Page 3 of The Noisemaker

He pointed to the paper on the table. “You made a menu?!”

I laughed, waiting until after he planted a couple quick kisses against my lips to answer him.

“No.” I added sea salt, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, and a good amount of cheese and then I smiled. “It’s the list we have for today.”

“Okay, explain what we are doing again.” He scratched his forehead. “Explain it like I’m five.”

“There are New Year’s Eve traditions that people do all over the world and I found a list of fifteen that we can knock out.”

“And what happens when we do these traditions?”

“Well, some of them are for good luck as we end this chapter and move to the next. Some are for prosperity. Some are for love. Some are for blessings.” I shrugged and gestured to the list. “I wrote them down for a reason.”

He kissed my cheek. “Okay, okay, I’ll check it out. But how are we supposed to fit all the stuff in?” He held up his hands. “I’m going to do it no matter what,” he assured me. “But I just want to know how…” He let the sentence trail off.

“There’s some stuff we have to do today and some at midnight and some before bed. But we’re going to do the whole list before we go to sleep and our next year will be our best year yet! And it’ll be a cool way to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.”

“Outside of our comfort zone? What the hell is on this list?”

I laughed. “What the hell was on your to do list this morning?” I narrowed my eyes. “You left to go do something secretive and important and we don’t keep secrets. So, what do you have up your sleeve?”

He pulled the sleeve of his shirt away from his bicep. “Nothing.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to remember this.”

“Come here.”

I pretended to slide away from him as he planted kisses all over my neck and shoulder. “Stop! I’m trying to flip the omelette! Go wash your hands,” I giggled.

He gave me one last squeeze before making his way to the sink. “So I’ve been thinking about what you said last night,” he started. I glanced over at him, and he continued. “We’ve been working real hard these last six months. I haven’t had the opportunity to take you out and show you off in a while.”

Finishing the omelette, I nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a while.”

“When was the last time we went out again? The movies last month? No, we went to dinner at the beginning of December.”

“No, I mean. I haven’t taken yououtout since—”

“Warren’s birthday party in D.C.,” I finished the sentence as I plated his food. “That was the last time we really stepped out.”

I handed him his plate and then made my own.

As he carried them both to the table, he responded, “I know I said I just wanted to chill tonight. And I know you planned a day of stuff for us to do. But”—he placed our plates down— “I have something in mind.”

He pulled my chair out for me and I eyed him warily as I sat.

“What’s going on?” I wondered.

He smiled. “I want to take you out.”

“But last night you said—”

“Last night I was just thinking about how tired I’ve been. And you got that look you get when you’re disappointed. Even when you tried to deny it, I could tell. But then you came up with this”—he lifted the paper with the list— “and you seemed excited again.”

I cocked my head to the side. The breath left my lungs gently. I loved how he could read my face, my tone, and my body. He knew me so well.

“Yeah, I was a little disappointed,” I admitted. “But you’ve been working your ass off this year, and I don’t know if you’ve actually taken more than twenty-four hours off at a time. So, it makes complete sense that you’d want to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day chillin. You deserve rest, baby.”

He leaned forward and placed his hand on top of mine.

---