Chapter ninety-seven:

Christy was standing in the kitchen the next morning savoring a mug of coffee.
Even though it was home made, and it was the cheapest brand in the grocery store, the rush of caffeine and its bitter taste warmed and woke her.

She watched out the window as a family of squirrels played in the back yard.

Suddenly she felt two arms slip around her waist.

She jumped in alarm and nearly dropped her coffee mug.

“Sorry.” Isaac chuckled. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“That’s okay.” She smiled.

“Listen… I called the airport and booked a flight to Canada.”

She nodded. “When?”

“This weekend.”

“Good. Let’s get it over with.” She set her mug down on the counter.

“C, listen. I know I’ve been pressuring you with all of this family stuff, and I know you don’t want to include your family in the wedding stuff… but I’ve always been kind of old-fashioned, you know? I always thought I’d be the kind of guy who asked his girlfriend’s father for permission before he proposed and all of that… and I… I don’t know. I’d really like to meet your parents before I marry you, even if they don’t attend the wedding-“

“But Ike-“ She began to protest.

He held up his hands to stop her. “I promise I won’t push you anymore about them coming to the wedding. I’ll let you make that decision on your own, okay?”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“I just don’t want this fight to get between us, you know? I don’t want it to ruin our relationship. But meeting your parents means a lot to me.”

“I understand that.” She said. “I just want you to know what awful… awful people they are. And I don’t mean that lightly. Please don’t expect me to be exaggerating on this, because I’m not.”

“Okay… I’ll be careful.”
”Good.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Should I call and book us a motel to stay in?”

“Sure.” He smiled, already sensing a truce coming between them. “Then we can spend the day together… after I shower and get some coffee into me of course.” He added.

“I want to shower too!” She spoke up. “Let me get in there first… or… or we could shower together…”

He chuckled. “Honey, if we’re both in their together, I don’t think either one of us will be showering properly.”

“That’s true… maybe later?”

He laughed and playfully swatted her butt.

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Taylor purposely waited for Christy to leave the kitchen, before he wandered in himself and reached for the mug of freshly brewed coffee he had smelled from upstairs.
He sipped his black coffee and watched his brother cross the room to the kitchen table. “You guys are sickening in the morning, you know that?”

Isaac laughed. ‘Have you ever been in love?”

Taylor paused. “Kind of. I guess.”
Taylor knew he had been in love: he was in love. However, she didn’t love him back.
Was that still love?

“You see, the thing is, everything changes when you’re in love. You love everything about that other person. And Christy…. Well, I am absolutely crazy about that woman. To me, she’s perfect, and I’d do anything to be with her. And maybe we seem a little too in love-“

“To the point where I want to retch?” Taylor supplied.

Isaac rolled his eyes at that comment. “Maybe so, but I’m in love with her, and I don’t care.”

“Alright, alright. Point taken.” Taylor groaned and downed the rest of his coffee.

“Okay, so what are your plans for today?” Isaac asked after a moment’s hesitation.

“I don’t know. I may go out with some friends… I may go back to the studio… I’ll probably go to the studio.”

“Even though we have the day off you’d rather be working? That’s strange.”
Taylor shrugged. “Beats sitting around here with all you disgusting love-birds.”

Isaac laughed out loud at that. “One day, man. We’ll be saying the same thing about you.”

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