Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

8. Hank

CHAPTER 8

Hank

T here’s a lot going through her mind, and that is something I completely understand. I’m not talking about just taking a leisurely stroll in the park, I’m talking about changing our lives entirely.

“Moving in together. It’s awful sudden. My family might think I’m crazy.” She pauses, and then shakes her head. “Or they might understand entirely, given everything that’s happened with my siblings. I have no idea.”

“If it’s what we want, Fig, it’s what we want. Nothing should stop us. Hell, we want to go all the way with this? How about we get married?”

She gives me with a thousand-yard stare. “What the hell, Hank? You can’t just joke about things like that so flippantly.”

In response, I kiss her. Deeper, harder than before. She instinctively reacts, her kisses feeding back into me, wanting me as much as I want her. Our embrace breaks, but my needful gaze into her eyes doesn’t. “There’s nothing flippant or joking about my suggestion, Fig. I’ve been in love with you since you were sixteen.”

“In high school? You can’t really mean that. No one knows what they want in high school.”

“That’s why I didn’t make a move then. It didn’t feel right, you were too young for me back then, and you were my friend’s little sister. It felt like a bad move in so many ways. But now we’re both back in Home, as if the universe brought us together again for a reason.”

“Sometimes coincidences happen.”

“Maybe, but I can’t avoid how I’m feeling now. I’m still as passionate about you as ever, maybe more.”

She takes a deep breath, pondering everything I’m telling her. “What does us getting married even look like? It’s just all too crazy.”

“It is. But maybe we can tone it down. We can make it all old-fashioned and stuff. We can wait until we’re married.”

Fig laughs. “Really? You’re going to tell me you’re a virgin, Hank?”

I shrug. “Never really clicked with any girl enough to go beyond a second date. I’ve had lots of second dates, but nothing happened on them. Guess my subconscious was still thinking of your cute little ass.”

“But you’re a firefighter. You’ve been on the calendar. You gotta be knee deep in women who want you for a casual fling.”

“Casual flings aren’t my thing, Fig. Besides, I could say the same about you. Had to be beating the guys off left and right out in LA.”

She shakes her head. “Kinda and kinda not? I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that a lot of guys studying fashion aren’t of the heterosexual variety. And outside that I’ve always been sort of conservative in my dress. Sure, I’ve been approached at parties, but nobody seemed worth the effort of going out with.”

“It’s that fate thing again, Fig. It’s rearing its head. Making us come back together after all this time, keeping us virgins for one another. It’s like, destiny.”

She parts from me, pacing back and forth with her arms crossed. “I don’t know. It’s going to be hard enough to tell my family I really don’t want to go back to Los Angeles for that apprenticeship. To let them down with that. Then to tell them I want to open a small business in Home instead… Those two things alone are gonna knock them on their asses. To tell them I’m also suddenly getting married? I think I’m going to cause a mass heart attack.”

“I know your family, Fig.”

“I am my family, Hank.”

“And sometimes you need an outside perspective to understand something. I think you’re overthinking it. Your family will be behind you no matter what you do, girl. They’re not the type to judge you unless you’re doing something twisted or cruel. And nothing about you is that.”

She chuckles. “You don’t know me well enough to know that, Hank.”

“I sure as hell know you’re not cruel. Twisted? Maybe. We can experiment and see if we’re both into that sort of thing.”

More redness in the face. It is absolutely adorable and I want to see it every day for the rest of my life.

“So, the way you’re talking,” I say, stroking my chin, and matching her pacing with my own. “I’m getting definite yes vibes that you’re on board with what I’m proposing.”

She swallows. “And what you’re proposing is marriage?”

“That’s what I’m getting at, yes. So, will you marry me, Fig?”

To drive the point home, I drop to one knee.

“Oh my God,” she’s shaking her head, struggling to deal with the sheer immensity of everything I’m throwing at her. “Yes. It’s a hasty and possibly crazy idea, but I’ll marry you, Hank.”

She keeps shaking her head, in sheer disbelief of the words she just said. For me? This has been inevitable ever since I saw her across from that dinner table yesterday.

“Alright. Now we’re going to get you a ring. We’re keeping that tradition, aren’t we?”

“Gotta, since we’re skipping over the whole extended courtship thing. That’s usually a big part of getting married, you know.”

“Seems tedious. I'd rather just cut to the chase.”

We head out of the empty shop and shut the door behind us, and it locks electronically just as the realtor said it would.

Hand in hand, we walk through the streets of Home. She’s still pink in the face from all the people around us who knew her as a little girl, seeing her hand-in-hand with a man now, seeing how life has been going on. People I’ve known all my life are seeing me too, and I couldn’t be prouder to be seen with her.

We reach Kelly’s Jewelers and head inside. It’s about an hour before closing and the shop is pretty empty.

The older woman behind the counter, Kelly herself, looks toward us, and her eyes widen behind thick glasses. “Is that you, little Fig Rough? And Hank Black? Holding hands?”

“Yes and yes,” I reply.

“Would have never expected you two to get together. I haven’t even seen you around town recently.”

“I’ve been off at college,” Fig says.

“And I’ve been a firefighter over in Spokane.”

“Please tell me you came back to get married and you’re here to pick out a ring.”

I nod. “I want whichever one my darling lady here wants.”

“Really? Not giving me a limit?” Fig says.

“There’s no limits on how I feel about you, and hence no limits on what ring I should get you.”

She smirks, amused. She looks over all the rings, including the ones with oversized diamonds that frankly look like they’d be a pain in the ass to wear day-to-day.

“I like this one the most,” she says, tapping on the glass over a small diamond set in a sleek silver-platinum band.

“You don’t have to restrain yourself for my sake, Fig.”

“I’m not. I like that ring the best. The big diamond ones are gaudy. I like my fashion subtle, and this ring says what it needs to. It doesn’t need to scream it to the high heavens.”

“Of course you have opinions on this, Ms. Fashion Major.”

“It’s going to be Mrs. Fashion Major soon, thank you very much.”

Kelly takes the ring out of the display and Fig tries it on. It’s a perfect fit and she loves it, so I ask Kelly to ring it up. She waves me over to the register to pay for it and I hand over my card.

Fig looks at it with concern. “Uh… you’re not running up a massive credit card bill for this, are you?”

“That’s a debit card, actually. It’s coming right from my bank account.”

She raises an eyebrow. “And you’re sure you can afford this on a firefighter’s salary? The ring, the house…”

I laugh, and lead her out of the store. “Hardly. The department pays well, but it’s not enough to buy a house and fancy diamond ring with cash.”

She looks at me. “I didn’t think your family was that rich…”

“They’re not, but for one exception. My uncle passed away last year. Was a stock trader, but really proud of me for going into firefighting. Something he always wanted to do but was too scared to try. He named me the primary beneficiary of his estate, so I’m set pretty well. Well enough to pay for our house and your ring anyway.”

“I never planned on marrying a man for his money, but damn.”

“I can help you get your business started too, Fig. But I have a more important question for you right now.”

“Do you? And what could that be?”

“You saw all the houses today. I can make a purchase and close the sale within days thanks to the money my uncle left me, and we can start to move in. We can start the next chapter of our lives. We just need to choose.”

“Buying a ring and picking a house on the same day? You’re not messing around, are you?”

“Hey, I wouldn't have asked if I wasn’t serious.”

She sighs. “How do you feel about that little cottage? The white one with the pink front door? Do you think your masculinity can take that sort of hit, walking through a pink door every day?”

Out on Main Street, there are people walking past, all going about their business. I turn to Fig, wrapping my hands around her hips and pulling her close. “I don’t remotely care, Fig. The whole place could be hot pink and the lawn could be filled with flamingos, but if I’m there with you? There’s no place on this earth I’d rather be.”

“Then if you’re letting me pick? That one. It’s the perfect place to start a family. But I’ll think I’ll pass on the flamingos.”

“Good choice. Figures you have excellent taste.”

We laugh, but only briefly. I can’t resist any longer. I kiss her. Right on the sidewalk, with the world going on around us. I want them to see us. I want to shout it to the world. My love for her is sudden, but it’s so intense that I want the whole damn world to know about it.

I have her in my arms now, and I’m never, ever letting her go.