Her first

Chapter 15 : Sarah

"hey"
"Hey Gladys"

Gladys seems to sense the awkward silence between Joshua and me.

"Hey Joshua Ive been wanting to talk to you"
"Here I am"
"I'll leave you"

Gladys walks to the back room.

"I'm sorry Joshua"
"For what, bieng honest"
"I didn't mean it like that I just--"
"You don't have to apologise for anything ma'am I get it I don't fit into your category of men it's alright please tell Gladys I left"
"Joshua wait--"

And he's gone.

"Oh honey I heard everything from the back"
"You were eavesdropping on us?"
"Oh sweetie with what I just heard you need help"
"You'd do that for me?".
"Sure he's my brother after all and you're a close friend because of the relationship I share with Eli you're my sister"
"Thanks Gladys I really appreciate it"
"Let's get to work shall we"

The rest of the day continues busy as usual. As we're about to close Gladys comes up to me.

"Hey, so you're going over to his apartment right"
"To talk to him yeah"
"Just be honest, yourself and don't try and fake it he'll see right through you"
"It's like he has a talent or something"
"It's his love for honesty, see you tomorrow Sarah Joshua must miss me already"
"Bring the little handsome kid tomorrow"
"Alright, bye"

After locking up I head to the address Gladys gave me, a nice quiet neighborhood. I knock on the door of a small house but no one comes to answer.

"Maybe I got the wrong house"

I look at the address on the paper then on the house.

"Nope right one, maybe ---"

He's van pulls up behind me. I can't tell whether he's happy or not to see me because of he's expression.

"Hai"

He's deep voice greeting me.

"Hey, lovely neighborhood you have here"
"Thank you"

He walks passed me to unlock his door, gesturing for me to come in.

"Thank you"
"Make yourself at home, sorry I came late I had to a job since it was near by the lady insisted I go"
"It's fine I haven't been here long"

He removes ingredients from his grocery bags.

"You cook?"
"I remember saying I'm good at it though lazy"
"What about tonight"
"I got a big tip from the lady I just did a job for, saved some in my account and decided to treat myself with the rest"
"Big tip"

I raise an eyebrow at him.

"She's a generous woman"
"Generous indeed, although my guess is she likes you"
"What makes you say that"
"Our friendly neighborhood Superman"

He smiles and takes of his jacket and remains with only a vest on, in the light of the kitchen I can see his muscles flexing as he cuts up chilly peppers.

"You're a lover of heat huh"
"Aren't you?"
"Here and there"

After stuffing the chicken he puts it in the oven.

"Alright, I presume you aren't here to talk about my cooking"
"Yeah, I want us to start over"
"Because?"
"I'm new at this alright, I've been given a second chance to restart from scratch and --"
"Woah, chill out"

He's holding my shoulders, we're close really close. I pull away slowly.

"Restart your life, what do you mean by that"

I can't possibly tell him about my past, but if I tell him it meant nothing will he see right through the lie like Gladys said.

"I'm not perfect alright, I used to be obnoxious, rude, and loved to spend money on me"
"That isn't that bad, as long as you learnt a lesson and decided to change for the better then that's good"
"Sure so, can we"

He looks me up and down the puts out his hand.

"Hi, my name is Joshua what's yours"
"Sarah, it's nice to meet you"

The next day at work, I'm with Gladys talking about what happened last night.

"Tell me sweetie everything"
"We just talked, I changed my view on the way I see a couple of things"
"Joshua's like that, he's honesty sometimes bugs me you know, he's the kind of guy who'd actually tell you that the jeans you're putting on make you look fat"
"I know right, but that's cute about him. Almost as cute as this angel heyyyy"

Little Joshua smiles at me.

"Bwaaaa maaha"
"I just love kids, bieng around them"
"Did you consider having some of your own?"

I have given some thought to it

"Yeah, eventually when I get married to Joshua"
"Bwaaa"
"Not you my little angel"

A few days later I've been going out with Joshua, it honestly has been a great few dates I think. He invited me out although we haven't made anything official. I'm at the counter at work when I receive a text.

"Hey"
"Hey, I was just thinking about you"
"Me too, I want to take you out tonight"
"Ohh, any place special"
"Uh, nope you'll ruin the surprise"
"Ohh now I definitely want to know"
"See you tonight Sarah"

After closing the shop I head to the bus stop and wait for Joshua, he's van pulls up revealing him in a tux.

"Don't you look ravishing tonight"
"I see you took time to change too"

Showing his smile.

"Shall we"
"After you me lady"

We finally reach a fancy restaurant.

"Woah I love this place but can you--"
"Afford it, yeah actually. I took some change from my savings account and wanted to surprise you"

We get inside the restaurant to our reserved table. After eating our first course Joshua reaches across the table.

"These few days with you have been amaizing Sarah I really needed a special occasion like this to make us official"
"Joshua I --"

He takes out a necklace.

"It's nothing special but it was given to me by my mother before she passed, i want you to have it"
"Joshua"
"A yes is all I need Sarah I'll be very happy if you say"

Out of the corner of my eye I see him looking directly into my eyes from another table and from his standing up to approach our table he has recognized me, that's it what I have with Joshua will be --

"Dirty Sarah, no way"