Once again, you wake up running, yelling and waving your hands in the air.
The last person off the bus sees you, turns quickly, and smacks the bus door with the heel of his hand. With a hiss, the bus stops and the doors fly open.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the bus driver shouts.
The man points in your direction but you're already zipping past him. "Good deed for the day," you manage to pant out as you climb up the bus stairs.
The driver glares at you as you pay your fare. Then he grinds the gears and the bus leaps forward, all but throwing you into an empty seat.
You give yourself a few minutes to get your heart and breathing calm and then pull out your phone.
On my way, you text Inez, tossing in a heart emoji for good measure. You double-check to make sure the ring is still in your coat pocket and then settle down for your bus ride.
You get to La Rose d'Or just five minutes late. Not bad, for you. Inez was right – you're always late, even in the history where you didn't marry her.
Just like before, Inez is sitting towards the back of the restaurant, staring thoughtfully at nothing at all. She doesn't notice you until you're almost all the way to the table, but then she looks up smiles.
A good sign, you think. You feel like an actor on opening night.
"Sorry I'm late," you tell her, hanging your coat on the back of your chair.
"I've been here only a few minutes myself."
You sit, reaching for a menu. "Let's get started, then."
Her hand settles on yours. "Can you wait a second? I've got some news."
You smile at her reassuringly. "What's up?"
She takes a deep breath and then tells you: "I got into Stanford."
You take both of her hands in your own. "Oh, Inez, that's wonderful! I know it's what you wanted."
"Thanks," she answers, shyly glancing down at the tablecloth.
You give her hands a little shake, bringing her eyes back up to yours again. "But I have to ask: what does it mean about us?"
She pauses – speaking volumes – before answering. "That's something we can decide later."
You let go of her hands. A crease appears between her eyebrows, but you give her another reassuring smile. "I know you, Inez. You've already decided to go."
She won't meet your eyes.
"You don't have to feel guilty," you assure her. "This is what you want."
"I want both."
"Well," you say, "maybe that's possible." You reach behind you into your coat pocket and come out with the ring box.
Inez's eyes widen. "Oh my god…."
"We've been dating for a while now. I think we really work." You open the box and turn it to face her. "And I think we will work just as well in California as we do here."
"But you still have another year of school."
You smile again. "I don't particularly care."
She stares down at the ring, transfixed, her mouth opening and shutting a few times with no words coming out.
"I think that's the first time I've ever seen you at a loss for words," you tell her.
She looks up at you, smiling through teary eyes. "Can you blame me? Yesterday I was an undergraduate and single. Today, I'm a grad student and…." Her voice drifts off, but she can't take her eyes off the ring.
"I need to hear you actually say it," you prompt her.
"Oh!" She looks up at you, color rising into her cheeks. "Yes. I'm sorry. Yes!"
"You're sorry that it's yes?" you ask.
She pulls the ring box out of your hand. "You know what I mean."
"I do."
She smiles up at you. "You know, I like it when you say that." She lifts the ring out of its bed and slips it onto her finger. "It's beautiful." She sits admiring her hand, her face flushing even more.
"It was my mother's."
She grins up at you. "It's a little too big."
"So was my mother."
She laughs and sobs and hiccups all at once. Then she stands and leans all the way across the table, pulling your face towards her and giving you a long, warm kiss. And then another. And then another.
"Inez," you tell her when she pauses to let you catch your breath. "Everyone's watching."
"Good."
You squirm a little in your seat. "They're . . . they're staring at us."
"Even better." But finally she relents, falling back into her seat. She stares down at her left hand again. "You don't understand what this means to me." She looks back up at you, the flush finally settling back down again but her eyes still teary. "I – growing up, I didn't ever feel really like I was part of my own family. They were all so different from me. And they sure as hell could never figure out what to do with me." She stares back down at the ring again. "I finally get a family of my own."
And then she starts giggling.
"What?" you ask her.
She tries to speak and it just makes her giggle more. She gives a little snort.
You chuckle along with her. "What is it?"
She settles down finally, wiping the tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's corny. You know how much I hate corny. But I can't help it, 'cause it's true." Her face is beaming. "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world."
"I agree."
"You do?"
"Yeah," you tell her, "that was pretty corny."
Inez snatches a slice of bread off the table and chucks it at you. It bounces off your chest and lands on the floor. As you bend over to retrieve it, you notice your waiter hovering a table away; something in her face tells you that she's been waiting there for a while. You smile apologetically and wave her over.
When Inez begins by ordering a glass of wine, the waiter glances down at the slice of bread you've retrieved from the floor and then back up at Inez. Inez meets her glare with a sunny smile.
"Just bring us two fettuccini alfredos and a bottle of the house white," you say quickly.
Inez starts to giggle again. The waiter stomps off without another word.
Inez reaches across the table, taking both of your hands in hers. "I suppose I have to introduce you to my family now," she says sourly.
"And you'll have to meet Father as well," you answer. "Which brings me to something I've been wanting to tell you about for a long time. Now that you're joining the family, you should know about it."
"Ooo," Inez croons, wiggling excitedly in her seat. "Skeletons in the closet?"
"Something like that," you answer. "It's about the House where I grew up...."
THE END