Her Chocolate Fantasy (16 page)

“It looks delicious
.”

“Wait
until you taste them.” I smiled as I went to finish fixing mine.

When I got back to the table, he had already cut into his pancakes, pouring the syrup over them before he dug his fork into
the stack. I waited for him to taste them, so that, way I would know if he liked them or not. He took a bite, and then he smiled real big and let out a moan.

“It just melts in your mouth
, it’s so good.”

I smiled a
nd I started in on mine, as well, and we didn’t talk much while we ate, for Max kept moaning over his pancakes, which honestly made me laugh. But once we were done, he sat back, drinking some of his coffee. I was about to start on cleaning, but he stopped me.

“Don’t worry about that
. I’ll clean up. Why don’t you come here and sit on my lap for a minute and tell me what you want to do today, since we didn’t get the chance to do anything yesterday.”

I put
down my plate and then went and sat in his lap. He wrapped his arm around my waist.

“How about we go sightseeing around town today? I’ve never been to Panama City Beach before, not even when I was a teenager for spring break. So
, I would love to go and see some of the sights, do a little shopping, and grab some lunch at that Book Docks place, since we didn’t go last night.”

“
I like the sound of that. We can get in the car and go sightseeing then.”

“
Sounds like a plan. While you are cleaning up the kitchen, I’ll go get a shower.” I got up from his lap, and went on into the bedroom and started to get ready.

* * * *

Max took me to some fun places, like Gulf World Marine Park, where I got to see some of the dolphin shows. We also went to Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, which I have to say, was probably the weirdest place I had ever been to. Then Max took me to the one place where I honestly never thought he would take me…a golf park called Pirates’ Island. Honestly, I thought it was corny for us to gothere, but with me beating Max and him making out like he was some crazy pirate, the experience was one I would never forget as long as I lived. By the time lunchtime came around, we made our way over to Boon Docks, and I was ready for some good seafood.

When we got there, we
chose a nice little spot away from the other customers. We ordered Net Teaser, which had corn nuggets, fried pickles, cheese sticks, and stuffed peppers, for an appetizer. I ended up not knowing what I wanted to try to have for lunch, because everything on the menu sounded so good, and when I saw people getting their food, it really was hard for me to figure out what I wanted.

“You know, there is an item on the menu called ‘Can’t Decide, No Problem
,’ that allows you to try like half of two items from a list,” our waitress, Val, suggested to me.

Max
had already ordered the crab claws.

“Well
, if that’s the case, I think I’ll try the shrimp and the, uh, the catfish, then.” I handed her my menu, as I continued to munch on a corn nugget.

“So
, how are you enjoying yourself so far today?” Max asked, taking my hand.

“I really am enjoying this time with you
. I just hate that it’s going to end in another day or so.” I really didn’t want to dwell on that, the fact that this would be our last time together until we met back up when I moved to New York with him. It had been something that had been bugging me for days, but I really didn’t want to tell him about it. But when I looked deep into those golden brown eyes of his, I knew he was thinking about it, as well. “I didn’t want to say anything about it, honestly, but it has been something that’s been on my mind for days now.”

“I’ve thought about it too
, but think of how wonderful it’s going to be when you come to New York. Then our life together can begin, and your studies as a chocolatier can begin.”

“I know
, and I can’t wait for that, either. It’s just thinking about you leaving me for that amount of time is the hardest part.”

He held my hand, softly kissing it
, as if to assure me that things would be alright.

“Try not to dwell on it
, sweetheart. Let’s just enjoy what we are doing right now this weekend, and when the day comes when we part, then we can feel this way, alright? I want to have fun with you, and that’s why I brought you here for the weekend. Somewhere, away from work and away from other people, some place where we could act up like kids and enjoy the fun. We are doing that, aren’t we, love?”

I giggled a bit
. “That we are, and then some.”

“Tonight
, I’ll build us a little bon fire along the beach, and we’ll make S’mores. It’s going to be a bit chilly near the water, but I’ll wrap us both up in a blanket, and we can just enjoy the beautiful sunset. Sound good?”

“Now that sounds like the perfect ending to a lovely day.” I gave him a kiss on the lips,
and he smiled.

The food was fantastic, so fresh and hot that I ended up getting another small order of the shrimp
, which I shared with Max, of course. We decided to go to shopping at one of the local gift places, since I had wanted to add somethings for the babies’ picture box and grab something for Darla and Andre and Charlotte. I got Darla this cute tank top and short set in pink, with ‘Panama City Beach’ on the front and ‘PCB’ on the butt of the shorts. For Andre, I got a t-shirt, and for Charlotte, I bought a beautiful necklace made of shells. But it was what Max surprised me with next that really made the day more complete for me.

“Where are we going now?”

“You’ll see.”

This was all he would tell me
, and of course, it only intrigued me more to figure out where we were headed. But soon, I could see a riverboat off in the distance, and that’s where we ended up stopping. We pulled into the parking lot, and I honestly couldn’t believe he had set us up a riverboat ride, of all things.

“A riverboat, this is where we are going for today
.”

I smiled as we both got out of the car.
He grabbed my hand and we ran to the gangplank that led up onto the boat itself. Thankfully, it seems we had gotten there just in time, from what the lady Max had paid told us.

“We were just about to head on out in the next three minutes.
”

Both of us walked around
, as we saw a group of young children playing around and talking with one another. When the boat started to leave the dock, the children seemed to get more excited, as the large, red paddle of the boat started to move.

“Let’s sit down for
a bit,” Max said as we walked to a bench where some of the older people were sitting and where we could watch over the water. It was rather peaceful looking out there, watching the world go by while I leaned back against Max. The smell of the air went through my hair, my clothes, my skin, and collected in my senses as I closed my eyes to breath it all in. We continued on our way that afternoon, the sound of the paddles lapping at the water mixed with the children’s laughter. They played games that the people who owned the boat had set up for the group. It was fun watching them play and reminded me of that daydream I had, the one with the little girl whose eyes shown bright like Max’s.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked me, playing with my
fingers.

“Just how nice it is out here
. Thanks for bringing me here.”

“Oh
, you’re welcome, baby, but I think there is something else on your mind. I’ve seen that look in your eyes before, like you were thinking about something that really hit a nerve with you.”

I had to laugh at his comment
, for if I really told him what I had been thinking, he would have either laughed at me or tried to change the subject, which is exactly what I planned on doing at that moment. “Was thinking about making you into that sundae tomorrow night?”

I could feel him laughing against my back
, and he held me, saying, “I honestly can’t wait for that either. I can’t wait to see what you have planned for me.”

Soon
, one of the little kids came over and said, “Come and play with us!”

The little boy was cute as a button with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt
and khaki shorts. His eyes were a brilliant blue and lit up when he looked over at Max and me.

“We only need one more to play.” He grabbed onto Max’s hand, pulling him to
his feet, and I sat forward so Max could get up.

I watched while Max looked helpless as the
children gathered around him. I had to admit, the entire thing was hilarious, especially when he kept looking back at me with those puppy dog eyes of his. I couldn’t help but laugh even more when they decided to see how many times they could make the hula hoop go around his waist.

Max only made it to ten
, but at least he won third place, and he ended up getting a teddy bear. When he came over to me, he had the bear in front of his face. I knew he was smiling, even though I couldn’t see his face.

“Why
, hello there,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “You look very pretty today. Can I come home with you?”

I had to laugh as I put my hand over my face to keep from snorting
, for his voice was hilarious as far as how silly it sounded coming from him of all people. “You want to come home with me, teddy bear?”

“Yes, I’d love that
. Can you take me home?”

“Well
, I wouldn’t mind taking you home with me, but you’ve got to have a name, you know.”

“How about calling me Max?”

I laughed. “Well, I already have a Max,”

“Does he treat you nice?”

“That he does; he treats me very nice.”

“Does he give you warm hugs and kisses all the time?”

“He gives probably the best hugs and kisses I’ve ever gotten before in my life.”

“Does he love you very much? He does tell you he loves you
, don’t he?”

“He tells me every day that he loves me
, and I love him very much.” I pushed down the teddy bear, moving in to give Max a kiss on the lips.

T
he children all said, “Eww!” and I buried my face in Max’s shoulder as we both started laughing.

“They’ll know when they get older how it is to fall in love.”
He handed me the small, brown teddy bear with a red bowtie, and we settled back in on the bench to enjoy the rest of our time on the water.

* * * *

We decided to head on back to the house, because even though we were away, I had to check up on Charlotte and the babies.

“Hello,” Charlotte
said, answering on the first ring.

“Hello
, Momma, how are you feeling?”

“
We are headed home now. Andre is getting everything into the car, and I am waiting for them to bring the babies so we can leave. How is it in Florida?”

“Absolutely beautiful here
. We just came back from a paddle boat ride. Came back to the house so we could kind of regroup and rest, so I said I would give you a call to see how you were.”

“Well
, I’m glad you both are having a wonderful time together. You both deserve it. I have to go, sweetheart. The nurse is here with the boys, so we are heading home. Wish me luck, because I know I’ll need it.”

“Oh
, you’ll do just fine. I’ll talk with you later then. Love you all, goodbye.” I hung up and then went into the kitchen to grab myself something to drink from the fridge. I looked out the window and saw that Max was gathering up some rocks we had seen alongside the back porch. When I went out to see what he was doing, I saw that he was making a fire pit.

“Do you need some help?” I shouted.

He looked over at me with a smile. “No, I got this. You go on back inside and relax. I should be done in a couple of minutes with setting everything up.”

“Alright
.” I walked back in and decided to see what was on television, and came across one of my favorite movies, Now Voyager, with Betty Davis. Thankfully, I had caught it at the beginning, since I am a stickler for watching a movie, even if it was one I had watched a hundred times before, from the very beginning.

I sat there watching it for a while, completely content with
the comfortableness of the couch and the coolness of my ginger ale, and I began to relax me after all the walking and fun we had that day. I looked over at the teddy bear that was sitting in the corner of the couch. His little plastic brown eyes shone brightly along with a little button nose that was just adorable. Soon the thought about our child came to mind, she was sitting there with that teddy bear in her little arms, smiling sweetly while hugging it tightly, and asking me, “Are we going to the beach today, Mommy?”

All I could do was smile as she started to giggle
for she was the most precious child I had ever seen.