Friday night after a few stops and starts and one incident in which the friendly giant couldn't help himself and took off, leaving me to navigate the hill alone after having never navigated a hill quite that large that didn't take place on skis and subsequently yelling at him when he caught up with me, he had a few more surprises up his sleeves.
Reservations at a dimly-lit upscale restaurant. Lobster. Sparkling water after which he asked me what I would like for a drink and after I said water I realized it was a test. A pretty velvet box that he put on the table after he ordered for us.
I'm thinking, what is this?
The high-maintenance princess who never is allowed out of my brain was hoping for a Breitling Starliner. Even though they're $6000 and Jacob isn't that kind of man. Heck, I'm not even that kind of girl. I saw one once in real life and it was beautiful. But it was also just a watch, nothing of any real consequence.
People say that about me too, I suppose. Beautiful but of no consequence.
The logical princess won out, to match her logical prince. There was no Breitling in the box. What was in the box was two new hearing aids. The tiny ones I wear inside my ears, replacements for the one I lost at the cabin and the one I threw away in a fit of frustration.
Jacob happily spent thousands on those. This man is unpredictably predictable.
Jewelry would have been more romantic.
You've got enough jewelry. Put them in, Bridge.
You make it hard to hate you.
Wouldn't it be easier to talk if you can hear me?
Sometimes.
Then put them in.
I excused myself and went to the powder room to do it. When I returned Jacob whispered to me.
Every man in the room watched you come back.
Sorry.
Don't be. I bet they've never seen a more beautiful woman, either.
Please, Jake. I look washed out in black, my eyes are tired...
You couldn't look bad if you tried.
None of my cute dresses fit anymore.
They aren't looking at your dress, Bridge.
They're probably all gay and seeing what the competition is for you, mister gorgeous.
Well this table is a veritable sugar bowl, isn't it?
If the shoe fits, preacher boy.
What would you like to do tonight?
What are my choices?
Anything you want.
Be careful what you...indulge me in.
Anything, princess. I mean that.
And with that, I knew it was going to be a long night.
Let's worry about all that after dinner.
It proved to be a two-hour dinner, we carried on the quietest conversation, savored the best food I have ever tasted and finally left to return to our room, where a fire had been built and chocolate-dipped strawberries had been delivered, a treat courtesy of Loch, who is in the Irish Mob along with Jacob and who may or may not have had a lot to do with the last-minute reservations.
Jake did indeed indulge me in anything and everything I asked him for and as usual he made himself stop because he has a herculean sense of self-control not seen often in mere mortals. And so Friday night ended in one of those stupid quiet arguments that we dropped in favor of pure simplistic intimacy in the end, easily found after losing our way over more awkward affections.
Damn that, anyways.
The next day we almost didn't leave the room, but we didn't want to miss the entire day and so we lounged around in bed until close to lunch, then ordered mimosas and brunch. Jacob coaxed me into the shower easily with a promise to wash my hair and then we hit the village to poke around a little, because we both adore nighttime snowboarding, it could wait a little longer. We got matching tattoos.
Oh, don't roll your eyes.
Matching. We're a set now permanently. Salt and Pepper. Bonnie and Clyde. Jacob & Bridget.
To commemorate the biggest single surprise and amazing moment of our lives because although he won't admit it, I'm positive there were times over the spring and summer where he really did second-guess his heart.
We somehow surpassed being comfortable with each other and graduated to completely exposed to each other, whether it hurt or not, cementing a mutual trust that we've been fighting for.
Maybe we just needed to find a safe place to achieve all this in a neutral setting. And I realize I'm not making any sense. Confidence can make everything sharper. Time makes everything better. Trust makes everything extraordinary. Exploratory time, successful or not, can be a catalyst for a positive change.
Jacob's innate goodness eradicates all things dark. Like me.
As God intended. I have resorted to laughing about it now because rather than curse out loud the constant barrage of tests God is putting me through, instead it's rather amusing to believe that maybe he put me here as one big test for Jacob. One that Jacob is determined to pass.
I may continue to sabotage his efforts. I laughed at a quote I saw last week while reading reviews of the new Switchfoot album, it said,
Somewhere in there is the idea that good things happen to bad people, not bad things happen to good people.
In any case, Jake came back a very confident, trusting man, having confirmed to both of us that no matter how hard I try I can't break him, and me, well, I'm still melted butter and vaguely as depraved as ever.
And mostly unfixable.
