came,” he said.
“Me too.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said. He went into the little
kitchen and took out two plates. He handed me one and then opened both of the
giant pizza’s he’d ordered. One was half cheese and half pepperoni. The other
was half all meat and half bacon and jalapeno.
“I forgot to ask what you like on your pizza,” he
said. I laughed, “I like it all,” I said. “But I hope you’re really hungry or
you like leftover pizza because I don’t think we’ll be able to eat all of
this.”
“I’m really hungry,” he said. “And I love leftover
pizza.” He grinned and said, “You first.” I took a piece of the bacon and
jalapeno and one of the all meat . He smiled again and
said, “My kind of girl. Beer or soda?”
“Water?”
He made a face and said, “All I have is tap.”
“That’s fine.”
He looked relieved, like he
was afraid I would be mad about the water. He grabbed me a glass of and filled
it with ice before he put the water in it and then grabbed himself a beer. We
took it all into the living room and sat on the couch with it. We started
eating and I said, “So when’s your next fight?”
“Next week,” he said. “I can’t believe you were
there the other night and you didn’t even say hello.”
“I was embarrassed by my behavior the last time I
saw you and not even sure if you’d want to see me or not.” I decided it was
best to be honest.
“Well, for future reference, I always want to see
you.”
It made me feel all warm inside when he said that.
“I saw your mom earlier.”
“You did? Where?”
“I was out for a run so I stopped by. We had tea and
cookies. It seems her amazing son brought them by.”
He looked embarrassed but then he asked, “Did she
really say that?”
“I’m not sure I recall the exact words, but
something to that effect. She also said that you’ve been their rock and they
couldn’t have gotten through any of this without you.”
He had a weird look on his face and for a second I
was afraid I said the wrong thing. Then all of a sudden he said, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For going to see her for one
thing. Other than family…most of which
live out of town, hardly anyone goes over anymore. It’s understandable.
People don’t know what to say and it’s so depressing over there. But I know
that she had to be so happy to see you.”
“She acted like she was. I told her I would go back
by soon. Maybe I can coax her out for lunch or something.”
“That would be great. She needs to get out. Thank
you.”
I laughed, “You don’t have to keep saying thank you.
I genuinely love your parents. I spent as much time with them growing up as I
did my own dad. I feel bad that it took me so long to go see her. I’ve been
really selfish.”
“Don’t say that. You were dealing with your own
grief. If anyone understands that, it’s my mom.”
“I guess,” I said. “It was harder when you and I
weren’t talking. I was more prone to lapsing into feeling sorry for myself.”
“Me too,” he said.
He looked sincere and I knew again that I wasn’t
alone.
I ate both pieces of my pizza and for some reason
that seemed to make Ian really happy. He kept saying he liked a woman who would
eat. After we put our dishes away he said, “You want to watch a movie or
something?”
“Sure.” He put on a video. It was one of the Fast
and Furious ones…twelve or a hundred, whatever number they’re on . It’s not my favorite movie but I wasn’t going to
complain. I was getting to spend time with Ian and Vin Diesel was in the movie.
It was a win/win. Ian reached over and put his arm around me while we were
watching it. It felt so comfortable and so right to be with him. I snuggled
down into him and let myself fantasize that I lived here with him. I wondered
what it would be like to wake up every morning in his arms. I pictured us
making our meals together and me fixing things up so it didn’t look like