Way Off Plan (Firsts and Forever 1)

“He has to know I love him,” I said quietly. “I tell him all the time. I love him more than anything, and I’m never going to leave him. What can I do to make him see that? So that every time I say something stupid, he doesn’t feel like I’m headed for the door?”

Jess put her arm around my shoulders and said, “Just keep telling him and showing him you love him. No matter how insecure he is, you’ll get through to him.”

We heard him coming downstairs after a few minutes, and I turned toward the sound of his footsteps. He appeared in the doorway to the living room in full armor: every hair in place, wearing an immaculate black suit and black dress shirt, shoes polished. But then he looked at me uncertainly and said, “I’ll be done by dinnertime. If, you know, you’d like to have dinner with me.”

I pushed up off the couch and crossed the room to him, and grabbed hold of him. I actually dipped him slightly, as if we were dancing, and planted a deep, wet kiss on him before swinging him upright again. He was flushed, wide-eyed, lips parted in surprise as I told him, “Of course I want to have dinner with you. Every night for the rest of my life.”

“Oh. Well, good. Ok then.” He looked adorably flustered and wonderfully happy.

I grinned at him. “Now go to work. Sooner you finish, the sooner you can come home to me.”

He smiled at that, eyes still wide, and nodded. “Ok. I’ll see you soon.” And he headed for the garage.

Catherine chuckled at that. “He forgot Jess and I were even here.”

“And you know you pretty much just proposed to him, right?” Jess said.

“I did?”

“Yup. Dinner together every night for the rest of your life? Sounds like a proposal to me.”

“That wasn’t a proposal. When I do propose to him,” I said, crossing the room to sit in a big club chair opposite the two women, “I hope to do a much better job than that.”

“Meaning you’re actually considering it?” Catherine asked.

“God yes. Now that I know he’s not really engaged, that we actually get a future together, of course I plan to marry him. But first we need to get this shit with your father straightened out, so there’s not a dark cloud hanging over us.”

Both women were beaming at me, and Catherine said, “I suppose Jess and I will have to flip a coin to decide which of us is Best Man and which is Maid of Honor.”

I smiled at that, too. “I think you’re right. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First we have to get the homicidal maniac out of the picture. Then we can focus on our happily ever after.” I remembered then that the aforementioned homicidal maniac was in fact Catherine’s father and I stammered, “I mean – shit, sorry, Catherine.”

“Dude,” she said, “I said it before and I’ll say it again. I know what my father is. You’re really not going to insult me by speaking the truth. And speaking of Daddy Dearest, I’m going to drop by his office today.”

“What? Why? Is that safe?”

“I’m the only person that is safe around him…probably. He’s going to hear that I’m in San Francisco in the middle of the school term and he’ll wonder why, so I need to talk to him. I’ll have to make up some excuse for my visit, since we don’t want him to know the engagement is off just yet. And while I’m there, I’ll take a little look around his office, see what I can see.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” I asked.

Catherine raised an eyebrow at me. “That’d go over big, kind of like waving a red flag at a bull. He’s tolerating you in Dmitri’s life for now. Let’s not accelerate his desire to get rid of you, shall we?”

“Yeah, ok,” I said. “But be careful. Even if you are his daughter, I’m guessing he wouldn’t be too thrilled to catch you snooping around his office.”

Jess stood up then and said, “Well kids, I need to get to work. You still want to come along, Catherine?”

“Absolutely. Just let me grab my shoes.” Catherine sprang from the couch and left the room.

“She’s going to the boutique with you?” I asked.

“Yup. She packed in a hurry and wants to do some shopping.”

“Does your store sell a lot of Lycra?”

Jess grinned. “No, and that’s the whole point of shopping there. She wants something demure for when she goes to see her father.”

“When did you and Catherine bond, exactly?”

“In the two hours between when I arrived this morning and when you and your boyfriend finally came downstairs.”

“Two hours! God, what time is it?”

“Almost noon,” she said.

“And how long were the sisters waiting around?”