Her voice haunted his nights and his days stretched out until he saw her again. She smelled different each time she was in his arms, however brief those moments were. She never stayed long enough. Leaving behind vanilla and spice and flowers and all the notes between that he tried to remember. Loving her was a welcome torture.
The numbers and letters that filled the glowing screen at his desk were a distraction until the evening. He was not usually lax but today was different. They didn't see each other often, he barely knew what she did during the day and she never seemed to ask what he did. He wondered if she cared. But he knew she could not ignore the surges of intensity when their eyes met. Before she looked away shyly. She did it every time.
He knew he could be so much more. To her, to everyone. If only it wasn't so difficult. He had done everything right and now he felt as if it had come to nothing. Money and power were cold mistresses when your heart was longing for a mere second against her lips. Those lips that she often bit nervously and those lips that broke into a smile now and then. Nothing mattered except the way tendrils of her hair curled near the nape of her neck. All was meaningless if she did not have a part in it.
The buzzing phone broke his reverie. A message flashed onto the screen:
Received at 8:19 - Hey :) Miss you We still on for tonight right?
Sent at 9:27 - Hi. Just busy at work right now,yes tonight is still as planned. Call me when you get . there okay?
Received at 9:28 - Will do, I love you.
Sent at 10:03 - I know. I have to go. Bye.
___________________________________
"Someone looks especially happy today."
" No, well yes. I just get happy when I see a text from him. He's back to his old self again. He made plans for tonight!"
"Everything getting better? I knew it would, you can see how devoted he is to you."
" His job is getting better, I was worried, you know? Because he was so distant during the beginning and then it got better eventually. But when he proposed it almost made sense that he was waiting for it to be stable for us. It feels right, you know? It explained away all my worries that he wasn't in love and actually revealed how he kept the proposal a huge surprise for me."
"What are you two doing tonight then?"
" I think it's dinner, with some of our friends so we can officially break the news about the wedding."
"Haven't you done it yet?"
" Just with my family and of course you. He wanted to tell them personally, they're practically his family."
" You're just so lucky. And patient! I would not last as long as you did with a secret like that."
"It's been a week, not that long? Don't you have a deadline to meet?"
"Oh crap, that's not today is it? Don't answer that."
"I would be working if I were you. Go."
___________________________________
The long snake of cars moved slowly in the dying light. He wouldn't be late but the prospect thereof worried him. That he might miss a second of her. This had to be love, even if he couldn't say it. Or madness, this craze that followed his heart into the dark shadows. He could face the world again after she smiled at him. She didn't seem to grasp how he immensely he loved her.
His phone was silent as he entered the resturant, but he saw her through the crowd anyway.
___________________________________
"Hi, you're earlier than expected," her voice cut through the noise," Everyone said they're going to be late. Which I expected given.. I mean it's a Friday, nightmare on the road?"
"It's hellish," he scrambled for a joke to make but came up short, "It's the agony of waiting an hour and moving slower than the pedestrians."
She laughed and his heart soared.
He leaned in as she stood and walked toward him. The embrace was over before he realised it began. Today she smelled like coffee and lilacs. Her hair was up and a few stray curls framed her face, he caught himself staring. "I beat traffic today. I guess I was lucky," His tie was out of place here, he loosened it and attempted to pry it off, "I'm overdressed."
"Can I help there? You don't have to take it off, work clothes are what everyone will probably be in."
She leaned over and reached up.How could he refuse?
Everyone started to arrive and each time she stood, he caught himself gazing up at her. His phone buzzed. They were all there. They had all been there when he first met her. An age passed and someone stood up to propose a toast. His phone buzzed again. He ignored it. It started to ring, he excused himself.
The voice that greeted him was dulled by the wind that blew as he walked outside, "Hi darling, I know I'm late. Sorry. This traffic is a nightmare. Please carry on without me. I will be there after the Big Announcement however."
"What announcement?"
"Oh I'm so careless! It's.. Well you will find out soon, I guess? I love you. Will be 15 minutes, okay? Darling? Just tell them to carry on, she shouldn't wait for me because I know... "
"Okay... I have to go. Bye"
He looked toward the table again, where she sat smiling. She started laughing as a story was told to the table by his best friend who sat next to her. It was only when he sat down that he noticed a ring on her finger.
