Page 33 of Falling Backwards
“No, y’all are,” Emma returns.
“Noooo,” Joy protests, “y’allare.”
We all giggle together.Then Joy pushes herself up from the couch with a goofily dramatic wail.
“Someone carry me to breakfast,” she pleads.
I tell her, “I can’t carry anybody, but I’ll buy for everybody.”
Emma turns on her best raspy Gandalf voice: “Don’t tempt me, Maggie!”
Joy and I laugh again, and I point out, “Another movie we need to watch again soon.”
“Yes,” Emma groans.“Legolas, you beautiful elf-man….”
Joy claps her hands together.“If we get a quick breakfast instead of dining in somewhere, we should be able to watch it before Maggie goes to work at two.”
Just like that, our muscles aren’t too tired to hurry us to our rooms so we can change out of these sweaty clothes.
I’ll undoubtedly start getting sore sometime later—and probably end up annoyed over Luke in one way or another—but for now, my day looks good.
I admire myself a little bit too.
—
“Fifty years?”I repeat into the phone.“Oh my gosh, Mrs.Matthews!Congratulations!Don’t they call that the golden anniversary?”
“They sure do!”the lady on the other end says.I can hear how big her smile is.“Thank you so much, dear!We’ve been so blessed.Truly, we’re soulmates.And the cherry on top is that you’ve put us down for a reservation!My husband and I will have to start thinking about dessert the moment I’m off this call.It’s always such a hard choice between the crème brûlée and the bananas Foster cheesecake!”
I can’t help but grin along with her…for her newsandfor the idea that hits me.
After she has repeated her reservation time and date back to me to make sure she’s got it right, I agree, “And you’re right, itisa hard choice between those two desserts,” as if I’m not already planning to treat Mr.and Mrs.Matthews to both of them on their beautiful night.
She lets out a squeak of excitement.“Oh, I just can’t wait to get there!Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
It touches my heart.This plus the way she started gushing about her anniversary when I answered the phone…man, it’s like she’s celebrating her first year of marriage or something.
My face hurts now from how big I’m grinning.“You are so welcome.I thankyoufor wanting to spend time at Lucent on an occasion like this.I’ve always found it to be a romantic place.And since you’re clearly a professional, I’d love to know if you have any quick advice on how to keep a relationship strong.”
Her laugh is sweet.“A professional!You are a treat, my girl!But let’s see….”
With my own giggle, I close out her finished reservation on the iPad and wait for her to decide how to answer.I’ve always liked her and found it endearing that she prefers to reserve her tables over the phone instead of through our website.I can see the appeal—there’s a more traditional feel to speaking to the hostess yourself.
Shortly, she sighs, but I can still hear her smiling.“Be kind.”
The words sink into me.
So simple, yet so powerful.
Softly, I ask, “Yeah?”
“Yep.Now, you won’t remember to do it in every single situation, and both of you will deserve to have space and to honor how you feel.But always come back to kindness.Life gets hard and ugly sometimes.Build a safe place with each other.”
‘A safe place.’
Even though I know more goes into a relationship than just kindness, that phrase is still with me even a half-hour after our call ends.
Maybe because I don’t feel like I’ve ever had a safe place with a boyfriend.
