One More Time(50)

The next morning, I call my agent’s office and have them change my flight from Monday to first thing Sunday morning. There’s a six am flight out of JFK that will get me into LAX at nine AM. Jenna lives fifteen minutes from the airport, which means I can get to her before she’s even out of her pajamas.

If I’m lucky and she’s having a lazy morning, I can just slip right into bed next to her for some wake-up sex. I’m dying for it after a week away from her, and I know she’s got to be too.

With a ring purchased and a decision made about our future, I’m more anxious to get done with this trip than ever. The next few days seem to move like molasses, but finally, it’s Saturday night. I text Jenna before we go live, and she shoots back a sweet good luck message along with some dirty talk that boosts my ego and helps me feel confident when the cameras start to roll. I’m sure it’s partly because of her that the show goes off without a hitch.

After we wrap, Jenna texts me another message telling me how good the show was. I want to talk to her, but I don’t want to let on that I’m coming home early. Plus there’s the after party to go to. I send her a quick text back, telling her I love her, then I head over to the club.

The cast stays out until three in the morning, and I grab my luggage from the hotel and go straight to the airport after that. I’m going to be tired when I get home, but I’m going to be with Jenna, and if I have to spend all day in bed, well, so be it. Though, with her in bed with me, I’m not sure how much sleep I’ll be catching up on.

She’s all I think about as I sit on the five and a half hour flight back home. About touching her, being inside her. And then about more serious things, like our future together and about popping the question. The diamond in my pocket feels bulky and I can’t stop patting my hand over my jacket to make sure it’s still there—no way was I leaving it in my luggage, out of my sight. The longer I wear it, though, the more I long to see her wearing it.

I should just do it now. Why would I wait, anyway? To make it more special? What’s more special than a total surprise?

By the time I land, I’ve made up my mind. It’s happening today, the minute I walk in the door.

I work on my proposal speech in the cab over to her house. I change it a million times because there are so many things I want to say to her. Too many things. I decide I’ll tell her that this is coming ten years too late, but that I’m glad we’ve had all the time to become better people for each other, me especially. I consider stopping to get some flowers, but I’m dying to get there before Jenna even steps foot out of bed so I abandon that and tell the cab to drive like hell. I’m holding the ring box in my hand for the whole car ride.

I’m ready.

I step out of the cab and take a deep breath. It’s nine-thirty am. This is it. I’ve never felt so sure of anything.

Jenna gave me a key when we got back to LA from Vancouver, so I let myself in as quietly as possible. She’ll hear me if she’s already up, so my plan is to just pivot to a proposal out on the patio. But I don’t hear a sound as I enter; she’s still asleep.

Perfect.

I carefully put my bags down in the foyer and take another deep breath. For a second I wonder if this is the right decision. Not because I don’t want to propose, but because I want it to be the right proposal. Will Jenna be mad that I’m doing it without talking about it first? I said we were taking it a day at a time. Should I warn her first? Hint around? Should it be more special?

Maybe I should call her and tell her I’m coming in early, then meet her for dinner at Joe’s in Venice tonight. That might be a more romantic location. Is this the way our engagement story should go?

My gut says yes.

All the best parts of our relationship have been driven by instinct. The moment we first met, the night we first slept together, and the entire way we got back together this time. Our story is driven by impulse, which makes this proposal the perfect way to cap it off.

That means it’s show time.

I tiptoe through the living room and into the hallway. Still no sound. I slip the ring box into my pocket and head into the bedroom. She must be sleeping. I decide I’ll crawl into bed beside her and slip the ring on her finger while she’s still out. Jenna sleeps like the dead, so I’m sure I can do it without her waking up. Then I’ll see how long it takes for her to notice the diamond on her hand.

God, I’m so excited, it’s going to be hard not to wake her up myself.

Mostly, I just can’t wait to see my sweet girl’s sleeping face when I push the door open.

But that’s not what greets me on the other side.

The first thing I see is a man’s face. A total stranger. He’s sound asleep on my side of the bed. Shirtless. His arm draped across the body in the bed next to him.

I’m thrown.

Then I’m spinning.

Then I’m speechless.

And then, I’m seeing red.

“Who the fuck is this?” I yell.

He wakes up startled, as does Jenna, who I now see is the body next to him, dressed in the same blue nighty set she used to woo me into her hotel bed so many times in Vancouver.

If it’s possible for physical steam to come out of a man’s ears like in the cartoons, then someone ought to see if that’s happening to me right now. I want to shred this place apart. I want to punch a hole right through a wall. I want to kick this guy’s ass and ask questions later. Deal with details later.