Valentines Day
My goal had been to have a special someone by Valentine’s Day. I had no idea I already had that someone in my life.
As the sun flows through my bedroom window, I stretch, and then pull Will’s pillow to me. He left early this morning, kissing me softly before he headed to work.
He moved in the very day he told me he loved me, and I don’t ever want him to leave.
Now I live with that regret of not having been his girlfriend since I was twelve. He says it just wasn’t the right time until now. Since he’s the smartest man I know, I think he’s right.
My phone chimes on my nightstand, and I pick it up. It’s Val.
I brought donuts. I saved you three of them.
I laugh. After Jay was fired, the new management called me back in to take back over my job. The feel in the office is much different, and the bonus is I don’t start work until nine-thirty. The added bonus is that the new boss is a woman I worked with years ago.
And I wake up with Will every morning.
I push off the covers and roll out of bed. I walk to the bathroom and turn on the light to see the note Will wrote on the mirror with an erasable marker.
Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you!
Love, Your Secret Admirer
The message has me grinning and grabbing my phone to take a picture of the message, careful not to get a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
* * *
I step into the elevator, coffee in hand and a coat on. Yes, some things just make sense now that I’m in a good relationship.
I watch the numbers climb as the elevator rises, and I’m still smiling, thinking about the note Will left for me on the mirror.
When the elevator door opens, Val is standing there waiting for me, donut in hand.
“Good morning,” she says, handing me the donut on a small plate.
“Thank you,” I say, curious as to why she’s so adamant that I get a donut this morning.
“Carley was in here earlier and said she was going to give us all a half day off,” Val says, mentioning our new boss.
“Why would she do that?” I ask as we walk toward my office.
“She says we all have better things to do on Valentine’s Day.”
As I place my hand on the knob to the door of my office, I look at Val who is standing beside me with an enormous smile. It’s also when I notice that others are standing in their cubicles, looking over the walls at me.
I have to assume they’ve all eaten too many donuts and are on some kind of sugar high.
I turn the knob and push open the door to my office, and the scent of roses fills my nose first. Then I notice the petals on the floor that lead from the door to my desk, where there is a small bouquet sitting.
A smile tugs at my cheeks. I step inside and walk to my desk, where there is another note written in Will’s handwriting.
What do you say to spending every Valentine’s Day from here on as my wife? Yes or No? (Please don’t say no.)
Love, Your Secret Admirer
The paper in my hand begins to shake. When I look up to ask Val what’s going on, that’s when I notice my parents standing in the doorway. My mother blows me a kiss as she walks into my office, my father right behind her.
Behind them are Will’s mothers, and they, too, are grinning wide.
I lift my fingers to my lips and my eyes sting with tears.
Following his mothers in, Will walks toward my desk, and now I can see Val and everyone else in the office, including my boss, crowding at the door.
Will takes my hand and pulls me to him. The note still shakes in my hand.
“Looks like the cat is out of the bag,” he teases, nodding toward the letter. “It’s no longer a secret that I’m your biggest admirer.”
“Will,” I say his name in a whisper.
“So? What do you say?”
I look back down at the note that he’d left on my desk.
I step away from him, pull a red pen from the cup on my desk, and circle my answer.
When I hand it back to him, Will never even looks down. His eyes are filled with tears, and I notice that his mother Sheila has pulled his mother Anna into her arms, and they are both crying.
“I love you, Mon,” Will says softly.
“I love you, too.”
His smile widens. I’m direct with saying the words now.
From his shirt pocket, he pulls out a ring and slips it on my finger.
I look down at the solitaire that he’d placed on my finger, and then back up at him.
“You circled yes,” he says, and I nod.
“I would never say no to my secret admirer.”
“I don’t think I ever kept my feelings about you much of a secret,” he says, and his mom Sheila makes some kind of noise in agreement.
I ease into Will’s arms as I giggle at that. “I just never paid much attention,” I say.
“I think we’re on the same page now.”
“We most certainly are.”
Will eases back and cups my face in his hands. “I promise you happily ever after, Mon. I swear it.”