Page 19 of Picture Perfect Love

Joshua

Iwas buzzing with excitement over the prospect of seeing Abby again. It was a long shot to prepare such a lavish arrangement for a meal not knowing if she’d actually come or not. And I gave her such short notice on top of that. I considered the alternative of what could happen: putting the whole thing together only to end up enjoying it alone. It was a risk I was willing to take. I had been enjoying a lot of things alone since I set my sights on Abby, which my siblings were grateful for. It meant less getting into trouble in bars and clubs… and the media.

But I didn’t have to worry about the alternative or being alone. Because Abby was coming.

My heart leaped with me as I stood up when she appeared in the doorway. She looked different when she wasn’t in her waitressing uniform. Her red hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore black glasses and a tan trench coat over her jeans and sweater. She was casual but classic, and just as gorgeous as ever.

I cleared my throat and straightened my jacket, feeling like a fool for getting so flustered over one woman. What was happening to me?

“You’re awfully persistent, Joshua Meadows,” she blew out, laughing, shaking her head as she walked over to the covered patio and slipped off her coat.

“Anything worth having is worth fighting for,” I grinned, not sitting until she had. “If it comes too easily, it’s probably not for you. So I think my persistence is for a good cause.”

“I think it’s supposed to be the other way around. If the door keeps slamming in your face, try another door.”

“But you’re here.” I leaned back, inching my arm around the back of her seat. “So maybe the door that slammed in my face with that parting gift of yours is starting to creak open again.”

“It’s late. I was hungry and had no plans. You won for practicality reasons.”

The waiter I hired brought out an appetizer tray of breads, soup dips, and vegetable tempura along with a bottle of sake.

“I hope you don’t mind a menu of fusion cuisine.”

“Sounds perfect. I like a healthy mix of things,” she replied.

“And I like you,” I noted, caught up in the blue shimmer of her eyes.

“You don’t know me,” she said with a bashful laugh.

“I don’t know a lot of people, and it hasn’t stopped me from getting roped into all sorts of things with them.”

“Like your bar floozies you like to strip dance with on bar tops?” she shot back.

I poured us each a small glass of sake and tipped mine towards her in the air between us. “Precisely. You’re a far better person to get wrapped up in. Hence all the extra effort.”

She clinked her glass to mine and took a sip. “Well, here I am. I guess the extra effort paid off this time.”

“I guess so. Here we are.”

She went on to tell me about her busy day while we ate shrimp and pork shumai with vegetable curry and rice. They were ordinary things, but I was enthralled. I listened intently about her morning workout and lunch shift followed by class and study group.

“I wish I had half the motivation you do,” I marveled. “I don’t know how you do it.”

She soaked up the compliment, but her mind seemed to drift for a moment. “Do you remember what you asked me on the night we met?”

“Beyond inviting you out? No, I don’t think so. I was in a blind haze the night I met you.”

“You asked if I was going to be the type of person who kept you in line… or if I would be your partner in crime.”

“I’d gladly take either. One might prove more difficult for you than the other.”

“Well, if I’m going to be hanging around you… I guess I’ll be taking on the more difficult one,” she snipped, growing stern. “I don’t live the same kind of life as you, Joshua. I can’t afford to chase after my every whim and impulse. I have to work hard, and if you ask me… any respectable person should work hard whether they have to or not.”

“So, you want to keep me in line?”

“I don’t want to have to, is more my point,” she told me. “And I’d rather not have to constantly fight to keep myself in line around you.”

We had just finished cleaning our plates, which cued the waiter to return with another bottle and a wrapped box. Perfect timing.

---