“I can’t hear you.”
“I’M NOT THROUGH ’TIL I SAY ‘I DO,’” I screamed.
Benji climbed down from his chair and blew his whistle. “See all of you disappointments on Friday.”
Benji patted me on the shoulder before Becca and I limped out of the studio.
“Wanna grab a coffee?” she asked, looking desperate.
I looked down at my watch. “I was hoping to spend a few minutes with Sam before he leaves for work.”
“Come on, you have enough time to grab a quick one and then a quick one, if you know what I mean,” she said, winking at me.
I laughed. “Forget sex. Sam’s been working so much these last few weeks I’m just hoping to see him long enough to give him a good morning kiss.”
Sam worked with Becca’s fiancé, Evan. She and I met at their work Christmas party a few years back. We weren’t particularly close, but she was one of the few people who understood what it was like to be a work widow. Sam and Evan easily worked sixteen-hour days, and we were lucky to see them a few hours a week.
We ducked into a small coffee house between the gym and our apartments. There was already a line out the door. Finally, we got up to the counter and ordered. A few minutes later, they called our names, and we took our steaming mugs to a small table in the corner.
“Evan said Sam’s off the next couple of days,” Becca said between sips of her cappuccino.
“My sister’s in town with my new nephew. Sam and I couldn’t get out to California when he was born, so she and her wife are here making the rounds. I begged Sam to give me one day, and he surprised me by taking a whole two days off. So, we’ll spend tomorrow with my sister and the baby, and then Friday, we’re having a yes date.”
“A yes date?”
“We used to have them all the time. On a yes date, one of us is responsible for planning an entire date, and the other person has to be completely open to whatever’s on the agenda.”
“What’s on tomorrow’s agenda?”
“Sam even proposed on a yes date, so figured I had to go big for mine. We’re going to start outside the city with breakfast at a cool roadside pancake place I read about, followed by strawberry picking. Then, we’ll head back into the city. It wasn’t easy, but I scored us Candytopia tickets.”
Becca scrunched her nose. “Candytopia?”
“It’s kind of like a pop-up museum, where all the exhibits are made of candy. They even have a pool filled entirely with marshmallows you can dive into.”
“If Sam is anything like Evan, he’ll hate that.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Exactly, but he has no choice but to go along with it. Yes date. After that, we’ll clean up, then head back out for a drink at the Café Carlyle, followed by Sleep No More, that immersive show based on Macbeth at the McKittrick Hotel.”
“Sounds like a really special day.”
“Honestly, we could do nothing, and it would be a special day because I’m spending it with Sam.”
Becca leaned in on her elbows. “You two are really that much in love, huh?”
“High school sweethearts.”
She set down her mug. “I didn’t know you two met in high school.”
“He was a senior when I was a freshman. We were both in the marching band. He played the trumpet, and I played the flute. Our high school was picked to play in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and we got to spend a whole week in New York City before the show. We were in rehearsals most of the time but got a couple of hours on our own. Sam asked me if I wanted to go to the Museum of Modern Art with him. He’d never said a single word to me before that day. Not one. I wasn’t even sure he knew my name.”
A knowing smile tiptoed across Becca’s face. “I guess he knew your name?”
“He knew my name, my favorite flower, and that I was a Matisse fan.”
“Smooth.”
I nodded my head. “Very.”
“So that was that? From then on you were a dynamic duo?”
“Pretty much. We both knew we wanted to live in New York, so he applied to Columbia, and a few years later, I applied to NYU. We kept on dating through college and then afterward.” I held up my left hand and twisted my engagement ring around on my finger. “And as they say, the rest is history.”
“And in all that time you two never took a break? Used a hall pass? Nothing?”
“I never wanted to. There’s nobody I could imagine being any more perfect for me than Sam.”
Becca squinted at me with a look of skepticism. “But how do you know that’s true? You never gave yourself the chance to find out.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I just know.”
She slumped back into her chair. “If you say so. Evan and I have taken at least three breaks from our relationship, and that’s just this month.”
“Then why are you torturing yourself with Benji’s Bridal Boot Camp?”
“I figure it’s a win-win. If we make it down the aisle, I’ll look like a million bucks, and if we don’t, I’ll be ready for swimsuit season and online dating again.”
I shook my head and laughed. “That’s incredibly pragmatic of you.”
“Oh, honey, when you’ve been single in New York City as long as I was, you always have a plan B.”
Chapter Two
I walked into the apartment and could hear the shower running from the foyer. I slipped off my sweaty gym clothes, tossed them into the white wicker hamper and knocked lightly on the bathroom door before pushing it open. Steam and heat came pouring out into our bedroom. Sam was singing along with the shower radio, his back to the frosted glass door. I stealthily pried open the shower door and slid inside behind him. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I pushed up on my tiptoes and whispered, “Guess who?”
He slowly turned around, a huge smile plastered on his face. “I wasn’t expecting to see you. I figured you grabbed a juice or something with some of the girls from class.”
“Close, a coffee with Becca.”
“Becca’s still going to bridal Boot Camp? I thought she and Evan were on a break?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Apparently, the class is her insurance policy. She figures if they end up getting married, she’ll have her ideal bridal body, and if they don’t, she’ll be ready to dive back into the dating pool. Have I told you how grateful I am I never had to be out there?”
Sam lathered up a loofah and motioned for me to turn around so he could wash my back. “Out where?” he asked.
I turned around to face him and held my arms out wide. “Out there. Out in the New York City dating scene.”
He leaned in to kiss me. “Have I told you how proud I am of you, and how grateful I am that you agreed to marry me?”
I raised my right eyebrow. “Not this morning.”
“Well, I am, and I’ve been counting down the days ’til you are officially mine.”
“Samuel Ross Calver, I was yours the minute you knocked on my hotel room door holding a bouquet of yellow teacup roses and asked me to spend the day at the MOMA with you.”
He smiled and checked his watch. “I should get going. I have a 7:30 team meeting.”