He almost cancelled.
He sat in his apartment, staring blankly at the tv for a while on Sunday afternoon… every so often glancing at the picture that was on the end table by his chair.
They'd gone to a football game… Jess and him… with Cliff. He was nervous of course, meeting him for the first time as Jess's boyfriend.
But they'd had a good time and it was easy for Don to recall the fact that Cliff Angell was one of his pops best friends on the force and he'd been practically family for years.
In fact, it was Cliff that reminded him that he and Jess used to be at each other's throats when they were kids because he'd laughed at her and told her she was a girl and couldn't do the stuff he could.
Don sighed heavily and ran his hand down his face, pondering the existence of the stubbled growth that graced his face. Jess had hated stubble. And he didn't mind shaving every day because it made her happy when he was clean shaven.
He closed his eyes.
'I'll put on that little black satin something that you love…'
Her last words to him would always be in his head if he closed his eyes. He'd admit to drinking more in order to try and fall into a dreamless sleep. But if he didn't, then he either drove himself nuts dreaming of Jess in black satin or lay awake, counting minutes until she'd return.
He ran his hand over his face again and got up out of the chair.
He could cancel.
But that would be doing his precious Jess a major disservice and he was no coward. And it was her birthday.
He sighed softly, opening his dresser drawer and pulling the ring box out of it. He opened it, blinking against the tears that clouded his vision. "Hey, Jess…." He sighed softly at the pang in his heart. "Waddaya say… wanna make it permanent?" He choked on a sob and snapped the ring box closed again before leaving it on the dresser as he headed into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, after a shower and a shave, a very clean shaven Don Flack headed out of his house and towards the Angell's… it was time to celebrate Jess completely and put some of his demons to rest.
