Love at First Flight (38 page)

She looked around the room, remembering
when they bought the furniture on a payment plan they feared they wouldn't be
able to afford. That was before Jeremy landed the job he had now, which took
care of most of their financial worries.

The stylish entertainment center came
from IKEA, and Juliana smiled when she recalled Jeremy complaining that there
were no fewer than ten thousand pieces to it when they got it home. But as
usual he put it together in no time. His ability to fix anything, build
anything, or puzzle through any mechanical problem made him the “go-to” guy in
their group of friends. It was only thanks to him that her old car still had
any life left in it.

Everything in the room, from the color
of the paint to the framed artwork to the curtains, was chosen together.
Juliana's friends liked to tease her about living with a guy who cared about
things like curtains, but she enjoyed the shared pleasure they took in making
his mother's place their own.

It was hard to believe what had happened
to them in the last couple of months. After ten almost perfect years together,
it all came undone during one disastrous weekend that undermined everything she
believed to be true about them. And it had opened the door just wide enough for
her to find a new, unexpected love.

She reminded herself that Jeremy claimed
he hadn't acted on the freedom he'd thought he wanted so badly. If anything, he'd
done nothing but regret asking for it. So if she had never met Michael, would
she be lying here pretending to still be asleep while she heard Jeremy moving
around upstairs? Or would she be celebrating his return home after the long
separation?

She tried to find the words she would
need...
Jeremy, it's over between us. I'm
sorry, but the time we spent apart has shown me I want other things out of
life. We both outgrew this relationship while we were apart over the last nine
months, and it's time for us to learn how to live without each other.
Her
eyes teared when she imagined his reaction to hearing that. No way would he let
her go without a fight, and the idea of an emotional battle exhausted her.

He came downstairs looking handsome in
one of her favorite shirts and black dress pants that must have been new. As he
made his way to the sofa, he tugged the maroon cashmere sweater she bought him
one Christmas over his head and adjusted the collar on his shirt.

“Babe?” He caressed her face. “Are you
awake?”

“Yeah. What time is it?”

“Almost five. You really conked out on
me.”

“Sorry.”

“Have you been burning the candle? You
know how run down you get when you don't get enough sleep.”

She swallowed hard as visions of the
erotic night with Michael flashed through her mind. “No, I was just tired.”

“I ran you a bubble bath. Why don't you
go soak for a while? We have reservations at Chiapparellis at seven,” he said,
referring to their favorite restaurant in Little Italy.

“We do?”

He held out a hand to help her up. “Uh huh.”
He kissed her cheek. “Go on up. Take your time.”

“Thanks for the bath.”

“My pleasure.”

She climbed the stairs to the master
bedroom. The last time she had been up there was just before she left for the
Bahamas with Michael when she came to get some summer clothes. As she pulled
her sweater over her head and tossed it on the bed, she wondered how Jeremy
would react to the news that she had no plans to sleep with him that night.

Peeling off the rest of her clothes, she
walked into the large bathroom and gasped at the vases of pink roses—at least
five or six dozen of them. In the tub, rose petals floated on top of steaming
bubbles and soft music wafted from the speakers he installed a few years ago.
On the edge of the tub, he had left a glass of wine for her.

“Oh,
Jer.”
She stepped into the tub and let the hot water ease the ache in her heart and
in muscles still tender from a night spent locked in passion with another man.
Sinking down into the tub, she thought back to Dewey Beach when Michael pulled
her—suds and all—from the tub and took her to bed.
Where is he now? What happened with Paige?
She was dying to know.

Jeremy came to the door. “Everything
okay in here?”

“It's beautiful.”

“So are you.”

“When did you do all this?”

“You were asleep for a long time. I had
some time to kill.”

“Thank you.”

He walked in to hand her the glass of
wine. “I've realized some of the romance had gone out of our rela-tionship
before I left for Florida. Now that we're back together, I hope we can remedy
that.”

“Jer—”

“Enjoy the bath. Call me if you need
anything.” He bent to kiss her forehead and then left the room. Groaning, she
slipped underwater.

***

Juliana wore a long black skirt with
high-heeled black boots and a sheer ivory silk blouse over an ivory cami-sole.
She got dressed with a heavy heart, dreading what he most likely had planned
for tonight and wondering how she would ever say no to him.

Out of habit, she touched perfume to her
neck and smoothed on lipstick. “Well, here goes,” she whispered to her
reflection in the mirror.

Jeremy came to the foot of the stairs
when he heard her coming down. “Oh, Jule, look at you.” He offered her his
hand. “You're so gorgeous. So unbelievably beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, moved by the
raw look of love and desire on his face.

“Will you kiss me?” His hands on her
face, he bent to touch his lips to hers. “Just once?” he whispered, tilting her
head to gain better access.

As his tongue caressed hers, Juliana's
stomach knotted with nerves.

His kiss quickly became hungry and
needy.

“Jeremy,” she gasped. “Don't. Please.

“I'm sorry. I can't resist you. I never
could.”

She reached up to wipe a trace of
lipstick off his mouth. “We need to get going, don't we?”

He ran his finger over her cheek. “Yeah.
Let's go.”

***

“Mr. Dixon, Ms. Gregorio,” the maitre d'
at Chiapparellis said. “Welcome. Right this way, please.”

Following him through the busy
restaurant, Juliana remembered all the occasions they had celebrated
here—anniversaries, birthdays, Jeremy's big job. They came here long before
they could afford it and continued to come even after they could afford better.

The maitre d' opened a door and gestured
them into a cozy private room filled with pink roses and a violinist playing
just for them.

“Oh,” Juliana said, taking in the
romantic setting. Again her stomach lurched with nerves mixed now with fear and
regret—tremendous regret that he hadn't done this a very long time ago.

“Jule?” Jeremy startled her out of her
thoughts. He gestured for her to have a seat at the table.

Numb, Juliana slid into the chair he
held for her.

He poured her a glass of champagne and
handed it to her. After he filled a glass for himself, he raised it in toast to
her. “I love you, Jule. Thank you for spending tonight with me.” He touched his
glass to hers and took a long sip.

Juliana saw his glass tremble ever so
slightly as he returned it to the table. In that moment she realized he was
nervous, and her stomach took another sickening dip.

They were served fried calamari, which
Jeremy knew was one of Juliana's favorite foods, and a delicious shrimp Nicola,
another of their longtime favorites. Even though she'd had almost nothing to
eat all day, Juliana pushed the food around on her plate and had trouble
actually swallowing anything. Dessert was a chocolate souffle that she picked
at without her usual enthusiasm for all things chocolate.

“Is everything okay, babe?”

“It's wonderful. Thank you for doing all
this. I'm overwhelmed.”

He put down his fork and pulled his
chair closer to hers.

Oh
God. Here it comes.
She wanted to whimper. She wanted to beg.
Please
don't, Jer. Just don't.

He took her hand and brought it to his
lips. “You know how much I love you, don't you?”

“I think so.”

“There's nothing in this world I
wouldn't do for you. There's nothing you could want that I wouldn't find a way
to get for you. I hope you know that.”

The lump in Juliana's throat became so
huge she didn't trust herself to speak, so she nodded.

“There's something I want to show you.
Will you come with me?”

That wasn't the question she expected.
Thrown off balance and more than a little confused, Juliana let him help her
up. He thanked the violinist and led her through the jam-packed restaurant, the
noise of the Saturday night crowd jarring after the quiet of their private
room.

He retrieved their coats from the
coatroom and helped Juliana into hers. While they waited outside for the valet
to bring his car, he kept his arm around her.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked as they
headed south on Interstate 95.

“I'm fine.” Baffled by the odd change in
direction their evening had taken, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“You'll see,” he said with a mysterious
smile. “Just relax and enjoy the ride.”

The miles rolled by as they left the
city behind. After about twenty minutes, Jeremy took the exit for Ellicott City
and made a series of turns that seemed quite familiar to him. At last, he
turned into a development Juliana recognized.

“Do you remember this place?”

“It's where we came that day for the
open house. What are we doing here?”

“Give me a minute, and I'll show you.”

They traveled another half mile into the
development of sprawling new homes before he pulled into a driveway and turned
off the car.

“Where are we, Jer?”

“Come see.”

He met her on the sidewalk and took her
hand. At the front door, Juliana watched astounded as he inserted a key and
pushed the door open. “What's going on? Where did you get a key to this house?”

He flipped on the lights, and she gasped
when she saw more pink roses on the massive staircase, in the empty dining
room, in the huge family room, on the hearth in front of the marble fireplace,
and on the granite coun-tertop in the kitchen.

“Jeremy.” Her hands came together over
her racing heart. “I don't understand.”

“The dream house. Isn't that what you
called it?”

“Yes, but... Jeremy. What—”

He took her coat, hung it with his over
the banister, and reached for her hand. “Come with me.”

Leading her in to sit on the hearth in
front of the fire-place, he kneeled down and took her hands. “I've told you
this hundreds of times, maybe even thousands over the last ten years, but I've
never meant it more than I do right now. I love you, Juliana. I love you more
than anything in this world.” He touched his lips to both her hands and
struggled to collect himself.

She found it hard to breathe as she
waited to hear what else he had to say.

“Earlier, I told you there was nothing I
wouldn't do for you. To prove that, I have this for you.” He nudged the door to
the fireplace open and withdrew a piece of paper, which he handed to her.

“What is it?”

“It's the deed to your mother's house. I
paid off the mortgage so you won't have to worry about that anymore.”

“
What?
Jer, oh my God. You can't stand her. Why would you do this?”

“Because you're worried all the time
that you'll miss a payment and she'll end up homeless. Now you don't have to
think about it anymore.”

Tears pooled in her eyes and spilled
down her cheeks. “You can't do this.”

He wiped the tears from her face. “It's
already done, babe.”

“I can't accept it, Jer. I just can't.”

“You have to, or you'll hurt my
feelings.”

She tried to absorb the enormity of it. “I
can't believe you'd do something like this.”

“I told you, there's
nothing
I wouldn't do for you. You're my
family, Jule. You've been my family and I've been yours for so long that I
could more easily live without food or oxygen than I could without you.”

He leaned in to kiss her gently. “The
other thing I told you before is there's nothing you could want that I wouldn't
find a way to get for you, right?”

Wiping her tears, she nodded.

“I never forgot how much you loved these
houses or the look you had in your eyes that day—like you'd seen something you
knew you'd never have, so you didn't even let yourself hope for it. I promised
myself right then and there that if I could ever swing it, we'd live here.” He
held up the key, which now had a diamond ring hooked around it. “We have the
dream house, now we just need the dream. Will you marry me, Jule? Will you make
me the luckiest guy in the world and be my wife?”