Here at Last (19 page)

He smiled.
"If you can manage the trip to come see me, I'll make
the
time."

“I think it's only fair.
This is your second trip to Chicago in the last two months
. You may be getting tired
of coming here
," I smiled.

"
As long as you're here, I'll never get tired of coming to Chicago."
He kissed me. "What do you want to do this weekend?"

"Dinner out would be nice. I
have a little something for you
so I'd like to give that to you."

He smiled at me softly.
"I told you
not
to get me anything. You already paid for this trip.”

“I wanted to. Besides, I bought this trip as part of you
r Christmas present. It can't
count for
both
Christmas
and
Valentine
’
s
Day
.
It doesn’t work that way,
"
I
reminded him
.

"Okay,” h
e
said
.
“
I have something for you, too."

I ran my hand along the contours of his chest.
"A card will do."

"You
’ll
get more than a card." JT checked his watch
and looked at me
. "We
’d
better get going. We have
dinner reservations."

"We do?"

He nodded. “This weekend's on me."





One of the things that always impressed me about JT was that he was a consummate gentleman. He knew what to say, what to wear, and certainly how impress his girlfriend.
Wanting to spend an evening on the town, he took me to
Frankie’s
Ristorante
where we had a delicious meal. 
After dinner, we took
a short walk
through
the city
before catching
a taxi across town to
the Chicago Diner where we ordered cookies and cream cake and lemon coconut cake
for
dessert.

When we returned to my apartment f
our
hours later, I aske
d
JT
to close his eyes as I took him by the hand and le
d him to the dining
room
table
where
he sat down.

I laid his car
d
and a gift box
on the table in front of him
. "You can open your eyes now," I told him.

He looked down
then
up at me with a smile.
When he
reached for me, I sat on his lap
, but we
decided that was uncomfo
rtable
so
we moved to the sofa. He sat back
against
the cushions
and
read the card
,
which
c
ontained a simple message
from me
:
JT – W
hat a
sweet
surpr
ise to have you back in my life.
I
cherish every moment that we have
together and look forward to deepening our relationship.
I love you. –
Alex

H
e turned to me and said, "You know, you've told me that you love me
, b
ut
,
when
I see it in writing, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world."

I reached over and kissed him
before nestling my head against his shoulder
. He opened his gift. It was two tickets to see the Houston Astros.
I hadn’t seen him so
excited
since he’d gotten the spyglass at Christmas
.

“How in the world did you get these
?
” he asked.
“
These are great seats
!
"

I shrugged
and smiled at him
. "I thought you might want to
spend some time
with your dad.”

He shook his head. "I'm sure it would mean
a lot
to him. I haven't been back to Houston for years."

"Good
."

He kissed me.
"Thank you.
Now, it’s your
turn,
"
he said.

"No," I protested. "
You weren't supposed to get me anything else. W
hat you gave me for
Christmas
was
more than
enough."

He
got up and left the room, calling
to me from the bedroom as he ri
fled
through his suitcase. “Close your eyes
.
Are they closed?"

I laughed. "Yes, they're closed.”

I
heard him walk back into the living room and
felt
him
sit on the sofa
beside
me. He
’d
become
a little more serious. "
O
kay. O
pen your eyes."

When I
did
, I saw JT holding a card for me. I took it from his hand and ran my finger along the back closure down to the
gold
sealing wax that held
it
closed.
It wouldn't open very easily that way so I changed tactics
and ran my finger down the side of the envelope, pulling the card out. It had a beautiful picture of roses on the front, and the inscription was simple and very romantic – “For
My Sweethea
rt on Valentine's Day.”

In his own handwriting, JT had written on the inside left page of the card:
To my dearest Sophia on our first Valentine's Day. You have no idea how happy you’ve made me since
you
reentered my life. Words don't begin to express how deeply I love you. You have given me hope, again, and I look forward to getting to know you better and continuing this journey together.
–
Love, JT

"It's beautiful,
"
I told him.
We kissed, and
I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes
as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders
.

“There's just one more thing," he said.

“What's that?" I asked
, looking at him
.

“This," he said, handing me a small
gold box tied with a tiny red bow
.

I
eyed
him
curiously
.

“Go ahead,” he urged. “Open it.”

I opened the box, and what I saw took my breath away.
It was a large pear-shaped emerald ring.  I looked at JT and couldn't even say anything.
As he watched my expression, a smile began to cross his lips.
Taking the ring from the box, he slid it onto my right ring finger. It fit perfectly.

“How did you know what size I wore?"
I asked.

He smiled slyly. “Do you remember the ring you wore to the Christmas party?”

I nodded.

“One day, while you were in the shower, I traced it onto the back of
a
business card. I took it to the jeweler, and he
sized it
."

Shaking my head, I said,
"JT, it's beautiful. I don't even know what to say.”

"Do you like it?"

I nodded. "I love it."

He stroked my cheek with his hand. "That's all you need to say."

It was getting late, and we were both tired so we went to bed. I reached my arm across JT's body
and rested
my head
against
his chest. I placed my hand over his heart and felt
comforted by the rhythm. When h
is breathing shifted, I could tell that he was asleep. I lay in the darkness for a very long time feeling
profoundly
grateful for JT's return to my life.

Chapter
19

For
fourteen months,
JT and I
spent whatever spare time we had traveling back and forth between San Diego and Chicago. Margaret had suggested that I take a job with Hastings in San Diego, but I didn’t want to have any issues
arise related to my dating the
boss.

I’d gone to see him in June during his busy period at work.
Although we had
hope
d
to
have more time together,
some of
the
lab t
ests
were
running
in
correctly, and I ended up helping him through the weekend before having to fly out o
n Sunday. We
got
very little
sleep
that weekend
but were
happy
to
be
together.

JT’s late August deadline had slid into
early September
, and he was slammed with work
through the summer. He
spent most evenings and weekends at the office and in the lab. He said
that my gift card for the
Dragon Chef
had kept him
from
starving
so I sent him another one since they made late-night deliveries to his office.

The time apart w
as difficult, but we continued Sk
yping almost daily
. E
ven if we were just working
, it provided us with a way to
keep each other company.

I finally visited JT
for a week
in late September.
After a
harried
spring and summer, h
e had
built up
plenty of
comp time from work
just
as
I had
. W
hen I arrived, h
e
was happy to see me but
looked tired.
I could tell that the long periods at work had been taking their toll on him.

While I was there, we made a point of going to bed early in the evenings and sleeping
in
late
every morning.
W
e
lived
in our own little world,
going
to the juice bar and
, then,
for a
daily
walk
at Mission
B
each. We spent a lot of time in bed watching movies and making love and talking. W
e even spent a day
driving
along
the coast
. By the end of my visit, I could tell that his spirits
had
lifted
, and h
e looked
much
healthier and
better
rested.





I offered to return to San Diego around Halloween for JT’s birthday, which was November 1
st
. Since he would be coming to Chicago a few weeks later, he urged me to wait.
I sent him some flowers and his airline ticket to Chicago.

O
n November 21
st
, JT flew to Chicago
in time for my birthday. It had been
a while
since anyone
had celebrated my birthday
so
I was touched that he’d made the effort to see me
. I picked hi
m up at the airport, and we went straight t
o dinner. Then, I took him home
where we made love
, fell asleep, and made love again
.

The next day,
I awoke to an empty bed. Just t
hen, JT walked back into the
room and climbed
back
in
beside me
. "Happy birthday,” he said, kissing me.

I smiled. “What a
nice
way to wake up
.”