Page 44 of The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

Lola nods. “You are in good company, because I like her a lot too.” She winks at him. “Dalisay is one of the kindest, most clever people on earth. Her heart is true, but she is protective of it. She does not let it free so easily. One must truly be exceptional for her to give them her heart.”

He catches a glimpse of Dalisay through the crowd, coasting on one foot with a huge smile as her hair billows out behindher, and he feels his heartbeat in his throat and a longing he didn’t know existed tears through him.

“Many don’t put in the effort,” Lola says.

Evan’s heart feels like it’s being squeezed as tight as his hand, and he means it when he says, “She’s worth it.”

“Yes. She is.”

Later, after a tentative few laps around the rink, Evan guides Lola safely back to dry ground. Her smile is huge, full of childlike wonder, and her cheeks are pink with joy. A photographer near the Christmas tree offers to take their photo for ten dollars, and Lola can’t pass it up even though Dalisaytsksat the price. Lola hands the photographer the money and she brings Dalisay and Evan close on either side of her. She’s so small, Dalisay and Evan’s shoulders bump together above Lola’s head. Evan catches a whiff of Dalisay’s perfume, and his smile twitches as the camera flash goes off. She’s so close to him, and yet she feels so far away.

When Evan helps Lola untie her skates, his own feet sore and aching from being so confined, Lola says, “I need to do some shopping at Macy’s. Dalisay, will you walk me there?”

At first, Dalisay looks confused, but then the expression disappears. “Evan, will you wait here?” she asks.

Still in servitude mode, Evan nods.

He’s leaning on the fence by the Christmas tree for twenty minutes when Dalisay reappears alone, holding two steaming paper cups. “I hope you like hot chocolate,” she says, holding one out.

Evan takes it, their fingers brushing for the slightest moment before she pulls away. She wraps her fingerless gloved hands around her own cup and leans on the railing, just as the tree lights come on to the gasp of the crowd.

“Oh!” she says, excitedly pointing. “So pretty!”

Evan barely notices. He’s only been watching her, and it’s as if the rest of the world has melted away. The lovely slope of her nose, the gentle waves she ironed into her hair, the shiny pink lip gloss … When she glances back at him, he looks down at his hot chocolate and grips it tighter.

How can there be one more stage after this?

“Lola spoke very highly of you,” Dalisay says. “She said you were quite the gentleman.”

“I was prepared to use my body as a shield in case we fell.”

Dalisay laughs and when she does, her hair falls over her shoulder. It’s such a stupid instinct, but Evan wants to touch it, to tuck it behind her ear. The need to touch her is all-consuming and holding himself back becomes an Olympic-level endeavor. How can something so simple drive him so crazy?

They fall into silence for a few seconds, sipping their hot chocolate and people-watching. The skating rink is a lot more crowded now with families and couples enjoying the muggy winter evening. A young couple skate by holding hands, smiling, and Evan’s heart drops a little. They make it look so easy.

Everything he’s gone through these past few weeks has made him feel like he’s coming up short. The thought eats away at him, and he can’t stop himself when he finally says it.

“I’m sorry I’ve wasted your time,” he says. He can’t look at her. “I thought I could do it, but …”

“The five stages.”

Evan nods, and despite everything smiles. “I’ve been trying my best, and to do everything the way you expect in the Philippines.” He swallows and looks up at the tree, anything so he doesn’t have to see her face. “But I guess I’m a blundering American who can’t even manage four stages.”

Dalisay laughs, a sort of snort-hiss that’s so cute, he could explode. It’s a totally new feeling, and Evan feels like he might be going insane. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her shake her head in disbelief. “You think you’re still on stage four?” she asks.

“Well … yeah.” There she goes, laughing at him again, but Evan is too tired to fully understand why.

“There are five stages,” she says, waving her hand, fingers splayed. “The last is this one.” She reaches for his hand and slides her fingers in between his. The tips of her fingers are warm, the touch of her wool gloves soft. Her eyes sparkle and she squeezes his hand. “The Acceptance.”

It takes a second for it to sink in. “That’s it?”

“When we hold hands in public, it means I’ve accepted you as my suitor,” she says. When she looks away, the dimples deepen in her cheeks. “Don’t look so surprised.”

He doesn’t know what to say. Dalisay seems amused by this. Her gaze slips back to him. Her lips are closed, but her smile is bright, and her eyes have so much color, with flecks of gold and mahogany, deep and rich. He never allowed himself to see it before, and now he can’t look away.

“You won,” she says. She lets go of his hand, and Evan realizes too late that he didn’t want her to. “I thought you’d chicken out. I didn’t think you’d see it through. But you proved me wrong. You earned it.”

Evan doesn’t know what to think. A part of him wants to be thrilled that he did it, that he passed all five stages, but another part of him has moved way beyond that.

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