Page 33 of Pretend to be Mine
Ben
Savannah and I have been together for six months now and things couldn’t be going any better. If I’m not staying at her house, she’s staying at mine. Tonight, though, I have a special dinner planned. I cooked her favorite: eggs, bacon, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, and waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream. I light some candles and place them on the table, then find the drawer where we keep them in stock in case of a power outage. I get an idea, and I light them all and turn out the lights.
There’s so many candles burning that the living room and kitchen are bright like the overhead light is turned on. I take rose petals and sprinkle them on the floor from the front door to the kitchen table. While I wait, I clean up, add some cologne, and comb my hair. I hear Savannah’s car pull into the driveway, so I head into the kitchen and make sure everything is perfect.
The door opens and I hear her sudden intake of breath. “What’s all this?” she asks, walking into the kitchen to find me waiting by the table. I smile and walk over to help take her coat off. “I just wanted to give you a special evening.”
"You cooked?” she asks, raising her eyebrows.
I laugh. “I did. Hopefully it tastes a good as it smells, but I’ve been fooled before,” I joke, and she laughs. I get her coat off and toss it into the living room.
“This is perfect. You remembered. Thank you,” she says, spinning around to face me. Her eyes are glassy with happiness and the corners of her mouth are turned upward.
“You’re welcome,” I say, placing my hands on her biceps as I lean in slowly for a kiss. The kiss is soft and slow, and when she wraps her arms around my neck to deepen it, I have to remind myself not to get carried away. I pull back. “Let’s eat.”
Savannah takes her place at the table, and I get to serving the food and pouring the wine. Finally, I take my seat across from her. “Well?” I ask.
She takes a bite, and her eyes grow in size. “It’s amazing. You made these waffles?”
I laugh and nod. “Yeah, I followed a YouTube video step by step.”
“There’s hope for you after all,” she jokes.
“Your kitchen is much easier to cook in than mine because, I’m just running back and forth across the floor. Yours is set up so that you take fewer steps, and you always have what you need.”
She nods around her chewing. “That’s what happens when you get to lay it all out yourself.”
I want to start talking about our future, whether I should move into her place or if she wants to buy a place together, but I have to wait. I don’t want to jump the gun here. “How was work?”
She nods. “Good. A little slow today but the rest of the week is booked solid, so I kind of enjoyed the quietness today. How was the hospital?”
“You know, sick people, injured people, it’s always the same.”
Savannah rolls her eyes. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you to be my realtor.”
Her chewing stops as she looks up at me. “Huh?”
I can’t help myself. “Well, things have been going really well with us lately. I mean, if I’m not reading into things.”
“You’re not,” she says, shaking her head.
“I thought that maybe it was time to put my house on the market and I could move in here with you. Then maybe we could start to look for something a little bigger, together. Use the money from selling my house as a down payment on the next. What do you think?”
She nods and takes a sip of her wine. “That sounds very responsible.” She smirks.
“So, you want to take the next step and live together?”
She smiles and nods. “Yes! I thought you’d never ask. I mean, you’re always here, or I’m always there, anyway. It just makes sense to save some money and have one house instead of two.”
I smile and reach into my pocket. “I’m glad you feel that way,” I reply, sliding out of my chair and down onto one knee. I pull the ring box out of my pocket and open it, showing it to her. “I was hoping I wasn’t jumping to conclusions here, but I’ve talked myself into waiting this long. I couldn’t wait any longer.”
Her eyes are wide and sparkling with the candlelight as she turns to face me directly.
“Savannah Grace Kelly, you captured my attention the first time I saw you, and you haven’t let it slip away once. If I know anything, it’s that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are kind, sweet, perfect in every way, and I never want to let you go. Will you marry me?”
A tear slides down her cheek and I quietly laugh as I reach up and brush it away.
