couch talking football.

Pretty soon, I told everyone to have a seat at the table, I was ready to pull it out of the oven. “He is so well-behaved now,” Josh said, looking at Lucky lying in his dog bed. “How did you do it?”

I shrugged my shoulder, “I really didn’t do anything. He just seems to know what to do and when to do it. I haven’t had to hook him up to a leash at all. He won’t leave my side.”

Josh and Randy looked at each other in amazement. Jacob was the one who finally said something. “It was like he waited for you to come along and has dedicated himself to you.”

“Maybe,” I said. “All I know is he is a very well-behaved dog. I love having him here.”

I went to the oven, pulling the lasagna, and garlic bread out of the oven. “That smells fantastic,” Randy said. The guys agreed. Randy helped me finish getting the food on the table. Everyone took helpings of salad, lasagna, and garlic bread. We settled down to eat. The conversation was easy and light-hearted.

We had a lot of laughs during the meal, I couldn’t remember when I had ever had so much fun, even with the conversation that weighed heavily on my mind. We finished eating, the guys having seconds of the lasagna, declaring it some of the best they had ever had.

“Don’t let Sal or Louisa hear you guys say that,” Randy said sternly. “They would never forgive you.” The guys laughed, begging to be able to take leftovers home with them. I told them I would definitely put some in containers for them if they took Lucky out back for a little bit. They agreed to do so. Randy helped me clean up from supper. While loading the dishwasher, Randy looked at me slyly. “So Jacob spent the night last night?” she asked innocently.

“Yes. We fell asleep on the couch watching a movie, waking up at three am. I wasn’t going to let him drive home that late.”

“Oh, sure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” I asked.

“Nothing!” she said. “You two can’t seem to take your eyes off each other. I haven’t seen him take an interest in any woman like he has with you.”

Josh looked at me as they came back inside from the deck, “Lucky is definitely loyal to you. He took care of business outside, then immediately came up to the door where he could watch you. Pretty soon he was whining to be let in the house.”

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