Chapter 34: I Want You

“Business as usual?” Ricky asked Laura as they sat down for a late lunch together.

“Yes, why do you ask?” Laura replied, “I usually have a late lunch after orchestra rehearsal and before the prep school lets out.

“Well, I hadn’t heard from you in a week or so, and when I did, your text made our lunch together seem less like a date and more like a business meeting,” Ricky said, sounding slightly wistful.

“I was just following your lead; your tone in your message made me feel the same way, Counselor.”

“Duly noted. We’re here together now. Let’s make the best of it. I heard the food is great.”

“Hmm. May I ask you a question?”

“Sure. You just did.”

“Stop playing with me. You know what I mean,” she teased him, touching him gently on the arm.

“Okay. What’s up?”

“Why did you want to have lunch with me? Was it peer pressure from your cronies competing for my affections and you felt left out by them or neglected by me?”

“No, no, no. I am earnestly interested in you despite the way our conversation has been going thus far. Why did you want to have lunch with me?”

“I wanted to see where we were and continue to see how it feels to be with you.”

“D*mn it, Laura, stop toying with me and stop the word games. I’m tired of playing around and wasting my time. After all of this time, the gifts, and the special dates, you ought to be able to know enough about me and the guys to be able to make a decision.

Ricky had raised his voice slightly and the few others in the fancy restaurant were starting to stare.

“Talking about sharing you with the other guys really annoys me,” he said, pounding his right fist on the table and slightly upsetting the silverware arrangement and his lunch partner.

“Is this the way you act in the courtroom or, even worse, at the negotiation table?” Laura replied, visibly shaken.

“I’m sorry, Laura,” he said, genuinely compassionate, while reaching around in his jacket pocket to give her his handkerchief. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Nothing could be further from my intentions at this moment. I wanted to meet for lunch today so that I could give you this.” Once again he reached into his jacket’s inner breast pocket, but this time he took out a small, rectangular, turquoise jewelry box. He let her open it to find an emerald cut diamond pendant on a platinum chain. “May I put it on you? That is, if you will do me the honor of wearing it?”

It was big and gorgeous. There was no way to say he wasn’t serious about her or having an exclusive future with her.

“Thank you,” she said, in a confused but emotional segue from arguing to coming close to tears, “What does this all mean?” She wanted to know if this was another way of giving her an expensive gift to outdo the others.

“Will you be my girlfriend and partner?” He asked her, standing and putting the necklace, heavy with the diamond, around her long, beautiful neck as she held her hair up to facilitate his efforts. “Let’s share a life together.” Once the clasp was secure, he kissed the back of her neck, she let her hair go, and he sat down to await her response.

“Ricky...yes, yes, yes!” she exclaimed happily.

The others in the restaurant applauded their congratulations then returned to their meals and conversations leaving the two together to celebrate.

“I don’t want to think of sharing you with any other man. I want you as my partner for the rest of our lives. All this past week whenever something great happened, I wanted to share it with someone...I wanted to share it with you. I need you in my life. I’m sorry I lost my temper, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get all of this out or, worse yet, I was afraid that you’d turn me down. Give me six months and I’ll put a diamond twice as big on your left ring finger if you’ll do me the honor of becoming my wife forever.”

He put his hand, the same one that had banged on the table only moments ago, over hers on the white cloth covered table. She leaned over to kiss him, feeling the weight of the diamond move with her.

It was real. She had chosen. But somehow it still felt like a competition was going on and that Ricky was merely, and perhaps too soon, declaring his victory to her and the other guys, along with anyone who saw the size of the diamond around her neck. She brushed the thought away and tried to focus on this significant milestone in their brief history together.

# # #

Back at the loft for a few precious hours between teaching the kids and rehearsing with the string quartet, to say she was processing all that had happened since lunch would be the understatement of the day. So much was left to discuss. Who would tell the other two and how would they take it? The competition became serious today and she could not imagine that, at least initially, this would not bruise their lifelong friendship.

Did redhead Ricky have a temper? She realized how little she knew about the man she promised herself to. One thing that she knew for sure was that Ricky would guarantee that once Don and Alex knew of her decision, there would be no more swooning over her.

She seamlessly fit into the group that weekend they all slept over at the loft, but it was about fun, games, food, and friendship. Now the tables had turned. One of them had won the contest and she was the prize. She did not feel victorious, just that she had exchanged a poor man for a rich one.

If she did not come back down to earth soon, she was in danger of becoming the biggest loser in this reality romance game. She had just started to figure out who she was without a man. Now she was about to abandon that progress by seeing another.

Her head was swimming with questions. Was the security he could bring worth the risk? Was the cost of losing her short-lived freedom for an exclusive relationship with undefined parameters too great? It was too late to entertain these serious questions. The game was over...or was it?