French Twist (13 page)

Suddenly, I had a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.  The truth hit me like a ton of bricks.  I had finally figured out what was wrong with Louis.  He needed a green card.

Chapter Seventeen

I didn’t sleep much that night.  Whenever I could calm my mind enough to fall asleep, I would have these bizarre dreams.  One of them ended with our getting married and the minister saying, “I now pronounce you green card holder and wife.”  Each time I would wake with a start and Louis would toss a bit, turn over and go back to sleep.  Ah, to be that peaceful.

Finally, at seven in the morning, I couldn’t take it anymore.  If I didn’t get out of Louis’ apartment, I was going to go crazy.  I got out of bed, quickly brushed my teeth (Louis had proudly presented me with my own toothbrush the night before.), and got dressed.  I was going to leave Louis a note, because I was a total coward, but he woke up as I picked up my purse and was about to leave the room.

“Where are you going,
mon coeur
?  Are you OK?” His eyes widened with concern.

I froze.  “I…can’t sleep.  I thought I would go home and take a bath.”  Thankfully Louis didn’t have a tub, so he couldn’t suggest I take one here.

He eyed me suspiciously.  “You want to go home to take a bath.  At seven in the morning on a Saturday.”

I nodded my head.  “I need to meet Kate later this morning for breakfast.  She’s really been after me lately for not being around.  I thought it would be nice to take a bath before I met her.”  Do I sound as stupid as I think I do?

He studied me for a moment.  “Is this about last night?  Are you freaking out about our discussion of Las Vegas?”

I laughed nervously.  “Of course not.  Why would it freak me out?”

“Come over here and sit down.”  The expression on his face told me he meant business.

I moved slowly over to him and sat on the edge of the bed.  He pulled me closer to him and took my hand.  “If this relationship is going to work, you are going to have to learn to be honest with me.  Stop worrying about how....crazy you think you are going to look to me.”  He took my face into his hands and gazed deeply into my eyes.  “I love you for who you are.  You do not have to hide from me.”

I let out a shaky breath.  “You say that now, but if I ever actually let you in...”  I shook my head.

He laughed.  “What do you think is going to happen?  Do you think I cannot handle it?”  He cocked his head to the side as he examined me.

I stared at him with raised eyebrows.  “Do you think this is some kind of challenge? This is who I am, Louis.”  I knew he could tell from my tone that I was not amused.

He stroked my back.  “I am not making fun of you.  I am only trying to lighten the mood, which is what I think you need right now.  You are taking things
far
too seriously.  Whether or not you realize it, I have gotten to know you pretty well,
mon coeur
.  In fact, I am sure I know you better than you think I do.” 

“Really?  And what do you think you know?”  I regarded him quizzically.

He sat up and faced me.  “You are hungry ALL THE TIME
. 
You need to be fed every two hours or there will be serious consequences.  You always want to choose the movie we watch and then you
always
fall asleep and snore through it.  Romantic comedies are your favorite, but you are also addicted to murder mysteries, though you are always wrong about the identity of the murderer.  You love Italian and Mexican food, but your absolute favorite is Greek.  You love red wine and margaritas and hate white wine and all other hard liquor.  All your desserts must contain some kind of chocolate or there is no point in having dessert.  You buy yourself a new outfit every year on your birthday to make yourself feel better about getting older.  You are completely self-conscious when you are wearing anything tight or short (or are naked), though you shouldn’t be because you are absolutely gorgeous.  You put everyone else in your life first and often forget that you need things too.  The first opinion you want on anything important is Kate, followed by a close second with Maya. I have absolutely no idea where my opinion factors in, but this is not important right now.”  He stopped to draw breath.  “Shall I go on?”

Wow.  I totally wasn’t expecting that.  I guess he
has
been paying attention.

“Am I to assume from your stunned silence you realize I am right?  That I do know you fairly well?”  He shook me gently by the shoulders.  “I LOVE you.  I am very sorry if I scared you with my ridiculous idea to go to Vegas.”  He sighed. “But I really want you to hear me when I say this.  Nothing you can say or do will scare me or will change how I feel about you.”

I continued to stare at him.  For the life of me, I couldn’t think of what to say.

“
Mon coeur
, as I have said before, I have
never
felt this way for anyone.  It amazes and overwhelms me.  I sometimes get carried away.  I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you and it came out.  I am sorry.”

I laughed.  “You’re sorry that you want to spend the rest of your life with me?”

His shoulders slumped with relief.  “There she is.”  He grinned and gave me a soft tap on the nose.  “I knew you were in there somewhere.”

“You sure know how to scare the crap out of a girl.”

Louis threw his head back and laughed.  “You have such a way with words, Syd.  I love it.”

I smirked at him.  “I’m glad you’re amused.”  I took his hand. “I’ve never felt like this for anyone before either, Louis.  It
terrifies
me.  Everything has happened at the speed of light.  I need things to slow down.”

“As you wish.  The last thing I want to do is upset you.  Feel free to take a moment.”  He smiled.

I threw my arms around him and felt tears welling in my eyes.  “You
do
know me, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.”  He pulled out of the hug and handed me my purse.  “Now go and visit with Kate.  I am sure you have a lot to discuss.”

I shook my head in disbelief.  “You’re amazing.”  I kissed him on the lips and caressed his face.  “May I take you to dinner this evening?”

He kissed me on the nose.  “I would love to have dinner with you.  Why don’t I pick you up at seven?”

“Sounds great.”  I stood up and crossed the room.  When I got to the doorway, I turned around to take one last look at Louis.  “I love you.”

He met my gaze.  “I love you, too.”

By the time I left Louis’ apartment, it was eight in the morning.  I drove straight to Kate and Nick’s house.  I didn’t care that it was Saturday morning and that Nick would probably kill me; there were important things to discuss.  I parked my car in the driveway and walked up to the front door.  As I stood there trying to decide whether to knock or ring the doorbell, Kate opened the door and scared me half to death.  Not that I was jumpy or anything.

“Holy crap!”  I clutched my chest.

“I should be saying that to you, Syd.  What the hell are you doing here?”  Wow.  This was most unKatelike.  Somebody needed more sleep.  Or to get laid.  Or both.

“I’m sorry!  I have...a crisis.  I had to talk to you right away.”

“Have you heard of the phone?”  Seriously, you need SOMETHING, Kate.

“I’m really,
really
sorry, but I need your help.”

She sighed.  “OK, come in.”

I followed her into the kitchen and put my purse on the counter.

Kate picked up her coffee mug and turned around to face me.  “What’s the big emergency?”

“Well, Louis...asked me to go to Vegas.”

She examined me for a moment before saying, “Are you concerned he has a gambling problem?”

“Um, no, but I
am
concerned that he wants to visit one of those chapels...”

Kate appeared confused.  “Why?”

“Because he mentioned going there so we could get married.”

Kate put her mug back down on the counter.  She paused for a moment, stared at the floor and then back up at me.  “I’m sorry, would you please repeat what you just said?”

“Louis asked me to marry him.  Well, technically he didn’t.  He suggested we go to Vegas to get married, but when I asked him if he was going to ask me the question, he said he didn’t think he wanted to because he thought I would say no.  Then we went to sleep, well, he did and I didn’t...”  I was on the edge of hysteria.

Kate came over and took my hands.  “Syd, take a breath.  It’s going to be OK.”  It sounded like she was trying to convince herself of this too.  “Let’s go sit down.  We need to talk.”

Kate made me a cup of tea, took me into the living room, settled me on the couch and asked me to go over the evening again.  I relayed the conversations Louis and I had, including the one from this morning. When I was finished, Kate sat for a few minutes with a furrowed brow.

She suddenly peeked up at me.  “This is crazy, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”  I paused.  “You want to hear something even crazier?”

Kate nodded.  “Love to.”

“I think I would have said yes,” I whispered.

Kate’s eyes opened wide.  “Really?”

I nodded.  “It’s strange, but I think I would have.  I know I completely freaked out when he asked me to move in with him and I totally freaked out when he mentioned getting married, because I’ve only known him for six weeks.” I let out a deep breath.  “But this morning, when he told me how much he loves me and that nothing I could say to him would scare him or change the way he feels about me...after he described how he sees me…I knew. He’s the man I want to spend my life with.”

She stared at me for a minute.  “Holy crap.”

“You got that right.  Now what?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, now what do I do?  Do I tell him I want to marry him even though he never technically asked me?  Do I propose a trip to Vegas?” I massaged my neck.  “Or do
I
propose to
him
?”

Kate put her head in her hands.  “This is just crazy.”

“What’s crazy?”  Nick called from the kitchen.

I glared at Kate in a panic.  She rolled her eyes at me.  “You’re going to have to fill him in, Syd.  It’s not like we can hide it.”

Nick came into the living room.  “Hide what?  What’s going on?”  He instantly seemed worried.

I peeked up at him cautiously.  “Don’t worry; everything is fine.”

“Really?”  He scoffed.  “That’s why you’re here before nine in the morning, wearing your clothes from yesterday, I presume?”

I sighed.  “Fine.  Ten points for your astuteness, Nick. Louis asked me to go to Vegas to get married.”

“Holy shit!”  Nick almost dropped his coffee.  “He asked you to marry him?”

“Technically he never asked her.”  Kate supplied helpfully.

Nick shook his head. “Please explain.” He sat down on the couch between Kate and me.

I massaged my temples.  “Exactly what we told you.  He asked me to go to Vegas to get married, but technically never asked me to marry him since I freaked out.”

“Huh.  Didn’t see that coming.”  He patted me on the back.  “So what are you going to do?”

“We were just wondering the same thing.”  Kate said as she curled up in his lap.

“What do you think, Syd?”  Nick had shifted into full big brother mode.

“Well, I’m in love with him.  And I just told Kate that I would have said yes if he had asked me to marry him.  I want to be with him for the rest of my life.”

Nick smiled.  “That’s amazing!  I’m so happy for you.”  He paused.  “I have one question - no - two questions.  First, does it have to be so fast?”

I leaned my head back on the couch.  “No, it doesn’t.  It seemed way too fast before, but somehow, now it doesn’t.  It may sound silly, but I feel like, when you know, you know.”

He considered me skeptically, which caused me to smile at him with certainty.  “What’s your second question?”

He took a deep breath.  “Please don’t get upset, but is it possible…do you think he needs a green card?”

There was that hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach again.  I had thought about this a lot over the last ten hours and had let my heart win the argument.  I had decided that Louis really loved me and just wanted to start our life together.

I met Nick’s gaze.  “I’ve thought about it, but I don’t think it’s true.  He could get one through his company.  His transfer made him a regular employee of their San Jose office, which is a US owned company.  He’s on a visa right now, but he could easily start the green card process in the next few months.”

Kate perked up.  “So you guys talked about this?”

I glared at Kate.  “If you’re asking me if I asked Louis if his suggestion of getting married had anything to do with the need for a green card, no I did not.”

She eyed me with concern.  “Syd, I’m only worried about you.  I want to make sure you aren’t rushing into anything.  It’s only been six weeks...”