Sigh, Alaska: a short story novel

Seth Hawkins

Seth Hawkins couldn't figure out what went wrong. He knew what happened, of course, but the why of it just didn't make sense. Everything seemed perfect. He had finally met his match in Lacy who inspired him, challenged him, and excited him. Seth knew she would keep him on his toes, always guessing, and that she'd make him a good wife. Thought he'd known, anyway.

The 737 Boeing he boarded filled up with passengers, and he had an older couple sitting next to his aisle seat. He smiled at them. They reminded him of his grandparents. Oh god, he thought. I told her about my grandparents. He felt the memory start to replay, but it instead of fighting it he closed his eyes and let it unfold. Maybe on the thousandth replay he would find something he missed before, the key as to how he could have been so wrong about Lacy.

"My grandpa told me when he met my grandma he'd never met a woman who was more wicked or feisty. He said she spent 50 years proving it to him." Seth brushed his fingers across the back of Lacy's. They were on the big old blue couch in the TV common room, downstairs at the Northern Lights Hostel. She laid on top of him, her head on his chest, their hands and fingers dancing over the floor in the emergency exit light. "When I saw you at Gottchalks, I thought, wow. I bet she could teach me a trick or two."

"Oh, be quiet. I'm a good girl." Lacy admonished on a whisper. She propped her head up and nipped his chin with her teeth.

"My grandpa told me when you meet the girl that challenges everything you know, that makes you want to fight, to be a better man, don't ever let her go." Seth intertwined his fingers with Lacy's. "I don't want to ever let you go, Lacy."

"I'll never give you a reason." She replied with a kind smile, one she reserved for her most favorite of people. "You make me a better person."

A better person, he thought. That was clearly a lie. How could she? How could she agree to marry him, to make love with him, and then hours later let that creep inside her room and inside her body?

"Lacy, I'm in love with you." He whispered against her hair. Even as the words tumbled from his mouth, he could feel himself tensing, preparing for her rejection. It was too soon. It was happening too quickly.

"I love you too, Seth." Lacy snuggled closer; he thought she might try to bury herself under his skin. Seth didn't think that'd be so bad. "I think I've been waiting my whole life for you. You just... get me. You know?"

He smoothed her hair. "We can move to San Francisco. I was accepted to a school down there that has one of the best tech programs in the country. We'll be poor for a little bit, but that's what our twenties are for, right?"

"I want to open my own boutique; something high end and frilly. San Francisco would be a great place to do that. I'll work to save money for the store and to get you through college."

"We can get a dog and take it to the park."

"Can we name it Wellington? I've always thought Wellington was a great name for a dog. It's so... proper and dogs are so silly." said Lacy.

"As long as the dog comes from a shelter."

"Are there any other kinds?" Lacy asked, with a facetious grin. "Once you've graduated and I've got the store up and running, we should think about kids, yeah?"

"I was thinking three. What about you?"

"Definitely three. That way there will always be a tiebreaker. Do you have any siblings?"

"No, you?" asked Seth.

"Me either. It was always lonely growing up. I decided a long time ago I wanted a big family."

"Things are bound to get hard, you know." Seth sat up and righted Lacy next to him. He grabbed her hands. "But I'm serious about this life we're building together. I want the hard times and the good. I want to wake up next to you in the morning."

"I want to make you chocolate chip banana pancakes on Sundays for breakfast."

"Oh god, those sound amazing." He closed his eyes and imagined the sweet aroma waking him up in the morning after a night of amazing sex. His grandma made his grandpa cinnamon rolls every Saturday, and they were married until they died. Seth felt their presence as he laid there with Lacy. "I'll buy you flowers every Thursday just because I love you."

"We'll fight and make up."

"No matter how ugly the fight, we will always make up. I will always come home to you."

"And I will always come home to you."

"Lacy Jones, I came to Alaska to find myself and here you are; my other half. Will you marry me?"