The Eternity that Follows (17 page)

Joey set the alarm for another hour and feel peacefully back
asleep. When the alarm went off again, Joey still didn’t want to
get out of bed.
“Come on Joey, you can’t throw away your business just to spend
one day home with me in bed.”
“I’m sick.” Joey complained. “Feel my forehead.” Joey pleaded,
Gabriella felt Joey’s forehead.
“Doesn’t feel warm to me.”
“It’s my tummy, my tummy hurts.”
“Don’t lie to me Joey.”
“All right fine.” Joey said, getting out of bed. “But don’t think
your making me breakfast or anything. I want you to stay right
here and hold that pillow all day pretending it’s me. I’ll grab a roll
on the way into work.” Joey said, while Gabriella felt he was
being awfully cute.

Gabriella tried getting out of bed anyway. “I meant that.”
Joey said. Gabriella then laid back down in bed, and then Joey got
back in.
“Joey get up this instant, and get your butt to work.”
“I’m not going to work today and that’s final, Gabriella.”
“Well if you don’t go to work today then I’m not sleeping with you
tonight.”
“Fine. We’ll have sex all day instead.”
“Joey!”
“What?” Joey asked. He looked at Gabriella, but Gabriella
wouldn’t look back.
“Go to work.” Gabriella said, stern, she wasn’t going to let his
irresistible cute face get to her.
“I hate work on Wednesdays.”

Gabriella didn’t know what else to do, she forced Joey off
of her, and went downstairs to make him breakfast. Gabriella
brought breakfast up to bed for Joey. Joey sat up and ate, and
when he was finished, Gabriella forced him to get up and go to
work. Joey did so, being his business was even more important to
him now that he had Gabriella to think of too. He thanked
Gabriella for the food, claiming it was his fuel, giving him the
energy to make it to work.

After Joey had left, Gabriella found her mother in the
kitchen. Her mother said, she hoped they’d go to the church and to
Mandala Palace to place a down payment on the wedding date.
Gabriella huffed a little over not being ready to pick the date.
Feeling forced to, Gabriella went upstairs to her calendar. She
looked at the open dates both places had in common, and selected
her date. When she announced her date to her mother, she said
they would then go dress shopping, and then out to lunch.
Gabriella told her mother about her idea of having her dress
custom made, and her mother said ‘well see,’ assuring Gabriella
she would find the perfect dress today to put that thought behind
her.

On the ride into work, Joey thought mostly about his
business, with Gabriella on the back of his mind. He wanted to
wait for a full walk through of the house before selling his
masterpiece, but debated, if he should try to sell and build the
blueprint sooner then anticipated. He developed his thoughts until
he was at the point of confusion, regarding money. He wanted to
use the money he had saved for rent on a ring for Gabriella, but he
was calculating if he could also afford to hire another employee as
well. Joey clinched his confusion, decididing he’d buy the ring
first, take a look at where he was with his money, and then arrive at
a verdict.

When Joey got to work, it was the last place he wished to
be, he plainly didn’t want to be there. He missed Gabriella too
much, but he knew if he went home, she’d be mad at him. Instead,
Joey went to greet his workers, giving them orders for the day,
answered all their questions before he left, and told his employees
he’d be back later. He then went back to his apartment, to pack up
the rest of his clothes. He grabbed his safe that held his gun, his
checkbook, important papers regarding his business, and also his
prized blueprints. He then clenched all his movies, CDs and the
few other of his belongings. Joey didn’t have much lingering in his
apartment, since his last landlord threw all of his stuff away on
him. He then strategically placed all the stuff he packed into his
truck, mapping it to fit with his street bike he kept stored in his
landlords garage. He went back inside, sat down at the kitchen
table, grabbing the pencil and paper he placed out of his safe
before packing it into his truck, and began to designing an
engagement ring for Gabriella. He spent three hours making sure
the image was perfect to his own taste, while also trying to match
Gabriella's attractiveness. He then got into his truck, and drove to
the jewelry store two towns north of Candlewood, whom he knew
made personalized jewelry. It was around eleven in the morning
when he arrived.

Joey walked in, asked to speak to the specialized jeweler,
to show him his blueprint for the ring he designed. The jeweler
and Joey talked for a few minutes over what color gold, carat,
clarity, and so on. When all the details were set in place, Joey
asked the soonest possible time the ring could be ready by. The
jeweler told him he would be able to have the ring ready for pickup
right before the shop closed at six, but it would cost a little extra.
Joey asked how much extra, and then agreed.

On the ride back down to Candlewood, Joey called his
friend who owned a boat and dock on Lake Mandala, to ask to
borrow the boat for the night. He then drove to his friend’s job in
Candlewood to pick up the keys. After, he went back to his
apartment, picking up his mail, and then went back inside to sort
through it. Back inside, he decided it was time to call his landlord
to inform him, he was getting married, and moving out. His
landlord of course congratulated him, and then reminded him, he
had less than two weeks to relocate his furniture. Joey then made a
mental note to look into storage space for his furniture. He bought
the furniture for his living room new when he moved into the
apartment, and it had been sat rarely since. Joey figured it would
be a good start to furnish a home for he and Gabriella.

When Joey got off the phone with his landlord, he went
back out to his safe. Joey was so excited to be doing the things he
was doing all day, he was steps ahead of himself. Backtracking,
he took out all of his bills, and other important phone numbers he
needed. He then went back inside, calling up dozens of people,
changing his mailing address. While Joey was on hold with his
cell phone company, he flipped through his new mail he had
stopped sorting through when he called his landlord. Fishing
through the mail, he came across an envelope from Tie’s father,
Ted. Joey was shocked, when he opened the envelope, realizing it
was a check. At first, he was stunned, wondering what it could
possibly be for. He then took a look at the amount of, one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, and jumped out of his seat.

Joey soon remembered, when Ted personally handed him
his check for six hundred grand for selling his blueprint, he
mentioned yearly royalty checks as well. He was to get ten
thousand dollars for each house Ted built using Joey’s blueprint.
Joey had forgotten all about Ted mentioning the royalty checks, the
moment Ted told him. He was in too much shock to have an
abundance of money in his grisp. Remembering now, he wished in
his heart, he would be able to keep the house he was now building,
for him and Gabriella.

Joey immediately thought to call Gabriella,to tell her of the
check right away, but that would require a more serious
conversation. He had never told Gabriella how much he made
from selling the blueprint, how much he invested into building his
blueprint now, the dollar amount of the loan he took from the bank
nor did he tell her how much personal money he had stored away
in the bank. Joey sat down for several moments to think,
subsequently brushing his thoughts from his head as they were
racing. He got up quickly from the table, gave his royalty check a
kiss, and then headed for the deli.

Joey remembered Gabriella’s favorite deli sandwich was
fresh mozzarella, with lettuce tomato, and a little bit of mayo on a
multi grain roll. Joey made sure to have the exact deli in Mandala
she had told him about, make it for her. He also selected the same
for himself, being he promised her he would try it one day. Also
making sure to get extra pickles because Gabriella told him, she
loved deli pickles, and they sometimes forgot to give her one with
her sandwich. Joey then called Gabriella on his way back to his
apartment.
“Hey my beautiful wife.” Joey said, when Gabriella answered the
phone.
“Alm . . . , fine. Hey my handsome husband.” Gabriella said,
delighted Joey had called her. She was wondering about him ever
since he left the house this morning, and she was worried when he
didn’t call around lunchtime.
“What are you doing?” Joey asked.
“Are you driving Joey?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Yes, Gabriella, I’m driving. I had to pick some stuff up for the
job.” Joey said, lying to her. It was the first time he had lied to
Gabriella, and although he didn’t like it, he knew he would come
clean when the timing was right.
“Oh. Well I just got home from my day with my mom and I hate
her.”
“Hate? Gabriella that’s a strong word. How about you just dislike
her for the moment?”
“Fine. I dislike her for the moment. Why are you in such a good
mood?”
“Because I have you.” .
“Oh. Your mood sure changed since this morning. You don’t miss
me?”
“What’s going on with your mom?”
“We can’t agree on anything.”
“About the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“What did you girls do today?”
“We went dress shopping.”
“And, she doesn’t like any of the dresses’ you like?”
“No, that’s not it. I have my dream dress all in my head, and I’m
telling it to you, and your drawing it up for me, and it’s being
custom made.”
“Oh really?” Joey asked, excited Gabriella, like him, liked things
custom made things.
“Yes.”
“So what’s the problem? She won’t pay for it?”
“No. She say’s it won’t be ready in time.”
“In time? So do we have a set date?”
“Sort of. Well I picked the date in late September. Both the places
are open, and I think that will be more then enough time to get my
dress made. She wants me to change my date to mid October if I
want a custom dress.” Gabriella confided.

Joey thought her problem was no big deal.
“So we have a date?”
“Joey, were you listening?”
“Yes, yes I was. We’ll figure it out tonight. I’ll be glad to draw up
your dress for you.” Joey sais, as he remembered he’d be the one
taking it off.
“Thanks baby.”
“Of course sweetie, it would be my pleasure. I’ll draw it up
tonight, and you can take it to the tailor tomorrow, and see how
long it will take for him to make your dress. Then you can see if
you have to change your date or not.”
“You mean, our date dear.”
“Oops. Sorry.” Joey said, realizing it was his wedding too.
“Its okay baby. Weddings are to please the bride anyway.”
“Oh, I’ll be having pleasure Gabriella.”
“Joey not here.”
“Not where?”
Joey asked, teasing.

Gabriella ignored his question.
“When will you be home? And you never told me you missed
me.”
“I do miss you, very much so! And I’ll be home to pick you up at
seven.”
“Joey, what about work?”
“What about work? I’m back on my way there now, seven okay?”
“Ok. What should I wear?”
“Something cute.”
“Cute? Can you give me more then that?” Gabriella asked, hoping
he would keep where they were going a surprise, she loved
surprises.
“I don’t know, something you can sit outside in.” Joey said, with
all he was going to offer.

Gabriella didn’t push any further.
“All right, see you at seven, lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Yup. The man at the dress shop said that any man that I was
marrying was lucky.”
“Oh really, what dress shop was this?”
“Joey don’t bother yourself.” Gabriella said ,hanging up the
phone. Joey called her right back.
“I’m bothered.” Joey joked, laughing. “Miss you, love you.”
“Oh miss you too, baby. Love you.”
“Okay see you later.”
“K bye.”

While on the phone with Gabirella, Joey was on the way
back to his apartment, to put the sandwiches in his refrigerator. He
realized he didn’t leave out an outfit for the night, and ran back out
to his truck. ‘Damn I’m really getting ahead of myself here.’ Joey
thought on the walk to his truck. Joey was so happy in the
commotion of moving out, and with his plans for tonight, he
wasn’t doing a good job planning his steps to perfect. He hoped
he’d get his act together for the rest of the day, while he picked
through his clothes, finding and outfit from his packed things. He
then walked back into the house, placed out his outfit, and then
was off to go back to work.

When Joey got to work, he checked in on his workers.
They were all working hard, as that was what he was paying them
to do. Joey stuck around, doing some work himself. When the
clock hit five, he realized he had to leave if he was going to make
it to the jewelry store by six when it closed.

Joey got to the jeweler around five thirty, and waited a few
minutes for the jeweler to be ready. When the jeweler brought the
ring out from the back, he looked the ring over with him.
‘Perfect,’ Joey said, it was just as he envisioned it. The jeweler
commented Joey should go into jewelry designing, considering
how lovely the ring came out. Joey kidded,
“I can’t, I’m into designing wedding dresses now.“

Still, the jeweler took down Joey’s number asking if he
could model the design, and give Joey payment for it. Joey agreed,
as long as Gabriella had the first one made, and it was his design
she wore over the tattoo he designed, he figured, Gabriella would
find it romantic, other women would be showing off a ring,
designed especially for her.

Joey then went back to his apartment, to take a quick
shower to get ready to pick Gabriella up, with only a half an hour
to get ready before he had to leave to pick her up. He dressed
himself in the outfit he laid out, a pair of dark jean shorts with a
brown cotton polo shirt. He left the three top buttons undone,
exposing his wife beater underneath, to match his clean white
shoes. He did his hair with gel the special way he knew Gabirella
adored. He then realized, his cologne was packed away, and
cursed himself while rummaging through his stuff in the back of
his truck to locate it.