"God, I missed you so much, Sandra." I said, my arms still around her, feeling her tears through my shirt on my shoulder. I stroked her hair, trying so hard to comfort her and will her to know that I was fighting back the same tears of my own.
She nodded against my shoulder, "I know, Zack. Oh my God I missed you, too. I needed to be in your arms so much. Oh God, I needed to touch you again."
I squeezed her a little tighter and released her from my embrace, picking up her bag that had slipped out of my hand. I reached out for her hand and held it as we walked towards the parking lot. I placed her bag safely in the trunk once we got to the car and opened her door for her, holding out my hand to help her down into the car.
I turned the radio down and we talked about her flight while I drove up the interstate towards the city. It was a relatively short drive, only about 25 minutes. I took the Lenox exit and we arrived at my apartment within a few minutes.
We walked in and I noticed her take a preliminary scan of my apartment, smiling at the unfinished painting of the beach scenery hanging above the couch. She knew the story behind it. My mother was working on it before she had died and it was never finished.
I left her in the living room for a moment while I put her bag in my bedroom. I came back to find her sitting on the couch, holding a picture of my friend's family and me. She ran her index finger lightly over my image in the picture and quickly put it down as soon as she saw me in the hallway.
"I was just..." she started and I sat down next to her, placing my hand on her leg.
I smiled warmly. "It's quite all right, my Love. That's actually one of my favorite pictures." I said, picking it up off the coffee table, holding it in my lap, and gazing at the picture. "I owe my life to Christin and her family..."
"Your family, Zack. They took you in as one of their own after...you're a part of their family, Sweetie" She said, placing her arms around my right arm, snuggling into my shoulder, and looking at the picture with me.
I shook my wandering thoughts from my head and turned to face her. "So, I've got some things planned for this afternoon, San. Come with me, will you?" I asked, pulling her up and taking her to my bedroom. I pointed to a small overnight bag on the bed. "You'll need to pack a change of clothes for tomorrow. We're not staying here tonight." I told her, grinning from ear to ear.
She looked confused. "Where are we going?"
I just continued to smile, not wanting to spoil any surprises and nudging her to the bag. "Just trust me, Love."
She opened her bag slowly, pulling some clothes out of the bag, laying them on the bed, and stepping back to inspect them. "What should I bring? Something nice, comfortable, extremely dressy?"
"Bring something comfy that you could walk around in all day. But as for tonight..." I walked to the closet, grabbing the white box from the top shelf, wrapped in a red bow. "Will you wear this for me tonight, Love?"
I handed the box to her and watched as she sat down on the edge of the bed, slowly pulling at the red ribbons. "What is it?" She asked, trying to act nonchalant as she lifted the lid of the box, pulling out a long black dress. She held it up, standing immediately to press it against her body. "Zack, it's beautiful. But you shouldn...."
I quickly interrupted her sentence by placing two fingers over her lips. I let them gently slide down off her lips, bringing her bottom lip down slightly with my middle finger. "Don't say anything. Just go try it on, ok?"
She nodded, walking across the hall to the bathroom to put on the velvety dress. I picked up the box that once contained the dress, placed it on the dresser, and returned to the bed, folding my arms over my chest and rubbing my chin with my fingers as I tried to decide which of the outfits she should bring. I picked up a pair of jean shorts and a soft yellow tank top and placed them on the overnight bag.
