Page 30 of Gracefully Yours

“No.”

Another thought occurred to me. I’d listened to our friends call their girlfriends sickeningly sweet nicknames for months, and I’d always just called her Char. No one ever really called me anything else, but I didn’t think I would mind if it was her doing it.

“Okay. Now that’s settled… What should we call each other? Like… pet names?”

She raised an eyebrow. “What about them?”

“Well… Are we going to keep calling each other our first names if we’re in a relationship? If we don’t want our friends to ask questions…”

“I don’t know. We could… you know, play it by ear.”

I smirked. “Okay, darling.” I could think of a hundred different things to call her, but there was only one that would really matter.Wife.I couldn’t exactly pull that one out yet, though.

“Daniel…” Her cheeks pinked slightly. “I don’t know what I should call you, though.Babe?” She wrinkled her nose.

“We’ll figure it out.” I grinned. “And speaking of the wedding... What are you thinking?” I wanted to give her the wedding she’d always dreamed about.

Her eyes twinkled. “Well, we could always do a winter wedding…” She fiddled with her sweater. “I’ve always loved the idea of a wedding with snow. But is that too soon?”

“I don’t see any reason to wait.”

Because I’d marry you tomorrow, if you wanted it.I cleared the thought away. That was too much.

“Whenever is fine with me? We don’t have to plan all the specifics out yet, though.” Because I was dangerously close to blurting out my feelings, and that was the one thing I couldn’t do. Not yet.

She nodded. “Great. Now… do you want to watch a movie? The new Spider-Man is out. And my butt is going numb from sitting on this counter for so long.”

“Yes. Want popcorn?”

“Is the answer to thatevergoing to be no?”

I laughed, going to pop a bag into the microwave before I let her lead the way to the couch.

We sat with a bowl of popcorn between us.

Even if we didn’t sit thigh to thigh, I couldn’t wait for the day I could bridge that gap between us, holding her in my arms and taking every bit of her she would give me.

“You know…” she paused the movie, looking between the screen and I. “Matthew and Noelle’s Halloween party is coming up.”

“Oh, yeah?”

She hummed in response. “Yes. And… I think I know the perfect costumes for us to do.”

“As long as I don’t have to wear shark teeth again, I’m game.”

Last year we went as Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Even though Charlotte had looked absolutely adorable with her pink hair and the pink spandex suit, I’d felt like an idiot in my costume. But it made her smile, and that was worth it.

Everything with her was worth it.

* * *

“Dad?”

We’d agreed not to tell our friends yet, but we hadn’t said anything about our parents, and I needed someone to confide in who wasn’t my sister. So I’d called my dad to tell him Charlotte and I’s news.

“Daniel?” He answered, like it surprised him I was calling.

Maybe it did. I didn’t call enough, and between my parents’ divorce and eventual remarriages, sometimes it was hard to be in between their fighting. Angelina and I had always had each other, and we’d leaned on our parents less and less the older we got.

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