“Fine,” she huffed, blowing her hair out of her eyes and sitting up.
I looked on her. “Just a few more minutes,” I conceded, making her smile.
She fell into my arms and all felt right with the world.
April 1st, the next month
Thomas
I took extra special care to look nice that day. I wore the suit I wore to Callum and Harper’s wedding and even went to the trouble of buying new black Converse for the occasion. I cut my hair, but not so much that I couldn’t still tuck it behind my ears.
That entire morning I paced back and forth in my office. Suzanne asked if I wanted decaf and I told her that I wanted nothing. She kept looking at me with this worried expression. It made me want to laugh. My office felt stifling, so I cracked the window at the top of my ceiling with one of those circulating bars. I played with that thing so much when I first got there, I thought it was going to break. It was probably the only thing that kept me from messing with it so much.
I turned on a few tunes, thought better of it and shut them off then rethought that as well and picked a few Max Richter songs to rotate at a low volume instead. I messed with the pillows on my sleek black leather sofa a million times before finally realizing January wouldn’t even notice. I had Suzanne dust my long windowsill and water the plants the day before and those looked good.
I was just straightening my Warhol print when I heard January’s lively voice telling everyone around her hello. My entire body went bloody warm and my hands began to shake. I sat in my chair and picked up a book, thought twice and pretended to be working on my computer.
“Hello, Suzanne!” I heard her say and I had to clench my jaw shut to keep it from chattering.
“Hi, Miss MacLochlainn. You can go right in!”
“Thank you!” January said before bursting into my office like a breath of fresh air.
“Howdy!” she said, dancing into my office, swinging a cardboard box around.
“Hi, babe,” I spit out, barely.
“They’re here!” she sang, plopping the box onto my desk.
She took the scissors from the cup on my desk and opened them so the sharp part was exposed. She ran the length through the tape binding the entire thing and I swear to God I thought I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I stood quickly and shut the door before sitting back down in my chair. I tried to rest my hand on my mouse but it was trembling so badly, I pretended I needed something from my shelf. I stood, retrieved the tape, the tape?, then sat back down. Thankfully, she didn’t notice and I abandoned the worthless tape in front of me.
I set my arms on the rests of the chair and folded my quaking hands over my stomach.
“Ooh!” she exclaimed, making me sit up a bit. “We’re on the cover after all!” She drank in the image of us and turned it toward me. “Oh my God,” she breathed.
I somehow brought my face down from staring at her eyes and noticed the pic they’d chosen. It was January and me, but not in one of the posed shots like I expected. In fact, it was a candid shot of us when we thought no one was watching. We were both laughing, my face almost buried in her neck, and her hair falling back. We looked so incredibly happy.
I swallowed.
“Can you believe how beautiful this shot is, Tom?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said matter-of-factly. “You’re in it.”
“Tom,” she choked, a small tear escaping her eye. She smiled gently, wiped it clear of her face and took a steadying breath. She flipped open the magazine and took a seat in the chair at the foot of my desk. She brought her feet up and crossed her ankles on the glass.
“Let’s see,” she said, looking up the index.
Oh my word, here we go, I thought.
She looked at me like she’d only just noticed me and smiled again, making my heart stutter. “Well, don’t you look smart today,” she said before standing up and kissing me, then sitting back down.
I think I’m going to have a heart attack. “Th-thank you,” I stuttered but she was too distracted to notice.
“Okay,” she said, “page seventy-nine. Seventy-nine,” she repeated, flipping through the pages. My knee bounced rapidly and my hand slapped down to still it.
She looked up at the noise. “You okay, buttercup?”
“Uh-huh,” I offered.