Page 52 of Have a Bear-y Little Christmas
“No, not usually. It’s just another challenge. Did you know that Shakespeare invented over seventeen hundred words that we still use today?” Was it a silly little factoid? Yes! Didn’t mean that it wasn’t cool to know.
“Whoa, really? That’s kind of insane!”
I was used to people downplaying when I said that or being facetious in their appreciation, but as with everything else, Remy’s reactions seemed true. God, this guy.
“It really is.”
“I wonder how many I use and don’t even have any idea that I am. I’m trying to think of any, but unless it’s direct quotes, I don’t use any of his vernacular in day-to-day conversation.”
“Oh,vernacular!” I said, half teasing and also half sincere. “That is a very good word, but not one of his. However, I can name a dozen or so off the top of my head you’ve probably used today.”
The way his eyes sparked as he gazed down at me, and those full lips of his spread in a delighted expression was enough to make my stomach do a series of complicated flips. “Really? Spill. Don’t hold back now.”
I swallowed hard, mind reeling. What had we been talking about again? Oh, right. Shakespeare. “Well, to start off, if you’ve ever talked about a bedroom, that’s Shakespeare.”
“What? No way.”
“Yup, he used it inThe Tempest, and that was the first time it was used in the English language.”
He tilted his head back and laughed, the sound echoing off the high ceiling. Despite the boom of it, it was like the rest of the world drifted away, leaving just the two of us and our little bubble of happiness.
“That’s incredible!”
I was so fueled by his reaction that my brain put together a list that my mouth eagerly dictated. “You ever been lonely? That’s Shakespeare.Coriolanus. Sang along with Ke$ha about swagger?A Midsummer Night’s Dream. AndThe Tempeststrikes again with eyeball.
“Went on a wild goose chase?Romeo and Juliet—although, there’s some debate on that one. In a pickle?The Tempestagain. Bedazzled?Taming of the Shrew.” I paused to take a breath. “Now, there have been discussions on exactly what ‘inventing’ entails, because Shakespeare took certain parts of speech and converted them to others, like changing a noun to an adjective or using a verb as a noun. He also took words that existed in other languages and created a word for them in English that didn’t exist before.
“It’s also thought that perhaps there were certain words in common vernacular that he used for the first time in English literature—phrases and colloquialisms that were considered either uncouth or straight up unintelligent. Shakespeare really was a man of the people, and he wrote his plays to be enjoyed by the people.”
Finally, my common sense caught up to me. I had been prattling on and on about the old bard without letting Remy get a word in edgewise.
“Sorry, I got a little carried away there,” I said, blushing from head to toe. At least with us being inside the warm building, I could probably blame it on being overheated from still wearing all my winter layers.
“No, please don’t apologize,” Remy said. “How do you remember all that?Bondye!The mind you must have on you…”
“Bondye?”
“It basically means oh my goodness. When I’m around my family, I tend to use more of the phrases I grew up with.”
“I did notice that your accent has gotten a bit thicker.”
“Have you?” he said, raising one of his thick eyebrows at me. “What, you some kind of editor noticing this switch in my dialogue?”
“You betcha,” I said, gently nudging him with my elbow. “If you’re not careful, spell check is gonna drown you in squiggly red lines!”
“Oh no! Surely a fate worse than death! If only there was a beautiful, kind, hilarious editor around to save me from the inhumanity!”
Iknewit was stupid that my heart accelerated when he called me beautiful, and I definitely knew it was stupid that all the different parts of my brain converged on those three simple syllables. But knowing that didn’t stop my reaction anyway, so I did my best to breathe through the elation and pretend everything was normal—even though everything wasnotnormal.
I hadn’t even known Remy for a month, and already I wanted to lean toward him every time he spoke and know his opinions on so many things. I wanted to hear him laugh, and most of all, I wanted us all to hang out. His kids. My kid. Holiday adventures or playdates. It didn’t matter. I wanted to be around him, and I loathed the idea of not being in his presence.
It was way too soon for that, wasn’t it?
I had been single since Max’s father disappeared on us, mostly because I never really had space in my heart or my life for anyone else. Sometimes, I was worried something was broken within me, but now, as I gazed up at the tall, incredibly handsome father who had ice skated—albeit barely—into my life, I realized I wasn’t broken at all.
That was probably way too big of a personal revelation to deal with at the moment, so I pushed it to the metaphorical basement of my mind, locking it in a box to deal with later.
Yeah, that was definitely the mature solution.
