Between the Lines

Forty-three - Oliver

Calvin has been working for a while now. He gets along really well with the other employees. He’s in a lot of meetings so he stays at work for long periods at a time and sometimes I need to go in and visit him. The house is lonely without him. I walk through the lobby of the building and up to the reception desk. The receptionist is the sort of receptionist that acts as a voluntary assistant for pretty much everyone. And since Calvin’s been working here and I’ve been visiting, she’s become a very good friend of ours.

“Good morning Beck,” I say to her as I approach.

She looks up from her papers, brushing strands of her brown hair away from her eyes, “I was wondering when you’d come around.” She quickly checks her computer. “If you’re looking for your lovely boyfriend... he’s still in a meeting for a few minutes, so you may as well keep me company for a bit.”

“Of course he is. You look a bit busier than usual today.”

“Oh, no I’m just checking over some things before I hand them to the big boss lady.”

“You need a promotion,” I say. Beck is the sort of person who works way harder than she has to. She's not even being paid to do the things she does, but the boss couldn't convince her out of it. She says its mostly boredom.

Beck scrunches up her nose, “No way! Then I’ll actually have to do work instead of just offering to in my spare time.” We laugh and chat for a bit longer, then she presses a button on the phone and speaks, “Calvin, I have a large package here for you. It’s really needy and won’t stop pestering me.”

I hear him laugh through the phone. “I’ll be right down,” he says.

When Calvin comes down, he gives me a quick hug, then we all spend his late lunch break together. The other employees know that I don’t actually work here, but treat me as if I’m one of the family. Some of them have even tried to get me to take interviews for vacant positions here, but I don’t think I’ll be able to handle a job like this on top of editing.

After an ably belated lunch in the break room with Calvin and Beck, I have to go back home to meet with Dad. Dad has been in his new house for a few months now. He managed to get a pretty decent house on a sizable propery that he’s been working on it in his free time, adding a coop that now houses some ducks and chickens, and building a fence around the property to keep his new schnauzer puppy Juno in. Dad’s side of the family has always been out-of-town sort of people, but since Dad moved to Highland for his job, he never really had the opportunity to go back to the farm, so I think he’s a lot happier being out in the open again. I've enjoyed going out to help him too.

Dad currently doesn't have a job. He's living off his savings and compensation, paying the mortgage for the property off with everything he saved over his last few months of work. He jokes about retiring but unfortunately he's still a few years off that. Recently, however, he has been keeping his eye out for local or rural jobs. He's hoping one of the nearby farms would take him on with the surrounding area being overrun with orchards and livestock. I've been keeping an ear out for him, but since I'm in town, I haven't heard of any opportunity.

As I get back home, which takes a while since I have to use public transport, I see Dad waiting on our front step with Juno in his lap. The small bundle of black fur jumps up and runs over to me as soon as she sees, hopping at my feet digging her tiny claws into my shin. I have to pick her up to save my fragile skin from her deadly attack.

“Hi baby girl!” I baby her with strange, high-pitched baby noises, carefully cradling her as she squirms.

Dad smiles, “It's too bad you didn't have any younger siblings.”

“I don’t think that would have worked out well!” I continue in my baby voice to disguise the mellow topic of Callie.

I unlock the front door and let us in, putting Juno down to let her explore the place. Dad ushers me towards the kitchen, he always comes down on a Friday to cook for Calvin and I. Also to make sure I'm actually eating.

He pushes for some wholesome Father son talk before Calvin gets home. “So how's you and your man?”

“We're good. We've been fighting to try and get time for date nights recently. Both of us have picked up a few extra hours and weekends have turned into rest days.”

“At least you two work the same hours. That way you get some dinner and special time together.”

“Yeah-" I pause after catching Dad's dramatically cocked eyebrow and annoying grin, “Really?” I drone.

“Hey, I’m just proving my point! And I wasn’t even blunt about it. I could’ve straight up said that you two still have time for s-”

“Okay! I get it!” I interrupt.

Dad laughs and nudges me while I’m still cringing at what he said. There's good and bad things about Dad being close with both Calvin and myself. I wasn't the one that brought that side of our relationship up to him either.

“What are we talking about,” Calvin says, loosening his tie and hugging my waist from behind. Speak of the devil and he appears.

Dad starts, “We were just-"

“No!” I'm blushing enough for Calvin to get the memo. He smirks at me and leaves it alone.

After dinner is over, Dad takes Juno home to feed her. Half of me wishes she could stay over, but there's no way I'm getting up at 5am to walk the black cloud of energy. Calvin stretches out on the couch, laying on his back with his arms behind his head. I collapse on top of him, my head to his chest. His heart is beating so fast.

Even if we haven't had designated ‘date nights', Dad's right, I'm lucky to get to spend time winding down after work with Calvin. I move my head just enough to take a peak at him. He still hasn’t changed. His hair aptly defies the gel he used to sweep it neatly to the side. The first few buttons of his shirt are undone, with his collar relaxing against his shoulders. The tie was unfortunately ditched before dinner, along with his expensive watch and pointy black shoes. After work Calvin is definitely one of my favourites.

He catches my eye and I hide my face in his shirt. I feel him chuckle slightly.

“I’m so glad we didn’t give up,” he says, out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” I ask, moving my chin so I can look him in his gorgeous dark eyes.

“When you disappeared. I would’ve tried anything to find you. But now that I have you, I’m never going to lose you again,” He shuffles to sit with his back against the armrest and I ball myself up and cuddle into him.

“I would fight all over again if it was for you.” I reply, knowing my whole life is behind those words.

“Promise?”

“I promise baby,” I say with a soft laugh.

I feel him take a few deep breaths as we sit there in perfectly comfortable silence. The room softly lit in a deep amber glow. At this point, I'm fighting to keep my eyes open.

“Oliver...”

I let my eyelids drift close and give into the calm rocking of his breathing. “Mm?”

“Will you marry me?”

My whole body shifts and I whip my head up to look at him in sheer disbelief, as I process what I heard. His eyes are soft, his breath is still steady. He admires me as I sit there, with the world in my hands. There is not a single sign of falter across his entire face. Calvin is asking me to marry him.

Before I can even react to how much time passed in one of the worst times to stop functioning, I'm crying and I can't stop. The tears tear down my cheek.

My voice is a whisper at first, “Yes...” I try again, “Yes... yes. Yes, yes, yes!” I lurch forward an wrap my arms around him too tightly. My whole body feels weak and so overwhelmed. I feel him let out his breath, almost like a laugh of relief. I can't believe it. I pull back, “Calvin, I lov-"

Calvin snatches me into a kiss, his hands cupping my face. I drive my hands up his half untucked, white button-down, locking then in his hair. He mumbles, his lips close and brushing against mine, “I love you. I can't lose you again.”