Day 75

"Get dressed."

Chris just shrugged and handed her the phone. He walked back over to his suitcase, rummaging through it, and Stephanie took a moment to appreciate the way his back muscles cinched and moved so lithely. She'd always been drawn to his body, even before they were together. Chris, feeling her eyes on him, turned and glanced at her over his shoulder with that stupid, self-satisfied smirk she hated so much.

"Shut up," she told him, flopping down on the bed and pulling the phone up to her ear finally, "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, Mom indeed," Linda's tone was more amused than anything else, and Stephanie twisted up her mouth a little bit, but it couldn't keep the grin from off her face. She didn't need to be looking at Stephanie to start laughing at her. There was something so comforting being with a man that could read her without her needing to say anything.

When they'd broken up, when she let it sink into her head that she would have to start dating again, that was what she dreaded, having to find someone who would have to learn everything about her all over again. It was such a scary thought to have to be with someone who couldn't read her, to be patient while they learned all her quirks and tics and who wouldn't just automatically know what to say or how to react to any of her moods.

She shook her head of her melancholy thoughts when Chris was standing right there, pulling on a t-shirt, "When did this happen?" Linda asked, and Stephanie could tell she was trying to keep the giddy tone out of her voice. It was almost worse than hers, and her mother did adore Chris, and if she and Chris hadn't reconciled on their own, she wouldn't have put it past her mother (and her father for that matter) to meddle and try to get them back together again.

"A couple days ago."

"And it took you a couple days to tell me?" Linda asked.

"Well, I mean," now Stephanie was blushing and she could hear more of Chris's laughter coming from the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth. She grabbed a pillow to throw at him as soon as he came back out.

"Oh," Linda said knowingly, "I understand."

"Mom," Stephanie whined, hating that her mother had to know that she and Chris spent the last couple days mostly in bed. Despite her mother being her best friend, there was still something a little embarrassing about her mother knowing about her sex life. She would prefer that her mother thought her as virginal as ever.

"I'm sorry, but come on, Stephanie," Linda laughed, "so really, what brought this one? What happened? I thought you two were pretty resolved to keep up this ridiculous break up, however pig-headed it was on both your parts."

"My mom just called us pig-headed," Stephanie said as she threw the pillow at the returning Chris.

"Eh, can't argue with her there," he told her with a shrug. Then he was disappearing out the door and she could hear him walking down the hallway to the stairs. For a brief, fleeting moment, she was scared that he'd walk out the door or something, but she let it pass and once she did, she could hear the clattering of pans in the kitchen.

"Stephanie?"

"Oh, sorry, Mom," Stephanie said, shaking herself from picturing Chris in the kitchen. Now that he was out of the room, she could be a little more candid with her mother. "You were saying…"

"I wanted to know what happened."

"We missed each other," Stephanie said simply. That was the crux of it. She missed him. You didn't spend nine years with someone then not miss when they were gone. This type of gone too, it had been permanent, and maybe absence did make the heart grow fonder. "I just, I went on that date, you remember me talking about that, right?"

"Yes, you didn't seem too enthused about it if I recall correctly."

"I wasn't. I didn't really want to go, but I figure, you know that I've got to move on and all that, and it seemed the best thing to do to start that going, but then it was like, the date was a disaster, and so I just called Chris on a whim because I wanted to talk to him, I needed to talk to him because it was just hurting so much. The entire thought of moving on, having to get to know someone new, all of it seemed so tiring, and I called him, and I told him about the date, and he said he'd been on a date, of sorts, and how he missed me, and I told him I missed him, and I wanted to see him, and he told me he'd come."

"And he came?"

"The next day, without hesitation, and we talked, and we're better together, and he's Chris, and I'm Stephanie, and I think that's just how it's supposed to be."

"Good, thank God, I swear, the two of you were driving me crazy," Linda said, "so when can we expect him for dinner? After Wednesday I presume, your father told me you were taking time off until then. I knew it had to be something big for you to miss a Monday."

"Yes, it was big," Stephanie said. "I'll be back Wednesday, if Chris doesn't have anything going on, we'll be there Thursday or Friday."

"What about Fozzy?" Linda asked, being reminded that Chris had other engagements and responsibilities, and that had been a major catalyst for their forced separation.

"He still has the band," she laughed, "I didn't make him break it up or anything, not that I think he would even if I asked, but we've come to a compromise. We both realized that we needed to change some things about our situation, and we're both going to compromise."

"And it only took you three months apart to realize this simple truth," her mother said sarcastically while Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"I know, Mom, I know that we went about this in the completely wrong manner, but it doesn't matter now, we're working on it, and nine years is too long to just give up. He's…Chris, and I love him, and yes, I should have realized earlier, but I am now."

"Good, well, I'm glad you've both come to your senses. I'm pleased, and I'm glad to hear you're working on it like a normal couple instead of your usual, blustery selves."

"Dad is the definition of blustery," Stephanie countered. If she was bad, her father was a million times worse.

"Oh, I know it, but I'm not, balance and all that," Linda laughed, "you and Chris though, too much alike for your own good."

"Gee, thanks," Stephanie again said sarcastically then thought about the other bit of news her mother would want to hear, the bit of news her mother had been dying to hear for the past, God, almost six years now it had to be, maybe even longer, maybe since just after she and Chris started dating. "Oh, and Mom, there's something else I wanted to let you know."

"What's that?" Linda asked, and Stephanie could tell that she had no idea what Stephanie might tell her.

"Chris and I decided that we would like to one day be married to each other," she told her mother. It wasn't exactly a proposal, Chris had not yet proposed, but it was certainly a conversation she'd had with her boyfriend, and she knew that he would propose to her at some point, maybe it would just be a mutual proposal or something, but it would happen.

"You're engaged!" Linda yelped in excitement. "Oh, Stephanie, oh, we have to start planning—"

"Mom, Mom," she interjected before her mother booked a country club and started on her dress, "I said that we would one day get married, I didn't say we were engaged because we're not, at least not in the conventional way. I told you a long time ago that we didn't want to get married, that we decided together, and we did decide together not to get married, it was a mutual thing, and in the same vein, we talked and decided that someday we would want to get married, and so that's something we want to do at some point."

"Oh," her mother sounded as disappointed as Stephanie thought she would be, but she wasn't going to get engaged to please her mother. The discussion was already laid out there, and it was something tangible that she felt should be mentioned to her mother. "I see."

"Mom, this is still good, it's still something you've wanted, and Chris and I, we're probably not going to want the kind of wedding I know you're picturing right now. We're not the kind of people who want that huge wedding, it'll be small, inconspicuous, we're both way too old to want anything extravagant."

"I've always known that."

"Have you?"

"Of course, and I don't care what kind of wedding you have, as long as I'm there," she laughed, "I'm happy for you and Chris, I've always been happy about the two of you because I have seen what that man has done for you, how he's handled you—"

"You make it sound like I'm difficult to handle!" Stephanie laughed. "I haven't been that bad, have I?"

"You are your father's daughter," her mother told her, and that was all she needed to hear. She was kind of difficult, she supposed, but oh well, Chris loved her. Speaking of Chris, he came back into the room with a tray of food for her, and she beamed at him. She remembered many lazy mornings where Chris would present her with breakfast in bed because she hated getting up in the morning.

"Hey, Mom, Chris just walked back in with food, so I think we both know this conversation has to end," Stephanie joked, "but Chris and I will see you when we get back from getting his things."

"I better see you both, give Chris my love," Linda told her, "I love you both."

"Love you too," Stephanie hung up the call and she turned to Chris, "my mother sends her love, and she's thrilled about us being together, and I dropped the wedding bomb thing, and she was surprisingly understanding that whenever we get married, we're not going to want something extravagant."

"Wow, I thought your mom would have wanted the whole shebang."

"I would have too." Stephanie said, taking a bite of the French toast Chris brought up. She cut up another piece and fed it to Chris. "She said she always knew our wedding wouldn't be whatever she had in mind when I was a little girl."

"Good," he said, "but that will come in time."

"In time," she agreed, "You know, um, I've never really thought about it before, but um, the whole kids situation, we've never discussed it in full, and I know neither one of us was ever in a rush to have them."

"Wow, we are just laying it all out on the table, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are," she told him, "because why not? Did you like want them?"

"Whoa, you could not have sounded more like a teenager than you did right then," he told her, "but yes, I do want them, at some point, yes."

"I guess it's settled then," she told him, "I mean, not right now or anything, but at some point in the future, do you think we should be married?"

"Not necessarily," he answered, "when we have them, we have them, and wow, this is a lot of heavy stuff right now, how about we just pack our things, get to the airport, and get to California." She nodded because it was getting heavy again, and it had been too heavy for the last couple of days in terms of discussions, they didn't need to add more to their plate.

"Okay, let's go and bring you home."