Page 17 of The Lover
April 22
It was Tuesday. Maryanne and Denny had taken me out for my birthday. I was trying to be happy about it, but all I could think about how this was the first birthday in a long time I had spent apart from Jake.
It felt weird.
Officially, Jake and I were still in limbo. The reality was, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to change that. He was three hours away and responsible for running my ranch. It’s not like we could casually go out on dates. So we did our thing. We talked each Sunday about school, about the ranch, and we didn’t talk about us. Or what us not dating meant.
Denny and Maryanne continued to give me advice as to why limbo was the stupidest thing ever. I continued to ignore that advice in favor of my stubborn belief that I was doing the right thing.
Only one more month to go before the semester was over, and then I was going back to Riverbend. Permanently. I could say that I officially stuck it out for one semester, which wasn’t quitting. Jake would fight me on it, but I was done living this half-life. Not when I was clear on what I wanted my future to look like.
Yes, that’s when, as Denny would say, shit was going to have to get real. For now I was happy enough to be out with my friends, drinking margaritas and eating more guacamole than was probably healthy.
“Did Jake at least call you?” Denny asked.
“Yep. This morning. He said he had a present for me and that it should be delivered today. I’m hoping it will be waiting for me when I get back to the dorm.”
Maryanne smiled. “I know I give you a lot of grief over him… but I do think he’s a nice guy.”
I smiled. That actually meant a lot to me. Jakewasa nice guy, and while maybe he was being selfish with the whole limbo thing, I knew he deserved some slack. None of what we had been through had been easy. On either of us. Which meant nothing could be as simple as black and white going forward. We were a work in progress. I knew that even if they didn’t.
“And I think he’s hot enough to warrant sticking around for,” Denny said as he slurped back the last of his margarita.
I made a mental note to let Jake know Denny thought he was hot. He would get all freaked out, and then I could school him on his closeted homophobic fears.
“We do have one surprise for you,” Maryanne said with a big smile.
“Is this the part where they come out singing with a cake? Because really guys, that’s so embarrassing.”
“No, this is the part where I get to give you my present.”
I whipped around in my chair. There, standing behind me, holding flowers (ACTUAL FLOWERS) was Jake Talley.
I felt tears spring to my eyes. “You’re my present,” I said, realizing what he meant on the phone this morning.
“Happy birthday, Ellie.”
I jumped up and was in his arms in a second.
“How did you make this happen?”
“Rich, Javier, and Gomez have control of things at the ranch. I could make the time. I called Maryanne this morning and she told me where they were taking you for dinner.”
“Surprise!” Maryanne said.
I took the bouquet of wildflowers and pressed my face in them. It was without a doubt the most romantic gesture he’d ever made, and I couldn’t stop myself from being thrilled.
Then he held up a small box. “What’s this?” I asked.
“Your other present. Open it.”
I opened the box and inside was a square plastic card. It looked like a smooth credit card without the numbers.
“What is it?”
“It’s my hotel room key. I thought… we could spend a few days together. If you wanted.”
I looked up at him. I could see his cheeks were flushed and his jaw was tight. That muscle flexing away. His eyes… He was looking at me like he had that one time when I got in the shower with him. Like he didn’t have to hide what he wanted from me any longer.
