Impossible Dreams

As I approached the two steps towards the door and the tiny front porch of his beautifully built brick home, my heart was starting to race. It was interesting that for a Tudor home, it had a brick facade. It was still a little gloomy thought it felt like the sunshine was desperately trying to peek through the thick cumulus clouds. It didn't look like rain although there was a hint of that too, but I was glad we'd be inside while it was still daytime outside for roughly five in the afternoon. As I was getting to ring the doorbell, Nick incidentally opened the door.

"Dottie! I was going to get the mail, but I guess I'll leave it in the mailbox. Come in! Come in." The interior was a very modest art deco. Subdued, but still noticeable. "Welcome to my humble abode."

"Nick, this is beautiful!"

"And you haven't even seen the most beautiful part. A drink?"

"Uh, do you have French vanilla for coffee?"

"Cream or sugar?"

"Both please."

"I'll bring everything out to the terrace so you can put however much you'd like." A terrace?! How exciting! It wasn't just a standard patio. Totally sounds like him - romantic. He showed me through the living room where a French doorway led to the outside.

"Wow, you and your family must have put lots of work into this. It's really beautiful out here."

"Just a little bit of heaven. It isn't much, but it's home. Like I said the other day, you're welcome here any time you wish. and If you want friends over, let me know ahead of time." He slipped his hand in his pocket only to reveal a spare he had had made for me. "Mi casa, es su casa."

"Wow, that's really nice of you."

"Let me get your coffee going. Take in the views while I'm not out here." Boy was I gonna. But I was going to be fighting soft tears to do it. I was just overwhelmed with how he has treated me since the end of my senior year. I managed to compose myself and at least this time I wasn't wearing makeup. He preferred women go au naturale. Heck I even think he thought I looked cuter with my glasses on. My standard t-shirt and jeans may not have been sexy, but he liked me for me and I was okay with that.

~~~

"One French vanilla coffee, cream and sugar in the containers."

"I could see why you wouldn't want to leave home."

"Well you know how private a person I am. I do enjoy my alone time, but I would like to do so with someone special too." Dottie giggled in that cute way she did. "And maybe hear that now and again," I said as the giggling continued. "But you know more about me than a lot of people do now."

"I hope that a lot of that is going to include more of us."

"I think it will. As long as you don't make me chase you up my neighbor's weeping willow."

"It is a beautiful tree. Are those ponds natural?"

"The pond, no, its a part of the same system that goes with the fountain and reflecting pool." we sat there for about a half an hour while she finished her coffee and headed into the kitchen. As we made our way back inside and journeyed back through the living room to get into the kitchen, I sneakily grabbed the remote for the speaker to turn up the volume for the dinner music I had setup while getting her coffee ready. "You sneaky man," she remarked upon the music being within her hearing range. There's nothing worse than awkward silence.

"What, it's better than watching the news," I said, know I was right with all the negativity the reporters spew out all the time. Nothing wrong with traditional Italian music to accompany Italian fare in the belly. "More coffee or something stronger?"

"I wouldn't mind a glass of wine with dinner."

"One Napa Cellars Merlot coming right up!"

"I thought you didn't drink."

"I know some things that pair with some foods. I've not ever purchased for a specific meal though." This merlot was the perfect wine for tonight's meal. I wouldn't mind a cab sauv, except I needed something a little lighter and a touch fruitier while still being savory..

Before I opened the merlot, I also grabbed a one of my favorite "polite" drinks. It's my go to when someone offers a shot when I'm in public if it is someone I don't know well or have just met. "Try this first, if you don't mind." I wasn't going to down the bottle between the both of us, but if she was going to be with me and wanted something less daunting, it was either this or Deep Eddy Lemon - both chilled. At least the latter is more common.

"What is it? It's very light."

"It's an sakura gin, natuarlly airy. Matches your scent."

"Um, okay?"

"Sakura gin is made from cherry blossoms."

"Oh right, yeah, my conditioner."

"A good friend of mine recommended it to me."

"Now before you enjoy your vino, let me pull out the main course." I had it warming in the oven since I needed to keep the main ingredient perfect. I took out the glassware and plated the meal all with my back turned to Dottie. I was proud of myself. Just a grate of fresh romano and a touch of oregano and voila! I was ready to present. I first poured the wine "Here you are, love. Linguini Napolitano compliments of the chef." All it was was a roasted chicken breast (lightly seasoned with a hint of orange zest) atop a bed of noodles covered in a lemon cream sauce (slightly on the thin side comparable to an alfredo). It wasn't actually from the Campania region, but it is supposedly where the family name originates even though the family name hadn't been in Italy since the Renaissance. It didn't matter how good of a cook I knew I was (enough to do a meal for her), she was going to have to say so. Now came the moment of truth.

~~~

"My gosh, Nick, what can't you do?!"

"A lot, actually, but thank you."

"No, really. This is really good." The confirmation from me didn't mean much to him as an amateur chef, but it did mean a lot, I'm sure, that he didn't manage to overcook the chicken or undercook the noodles or make the sauce too acidic from the fresh lemon juice or anything like that. "Where did you learn to cook like this?"

"I just fiddled around with stuff I thought sounded good and eventually took a few recipes and added my own flavor to them."

"Is this original?"

"Well the orange zest with the vegeta seasoning for the chicken is half and half. My mom's family has used vegeta even back in the old country. The orange zest was from me. I didn't want to overdo the chicken with a wine reduction sauce if I was already doing things with the pasta sauce."

"The wine is perfect for this."

"I didn't think it would be an exact match, but it seems to have worked out."

This was a man to die for. The guy can cook, he knows how to make a woman feel special, he's accommodating. I don't think I could ever find anyone else if I had tried. It's crazy that an innocent little crush on a substitute teacher could lead to a wonderful romance. I just had to have him as a husband. But we had time for that. We were together now and that was going to keep me going for a while. I loved the meal so much, I had to ask for seconds.

"Save room for desert, Dottie."

"There's desert?! Nick, you gotta stop with all this," I joked. "You're not gonna leave me with anything to make fun of you."

"What if I told you I bought it from a store?"

"Oh, well that's better."

"But I didn't. The joke's on you."

"If I can get a kiss from you, maybe I can forget about it." He stopped over on his way to get the desert to kiss me. "I want more of that."

"I just said to save room for desert didn't I?" He was laughing as he said that. I think he was making a crack at how we had been eating the same meal and that kissing him was like me going for thirds. Well, it kinda was. "You might enjoy the dessert even more." I didn't know what he meant, but that turned me on. It was probably innocent, but he and I were a lone at his place.

As he opened he refrigerator, I was disappointed to see that he was pulling out what appeared to be mini cheesecakes. I was hoping I was wrong, and I probably was. "Have you had panna cotta before?" Panna cotta? This was fancier than dinner but still sticking with the Italian thing.

"Are you trying to make me fat?" I was half kidding half serious.

"Well, no, but now that you mention it this is something that might do that to you, isn't it. I hadn't thought of that. Sorry," he said in dismay.

Don't worry, I've been in the gym on campus a lot lately. this is good cheat day reward."

"I don't suppose you have a 'cheat day schedule' that you follow."

"Okay, you got me there, but I do use the space, I'm partly paying for it after all." My physique was fine, but I just wanted to give myself leeway if I ever gained weight that it would only replace weight I've lost rather than gaining and then trying to lose double what I planned.

"Have some." He handed me a new fork to use. The raspberry I thought was a good choice to add some tartness to it. "And?" His prodding was almost annoying, I mean, I didn't want him doing that every freaking time he made something.

And so began the playfulness of desert - he fed me a bite and I fed him back without our forks and licking each others fingers. With the next piece, before it was within reach, he mashed it in my face. I took one and gave it right back to him. He was wise and quit while we were ahead and grabbed a napkin to wipe his off and then mine. I wondered what the rest of the night would entail based on the last exchange.

~~~

We both laughed at the mini food fight we ad just partaken in. Naturally we kissed and made up. "It's still light out if you want to head into the conservatory."

"That would be nice, actually." As she had said so, I had heard a roll of thunder. That was a good sign. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in there when it rained maybe reading a book. It was a little before dusk as we nestled into the conservatory. probably the smallest room on the ground floor mostly because the terrace took up the rest of that part of the yard.. But with direct access to the terrace, you could be 'outside' without having to worry about the bugs and such.

"Comfortable? I see you've made yourself at home." The rain finally made its way to our side of town and was now pouring down.

"For having started a modest home, your family put a lot of work in here."

"The terrace and conservatory were my idea. I just thought it would always be cool to have one. But it could only work in this environment as opposed to the noisy overcrowded city."

"That's true."

"Mind if I sit down?"

"Why ask me when it's your place."

"Yeah, but what if you wanted a nap? Or 'me' time? or something."

"It's because of you that I'm even here."

"Fair point. Lets watch the storm for a little. It's one of the things I look forward to especially this time of year."

"You mean the April showers."

"Well not everything has blossomed yet. When it's summertime, you can't see half of anything because of some of the intentional overgrowth."

No matter what happened next, it was still going to be a great night. I took comfort in her approval of everything, not that I needed it. The house. The food. Me. Everything was coming together.