First Sight (45 page)

“Hey, it’s me,” I said as soon as
he
picked up the phone.

“Hey you,” he said teasingly, and I found myself flushing despite myself.
  Thankfully he wasn’t here to see me, but something about the intimate
way he spoke was
making me feel warm all over. 
“How’d shopping go?” he asked in his deep voice
.

“It was fun
. 
Marissa bought a ton of stuff, and I got some new things
….” My voice trailed off—there was no need to mention
exactly what
I
had
purchased. 
Maybe he’d get to see it soon enough anyway. 
“
We had drinks beforehand
. 
Marissa didn’t meet Emily and me until later though.  Apparently she wanted to talk things over with Rob.  They’re having some fancy
dinner
together
this weekend
, so
I guess she’s not mad at him anymore.
”

“She’s too much,” Travis said with a laugh.

“
Seriously
.
  So how was your night?”

“Oh, I didn’t do much.  I hit
the gym after work
, picked up
my
dry cleaning on the way home,
and then heated up a frozen dinner.”  I imagined him
sitting
in his kitchen, watching the turntable in his microwave spin around
as he waited to eat
. 
No, he
wouldn’t do that,
I thought with a smile.  He
probably
stretched out
on the sofa and read the sports section or
turned on the news
. 
At any rate,
Travis
didn’t
really
seem like the type that enjoyed cooking, judging from the sparse amount of food that had been
in his kitchen
. 
Maybe someday
we’d
make
dinner together.  That
would definitely be more fun
than cooking
by
myself
and eating
alone.

Trav
is suddenly cleared his throat, bringing
me
back to the present.
“I missed you,” he said gruffly.

“I missed you, too.” I said softly. 
Between spending last weekend together and
working side
-
by
-
side
every
evening
this week
, this wa
s the first night
that
I
ha
d
n’t
spent any time
with
him
.

“I’m looking f
orward to this weekend though.”

“
Are you saying we have plans aside from dinner tomorrow?
”
I teased.

“I hope so.”  I could practically see his smile on the other end of the line. 
We talked for a
few more minutes
, but before long I was starting to yawn.

“I better get to bed, Travis.”

“All right.
  You sound a little sleepy.”

“I am,” I said, stifling a yawn.
  “
S
ee you tomorrow?”

“
See you tomorrow. 
Goodnight,
Maddy
.”  His voice was soft, and I remembered how he whispered in my ear the other night as he lay beside me.  I wished that he was here with me right now and not
just
talking to me
on the phone,
miles away
in his own apartment. 
As
I looked out my window into the dark night
,
I
wondered if he was
possibly thinking
the same thing.

“Goodnight, Travis.”

I heard his gentle breathing on the other end of the line as I quietly hung up the phone.

The next evening
,
I hurried home
from work to get ready. 
It had been a relatively easy day now that our deadline had passed, and
Marissa and I had spent more time surfing the Internet and w
a
ndering the halls chatting with
our coworkers
than getting anything work-related done
.
Because i
t had been one of those gorgeous spring days that begged to be spent outside
,
w
e’d taken a long lunch break, leisurely enjoying the nice weather at a little outdoor café. 
Travis
and I had made plans for him to come over around
7:00, so I had a couple of hours to change and get dinner started before he arrived.  I took a long shower, washing my hair
with floral-scented shampoo
and taking the time to carefully shave my legs.  Wrapping myself in a fluffy towel when I was finished, I slathered on vanilla-scented body lotion.  I put some mousse in my hair and then turned on my hair dyer, flipping my head upside down to give my hair some extra body as I dried it.

Satisfied with the way my hair looked, I turned my attention to my makeup.  I carefully drew brown eyeliner above my lashes and applied some chocolate brown shadow, followed with a few swipes of mascara.  I dabbed a little
concealer
under my eyes and swooped some pinkish blush on my cheeks. 
Not bad
, I thought to myself as I turned my he
ad back and forth in the mirror, checking my reflection from different angles.
  Now I just needed to decide what to wear.

I walked over to my closet, still clad in a bath towel, and
riffled
through
the clothes on the rack
.  I didn’t want to be
really
dressed up, like I was trying too hard, but I didn’t want to just throw on jeans either.  I finally pulled out a white cotton skirt with some delicate black embroidery.  It
was lightweight and
fell to the knee
in an
a-line shape
,
perfect for a casual evening.  I slipped my skirt on and pulled a black
scoop neck
top over my head.  I didn’t want to wear heels if I was cooking, so I put on a pair of
flat
bronze sandals.

I had decided earlier that because I’d never cooked anything for Travis
before
, there was no sense in trying
a
new
recipe
tonight
and ending up with a disaster in the kitchen.  By the time 7:00 rolled around,
I had
my tried and true favorite, chicken parmesan,
cooking on the stove, with another
twenty
minutes or so to
go.  The pasta was drained, sitting in a colander in the sink, and the dining room table was set.  I set
a plate
of baked
brie and crackers on the counter, and I lit the Tahitian vanilla candles that I had on the coffee table in the living room.
  They let off an amazing scent and cast a warm light around the room.

The doorbell rang at 7:05, and when I opened it, Travis was standing there with
a bouquet of
flowers in one hand and a bottle of red wine in the other.  His face lit up
as his eyes met mine
, and I beamed back at him.  He looked
especially
handsome
tonight
, his dark hair still damp from the shower and his skin smooth, like he had just shaved.  He was wearing a black, short-sleeved button down shirt and khaki pants.  I wanted to laugh because it almost looked like we had
dressed in coordinating outfits, since I was wearing black and white.

“These are for you,” he said, handing me the flowers, his fingers brushing against mine as I took them.  “You like nice,” he said sincerely.

“Thank you.  And thanks for the flowers,” I said, flus
hing slightly.

“I brought wine
,
too,” he said, holding the bottle slightly
up
for me to see
.  “I hope red is okay.”

“
Red is p
erfect,” I said with a smile.  “Come in.”
I
grabbed his arm, pulling him inside, and he followed behind me as I
walked into the kitchen
.  I
pulled out an inexpensive glass vase
to put the flowers in.  I didn’t have any that were fancy crystal, but
that was the type of thing that you got as a wedding gift
, not something that most 25-year-olds kept lying around.  At any rate, t
his
one worked and
would have to do
for lack of any other options
.  Travis set the bottle of wine down
and leaned against the counter,
watching me as I moved around the small room
.
I t
urned to give him a quick smile as I filled the vase with water.

“It
smells good in here,” he said.

“Thanks.  Dinner
should
be ready in
about
twenty
minutes
.  We can have
cheese and crackers
now though.  Do you want to open the wine?”
  I asked,
glancing
up at him as I tried to artfully arrange the flowers.

“Sure,” he said easily, walking across the room to me. 
I handed him the corkscrew and then carried the flowers over to the dining area to set on the table.  I went back into the kitchen and opened a cupboard, realizing that the wine glasses were on a high shelf
since I didn’t use them very often
.  I kept a stepstool in the hall closet but didn’t want to drag that out right now.  Travis
noticed
me looking up at them
and
was suddenly
right
behind me.  “Do you need some help?” he
asked,
his voice deep.

“Yeah,” I said, turning around.  “Can you get down two of the glasses?”

“Okay,” he
replied
.  But rather than reaching for the glasses, he put his hands on my waist and gazed down at me.  I looked up into his deep brown eyes, and he slowly lowered his
head until his lips were softly brushing against mine.  “You look beautiful tonight,” he said softly when he finally pulled away.  My heart fluttered, and I reached up and put one hand on his cheek.  I stretched up on my tip toes to kiss him again.  He bent down, and I met his warm mouth in another lingering kiss.

“
Do you w
ant me to pour the wine?” Travis asked a few moments later
when we finally separated
, his brown eyes gazing down at me.

“Sure, that sounds good,” I said softly.

He gave me a smile then
carried the glasses over to the counter while I checked on our dinner.  “Help yourself,” I said, gesturing to the food I’d set out.  He
cut a slice
of the baked brie and took a bite.

“Wow, this is amazing,” he said with a grin.

“It’s actually really easy to make, but
shhh
, don’t tell anyone.”

“It can be our little secret as long as you promise to make it for me again,” he said with a laugh.

“Deal,” I said, smiling back at him.  It felt like our entire evening had been nothing but us smiling at one another (with a few kisses thrown in), but I knew we were both
just
happy to finally
have some time alone together.

The kitchen timer
buzzed
before
I could say anything else
.  “I
t sounds like dinner’s ready.”
 
I scooped some of the pasta onto each plate and then lifted the lid off the chicken parmesan.  I carefully set a piece of chicken onto the pile of pasta and then ladled some of the tomato sauce on top.  I sprinkled a little extra parmesan cheese on top for good measure, and when each plate was ready, I carr
ied them into the dining room. 
Travis had refilled each of our wine glasses but hadn’t sat down yet since I was still up.  He took the plates from me, setting
them down on the table
, and he sat down as I finally did.

“This looks really
good,
Maddy
.”

“I hope you like it,” I said, waiting to see his reaction.