The Scars That Burn

Chapter 13

We are walking through Central Park and it is a beautiful day. When I mentioned the idea to Jessica this morning it was almost too easy. It was a perfect day for a stroll in the park. Our plan was to walk around, there are so many hidden gems in here, get some lunch and then go to see mom and dad before dinner later tonight. Little did she know, it would be a celebratory dinner and then lots of celebratory drinking after. I was so excited for her and it was really hard to act like today wasn't going to change her life.

"Hey Jess, let's go to the Whispering Bench." I say nonchalantly as we are walking.

"I..I don't know." Ummm...

"Why? We love that bench."

"I know but..with today..I.." I start to panic. Shit. This would ruin the proposal.

"I know." I put my arm around her and pull her into me. "We can whisper to Mom. She'll be on the other end hearing us." I kiss the side of her head as she nods.

"OK. Yea." I look at her and see a tear roll down her cheek. I wipe it with my thumb and squeeze her to me. The guys are walking ahead of us so they don't notice our little moment. We will have many more like this today. It is still weird though to have other people be apart of it. It's always just been me and Jess. We didn't have to hide our grief, we just cried and watched movies and ate like pigs. But now, well, now we had these two incredible men in our life to share our grief with and it kind of made it a little more bearable. I was actually really grateful for Johnathan to be with us today.

We make our way to the Shakespeare Garden, looking at all the different flowers and plaques. Each flower has a plaque that has the passage Shakespeare wrote about it. We find my favorite from A Midsummer's Night Dream.

 I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:  

"This is my favorite. I love that play. I read it in college for English lit for the first time and was obsessed. I even like Cymbeline. My teacher was impressed, she thought it was one of the hardest to read."

"Why am I not surprised?" Johnathan asks kissing my head.

"She's always been the best at everything. It's annoying." Jess laughs slapping my ass as she walks by.

"Oh please, so have you, Ms. I'm going to be one of the best surgeons in the country." She  laughs and rolls her eyes as we continue walking.

"Which one is your favorite Jess?" Thomas asks.

"Romeo and Juliet of course. What's in a name? That which we call a rose."

"By any other word would smell as sweet." Thomas finished and then kissed Jess. I could literally see her melt into him. 

"Oh my God you guys are ridiculous." I laugh and they just smile at each other.

"You know I could spout some Shakespeare to you too if you want." Johnathan says to me taking my hand as we continue walking.

"No, because I know exactly which lines you would say to me."

"Oh yea? Like what?" He looks at me amused and I just roll me eyes. He leans to me. "What, with my tongue in your tail?"

I laugh hard. "Exactly."

"What are you two laughing about?" Jess asks glancing behind us as she walks with Thomas hand in hand.

"Nothing." I reply shaking my head smiling.

***

We get to the Whispering Bench and I'm glad to find no one is around. My heart starts to race knowing what is about to happen next.