A Life More Complete(58)
After multiple hugs from Melinda, they ooh and ahh over my insane ring as we finish our drinks and go our separate ways. As I’m driving home my phone rings. It’s Tyler.
“Hi baby,” I say.
“Hey kid. How was your night? Any comments about your dress?” he asks casually.
“Uneventful,” I say and tell him no one cared to notice the dress and if they did they didn’t comment. “I miss you. I wish I wasn’t going home to an empty bed.” My voice has a sad quality to it that is rarely present.
“I miss you terribly. I really need this to be over so I can get home to you. Where are you?” he asks.
“I’m about five minutes from home. Why?”
“Stay on the phone with me until you get home. I need to know you’re safe. You going home alone makes me uneasy.”
“Tyler, I’ve lived by myself...” I trail off stopping short of completing that sentence. “It’s sweet that you worry about me.”
“How can I not? You’re the most important person in my world. I don’t know how I spent so long without you.” His words make me smile and feel lonely all at the same time. I want him next to me, holding me, making me feel safe and comforted, but I will come home to an empty house. Something that never bothered me until this moment, but here I am dwelling on the fact that my house will be empty.
“I’m home,” I say walking up the stairs from the garage. My feet ache and my whole body is exhausted. My bed is calling my name and I hope sleep doesn’t elude me. Sleeping alone now has become hard. First Ben left my bed empty and now Tyler.
“I left you a surprise on your bed,” Tyler says. I know his smile is massive. The one thing Tyler loved was to shower me with gifts. Some things never change.
“You didn’t have to get me anything. Although if the surprise is you in my bed, then I retract my original statement.”
“Sorry, it’s not me. And I didn’t buy you anything, either. I have to go, ‘cause it’s really late here and I have to be up early. I’ll see you tomorrow night. I love you. Enjoy your present.”
“I love you, too, but I feel like you’re rushing me off the phone.” I toss my purse on the counter and pull off my shoes as I make my way to my bedroom.
“I am. I want you to find your present while you’re not on the phone with me. Now hang up. I love you.”
“Good night, Tyler. Dream about me.”
“Always,” he says as he hangs up.
Excited, I happily run into my bedroom and find a large rectangular box on my bed. It’s wrapped in silver paper and has a red satin ribbon tied around it. A small card slipped neatly under the ribbon bears my name and I rip it open.
Krissy,
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
I didn’t think they’d arrive in time, but I lucked out
just like I did when I met you.
I love you,
Tyler
I rip the bow off and toss it on my bed and quickly to peel the paper away. My mind is racing as to what could possibly be in the box. I can’t even begin to speculate so I remove the lid quickly. The box is filled with what looks to be about fifty sheets of paper stacked on top of each other, but as I reach in to pull them out I recognize something I haven’t seen in years. The logo embossed on the back of the first sheet that bears the brand name Kodak. My fingers trail across it and I pull the stack out. I lay each sheet out on the bed and turn them over one by one and the tears begin to fall from my eyes, silently and rapidly. My mind races to Tyler and then to his best friend and our old roommate, Micah. The black and white pictures are amazing and beautiful and they tell a story of best friends and family and lovers in a way that only a person who truly understood could. I remember all those times Micah spent in the bathroom of our tiny beach cottage developing film and all those nights he spent in silence as he focused his lens and took pictures of us. Somehow he managed to capture all the love Tyler felt for me but could never express.
There are pictures of the three of us, Micah, Tyler and me, with genuine smiles, all of us together on the beach and in front of our house. I recall him setting the timer on the camera and running to join us. But the pictures that make my heart ache are the ones showing Tyler and me. Micah took pictures I never knew existed. Pictures showing Tyler’s arms around my waist, my head on his chest, with him kissing my hair, another one depicting the two of us asleep in our bed with Tyler pressed close against my body, my curly hair laid out over the pillow. And one of my favorites, the one that makes me cry harder than I ever thought possible. When I turn the picture over there is a note jotted on the back from one of Micah’s professors, it says, “I have never seen someone capture love and anguish the way you did in this picture.” I was on the verge of tears in the picture with Tyler standing in front of me. His hand on one side of my face and his lips pressed gently against my forehead. My mouth was turned down and my eyes closed, my arms down at my side. I looked lonely, but Tyler looked so deeply hurt I could almost see his heartbreaking. The picture spoke volumes about our relationship. Micah was able to tell our tale without using a single word.