Β© 2025, All rights reserved -- mimaster
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"YES! Oh my God yes! I love you too, Neil. I think I've loved you forever! I was just too scared to say it! I didn't want to hurt you!"
I had no idea why I'd asked Ann to marry me so quickly. It seemed rash, and desperate. And yet I knew as soon as she said yes that it was the right thing to say. In less than a week, I'd fallen in love and asked a woman that I really barely knew to marry me, and it felt more right than anything I'd ever done in my life. We hadn't even discussed any of the logistics, the most important of which was her living over two thousand miles away. But I knew we'd figure that out.
As we kissed under that tree, both of us tearing up, a thousand thoughts ran through my mind in just seconds. And all of those vanished in a poof when Ann pulled back, pressing her forehead to mine, our eyes locking again. "Wow... we've got a lot to talk about yet tonight, don't we?" she said with a little laugh.
She was right.
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Ann and I were getting married. The when, the where, and really, even the how had yet to be determined. Maybe even the why. But we'd both finally caved to our suppressed feelings and told each other how we really felt. As we stood there in our embrace under that maple tree, it was suddenly hard to talk, because neither of us knew where to start.
Ann and I indeed had a lot to talk about, starting with who was moving where. I couldn't see myself in California, but then again, I'd never been there. Maybe that's where I needed to go. But she quickly put that out of my mind. She'd been thinking about us actually getting together more than I'd considered, based on what she told me.
"I don't want to live in this town," she said very bluntly. "Too many people know us, and as magical as this week has been, I can't live here again."
"So you want me to move to California?"
"
HELL
no!"
"Hell no?" I said with a laugh.
"Well, I suppose if you want to. I was just thinking that it would be easier if I moved back here... just not
here
," she said looking around.
"Well, we can live anywhere you want. I can commute to work. But I don't make a ton of money. So we just can't live anywhere. But I suppose we can find a place nearer to Fort Wayne."
"We've got time to figure that out. I just don't want to be stuck in this town, and I don't think I can handle small town USA again. I need more than that."
"Okay, but you're serious about leaving California? That seems like a pretty quick decision."
She laughed and said, "I'm marrying a guy I've dated for a week. That's what's going to be tough to explain. But I've been thinking about leaving California since Wednesday."
"Wednesday? What happened Wednesday?"
"You took me to our Prom, and that's when I knew I loved you."
Her sentence hit me like a ton of bricks. Our time together dining, dancing, and more, at the Starlight club had had a profound impact on me. I didn't know it had even more of one on Ann. I guess I was so consumed with how I was feeling that I never considered how the whirlwind adventure we were on really was affecting her. I mean, I knew how she felt about the sex, and about how amazing everything else between us was. But while I dreamed and wished she wanted more, I never seriously thought it could happen. In my mind, there seemed to be just as much of a chance she would have said no than to actually say yes to my proposal.
I was curious, and couldn't help asking, "Why? What happened that made you feel that way?"
Squeezing my hand, she said, "Because that's when I knew that you loved me, and it made it okay for me to give in to my own feelings about you."
I wanted to ask her how she knew, but it didn't matter. It only mattered that we both knew early in the week. And while it seemed silly at the time, knowing we both loved each other early on made it easier to accept the fact that we were getting married. It didn't seem so rushed. Hell, it still sounded strange to think we were actually getting married, but I liked that I could somehow rationalize it. It was a bit of a stretch, but I suppose you can use even the thinnest reasoning to justify an action if you try hard enough.
"When would you think about coming back?" I asked her, not really asking about a wedding date, but when I'd get to be with again. I didn't even want to think about a wedding date yet. I was lightheaded as it was.
"Well, it's going to be a while. I have to give notice, and I owe it to my girls and my District Manager to make sure there's a smooth transition. I love my girls, and that store has been my life. I want to leave it in good hands."
"So, what does that mean, exactly?"
"I don't know baby. I'm guessing a couple of months. We'll just have to see. Why, are you in a hurry?"
"No. But I already miss you now, and you're still in my arms. Like I said, I don't want to let you go."
"You said you can't let me go."
"Okay, semantics. I can't let you go," I said with a grin, hugging her in my arms.
"Worried I won't come back?" she asked playfully with a smile.
"Maybe," I said, and suddenly I was, since she planted that seed of doubt in my head.
"Look, Neil, fate brought us together. I really believe that. But we have been going at each other nonstop for almost a week. If we're going to make it, maybe this is the best thing. It lets us cool off and think. And absence makes the heart grow fonder."
"No, it makes the lonely hornier," I said with a smirk.