The Fast Lane

Chapter 38

For some reason when Rich told us he would contact us about the race, I thought it would be the day after we got home.  Harry and I waited for some secret messenger, an anonymous phone call, an email, a text, a message in a bottle… anything.  For days, we received nothing. Most days we would spend at the hospital waiting for Jenna to wake up.  The nurses had been feeding her and giving her fluids and she was slowly getting better, but all she seemed to want to do was sleep.  I mean, there’s not really much more you can do in a hospital.  When she did wake up, it was awkward.  We still didn’t really know what all to talk about with each other, but at least we tried.

One late night, I drove home from the hospital.  Harry told me that he wanted to stay home because he wasn’t feeling good earlier that day, which wasn’t normal for him.  In all the months that I had known him, he was never once sick. 

I pulled up to the front of the house and got out of the car.  I fumbled around in my purse for my phone as I walked up the front steps, and not finding it, I reached for the door handle to discover it was locked.  I twisted the knob a few times in different directions and frustratedly threw my hands down by my sides. Why would Harry lock the door? I looked down at the ground to see if maybe Jenna had a welcome mat that I never noticed, but instead I saw a trail of rose petals. 

I hesitated and blinked for a few times to make sure I was really seeing them. I picked up one of the delicate red petals around my feet and rubbed it between my fingers.  I watched as it fell to the ground and then I began to follow the rest of the trail around the porch. As I walked off of the side porch, the petals switched from red to pink, and they spread through the grass and into a part of the field that had been knocked down behind Jenna’s house.  I walked between the tall walls of grain, following the petals and smiling as they once again changed color, this time to peach.

I continued to zig-zag through the grain until finally, I came to a clearing.  Grain had been cleared from the area and a few large black blankets covered the ground.  A white picket fence outlined the secluded space and kept other grain from falling into the area. Red, yellow, pink, and peach rose petals were spread all over the black blanket.  A small table was set up in the middle of the space with a black table cloth and small red candles placed all over it.  Two covered plates waited in front of each chair. 

I gasped as I looked around. I took a step forward into the area and observed the table, and I bent down to touch the colorful petals on the ground. 

I heard someone behind me clear their throat. I turned to see Harry standing with one hand in the pocket of his black suit, the other holding a large bouquet of white roses. He smiled softly as he watched me gaze all around in amazement. “Hey, Love.”

I grinned, still surprised and breathless. I bit my lip. “Hey, Haz.”  

He began to walk slowly toward me. He handed me the roses, which I took from him and smelled, not taking my eyes from Harry’s. He grinned as he watched me and then leaned down and kissed me lightly on the lips. 

He pulled away from me and stuck both hands in his pockets. He began to rock back and forth on his heels and he looked sheepishly down at the ground.  ”I feel bad because I didn’t actually ever really totally truly officially propose to you.  I wanted it to be something that you remembered for the rest of your life.” 

My stomach dropped and I felt my cheeks burn as I blushed.  For some reason I thought that his asking me to marry him in Costa Rica was it, and honestly I was okay with that. I thought that this was just a romantic dinner that he put together to pass the time. 

Harry lifted his eyes to meet my own. He took my purse and the roses from my hands and put them on the table behind me.  He stepped closer to me and put one hand on the side of my face, using his other hand to brush away some of the hair that had fallen from my messy ponytail.