Liza sat on the couch in Charles' office the following afternoon, trying to patiently wait for him to return from his meeting with Pauline. He had said that he would be back by noon, but it was almost quarter to one and still no sign of him. The office was exceptionally quiet today, which wasn't really a surprise, because it was the last Friday of July, and the weather was glorious. Diana had surprisingly even taken the afternoon off, but not before filling Liza in on what seemed to be a very successful date the night before. She and Enzo were going out again tonight, and Diana had directed Liza call and set up appointments for waxing and a blowout for the afternoon. Kelsey was out of the office for a meeting and Zane was settled into his office, so Liza had taken her stack of manuscripts and retired to Charles's office to read. His couch was infinitely more comfortable than her desk chair, and she had settled in, slipping her shoes off and tucking her feet up under her. She had run out at noon to the deli down the street, picking up Charles's favorite sandwich and a salad for herself, both of which sat untouched on the coffee table in front of her.
Charles stepped off the elevator into the Empirical Office, immediately scanning the room for Liza. Her desk was empty, and the lights were off in Diana's office. The whole office seemed oddly quiet, but, he thought, it was a Friday in the middle of summer. He remembered being younger and working here for his father and grandfather during his summers home from Princeton and wanting to be anywhere else when the weather was this glorious. Maybe she went out for lunch, he thought, as he walked down the hall to his office. He cursed himself for not calling her when he left that horrendously long meeting and asking her to meet him somewhere for lunch.
He saw her before she saw him as he walked up to his office. He watched her through the blinds for a few moments. She sat barefoot on his couch, her feet tucked up under her, a manuscript in her lap. She was chewing on the tip of a highlighter, her reading glasses slipping slightly down on her nose. He couldn't help but smile. He loved watching her read, loved how she became so totally engrossed in whatever she was reading that the whole world around her seemed to dissipate. He pushed open the door and leaned against the frame, hands in his pockets. "Can I come in?"
She jumped as she heard his voice, the manuscript sliding from her lap onto the floor. "Oh, jeez, you scared me. Sorry, I just came in here to read. Better lighting, comfier cushions."
He sat down in the armchair across from the couch and smiled at her. "Don't apologize. I like seeing you in here. Seems right."
She picked up the manuscript and set it on the table and slid the sandwich and a bottle of water across to him. "I ran out and got you a sandwich a bit ago. I wasn't sure if you'd have time for lunch today."
"Thanks babe. I'm starving." He dug into the sandwich as she forked a piece of lettuce from her salad, fiddling with it.
"So, how'd it go? You don't have to tell me, if you don't want, but…" She trailed off, looking nervous.
Charles swallowed his food and took a drink of water before answering. "Of course I want to tell you, Liza. You're part of this now. I want to share this with you." He took another drink of water before continuing. "It went okay, I think. We had a pre-nup, which I hated at the time, but I'm kind of grateful now for it. I remember almost coming to blows with my father when he insisted on it."
"I'm sure it wasn't something either of you ever planned on having to worry about. I never thought I would be getting divorced after 20 years of marriage, but here we are."
"Exactly. The agreement protects the business, the house. She doesn't get any interest in the business, and the brownstone has been in my family for 3 generations. My grandparents lived there, and my parents after they passed."
"Good. And the girls?"
"She's still not going to fight me on custody, thank god. Pauline knows that she wouldn't win in court. So we're agreeing on joint custody, with me having primary placement. During the school year she gets every other weekend and up to two overnights during the week. We're going to share holidays and breaks as evenly as possible, and she'll get two uninterrupted weeks in July and August.
"That's generous."
"We'll see how it goes. If the girls don't like the schedule, we'll have to change it in court, so fingers crossed."
"I bet they'll do good. She only lives a few blocks away now, so it's not like they'll be jostled all over the place."
"Yeah. She uh, she wants the house in Pound Ridge, though."
"Really? What does that mean?"
"Well, according to our pre-nup, any property outside of the main residence is either supposed to be sold and the proceeds divided 50/50 or one of us has to buy out the other's equity in the house. So, if she wants it, she'll have to pull together the money to buy me out."
"I can't imagine that would be cheap."
"No, but I believe she still has quite a large chunk of her trust fund that's been left untouched. We mostly lived on my money, the money coming from Empirical and from my inheritance. And her parents are very well off, so I bet they'd help her."
"So, you're considering it?" Liza asked, legitimately surprised.
"Yeah, I am." He nodded, chewing down more of his sandwich. "That place was always her dream. She was the one that made all the decisions during the build. I was, apparently, too busy with work to care. I've loved spending time out there, but it's more the company than the location that I care about. And considering that I'm pretty much getting everything else that I want that's important to me, I think I could let this one go."
"Still, that's a big decision."
"You know, we could take the money we get from the house and find a place that's more our speed. Maybe somewhere upstate."
"We?" Liza swallowed hard, looking back at him. They hadn't really discussed their future, but clearly they were both thinking about it. Charles reached over, taking her hand and squeezing it.
"Yes, we. I know we haven't talked about it much yet, but I'd love to find a place for us to make new memories. You, me and the girls. Our family." Liza could feel her eyes filling with tears and tried to choke them back.
"Our family. I like the sound of that."
"Me too. So much." He hesitated, not wanting to ruin the moment with the next bit of information. "She, uh, is asking to renegotiate her contract on Marriage Vacation. She wants the option to her future novels back. She doesn't want us to publish anything else that she writes."
"Is she writing a sequel?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure."
Liza bit her lip. "That may complicate something that Kelsey and I wanted to talk to you about. I'm assuming Pauline told you the news that came out this morning?"
"That Reese Witherspoon's book club picked her book for August, yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Kelsey and I had an idea this morning. What if we worked out a deal with her production company? Like a first look, or a project incubator. Their team would have first look at all of Millennial's novels for productions into movies or tv series. We sent out a message to her team just before lunch." She leaned back, watching him to gauge his reaction. She had wanted to discuss this with him before reaching out to Hello Sunshine, but Kelsey had wanted to strike while the iron was hot and had sent a DM on Instagram to the Hello Sunshine team.
"I love that idea, but why didn't you wait to run it by me before reaching out to them?" He furrowed his brow and leaned back in the chair. It wasn't like Liza to make a unilateral decision about something work related without at least talking to him about it first.
"I wanted to, but Kelsey thought it would be good to reach out to them while there was buzz about the novel because of the book club. You like the idea, though?"
He smiled to himself as he saw how nervous she looked. He was amazed at how brilliant she was, and how modest she was at the same time. She truly had no idea how fantastic she was at her job. "I think it's brilliant, Liza. Was it your idea, or Kelsey's?"
"It was both of us, but she is the one that reached out to them. She is the face of Millennial, after all. I'm supposed to be taking a step back, remember?"
"Yes, but clearly she needs you."
Liza shook her head, standing to clear the remnants of their lunch. "She doesn't. She's brilliant on her own." She said, dumping the trash into a can by his desk before turning and walking back to him. "I don't want my mistakes to get in the way of her career."
Charles reached up and hooked an arm around her, pulling her down so that she was sitting on his lap. He wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her flush to his chest. "You don't see it, do you?" He asked quietly, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, searching her warm brown eyes. "Kelsey needs you to guide her. Yes, she's young and smart and witty, but she needs you to balance her out. Just like I need you to balance me out. You didn't come into either of our lives by accident, Liza. She needs you. I need you. I love you, baby, but you need to stop being afraid of what could do wrong and start being excited about what could go right."
Liza nuzzled her head against his chest, resting against his shoulder. He was right. Yes, she'd had an amazing, crazy, wild life these past two years, but she had been constantly waiting for something to go wrong, worrying about everything and everything. She needed to walk confidently towards the future, towards their future, hand in hand with the man she loved.
Charles awoke slowly on Sunday morning, stretching his long limbs out in Liza's bed, smiling sleepily when he realized his feet no longer hung off the end of the bed. He rolled over to wrap his arm around Liza but found her side of the bed empty. Frowning, he looked around for her before noticing a sticky note perched on top of her pillow.
Good Morning, handsome. Went to farmer's market with Maggie. Be back soon. ILY.
He smiled again, flopping his head back onto the pillow, enjoying the peace and quiet. Yesterday he and Liza had trucked the girls to Pound Ridge for a friend's birthday party, and the entire day had been nothing but chaos. He and Liza had managed to escape for an hour or two, making a quick trip to his Pound Ridge residence. They had walked hand in hand through the house and the grounds, and it was on that walk that he made the decision to say goodbye to this place. Everywhere he looked, he saw Pauline. In the décor in the house, the meticulously manicured gardens, the secluded corner of the lawn where he was fairly confident Bianca had been conceived. It was time to let this place go. To make new memories with Liza. He got a little excited picturing them buying a home together, fixing it up and putting their mark on it. Something upstate, secluded. Maybe an old farmhouse with lots of land, or a country cottage with wild gardens. He was fairly confident that Liza would love the latter, given her penchant passion for English literature. Their own Longbourne estate. He smiled to himself again and resolved to quietly start looking for a place this fall.
He got up and stretched, his muscles sore, but in a good way. He had spent half the afternoon chasing his kids around a party and spent most of his evening in bed with Liza after he had dropped the girls off to spend the rest of the weekend with Pauline. Throwing on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, he padded barefoot out into the loft in search of coffee.
"Good Morning!"
Charles jumped at the sound of a voice behind him, letting loose an expletive that left the blonde teenager sitting on the couch smirking.
"Caitlin! Jesus, you scared me. What're you doing here?"
Caitlin arched an eyebrow at him. "I didn't realize I needed permission to come visit my mom?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I was just surprised to see you?" He poured a cup of coffee for himself, grabbing the cream from the fridge. "Do you want a refill?" He gestured to her mug, walking over to fill it when she nodded. She had a notebook and a course catalogue on her lap. "What's all this?" He returned the coffee carafe to the machine and picked up his cup, returning to the couch to sit with Caitlin, putting his feet up on the coffee table.
"My course catalogue for Vassar. I had signed up for all my classes, but they changed the schedule and now I have to find two new electives. I'm stumped."
He gestured at the papers spread out in front of her. "Do you mind if I take a look?"
"Please. I feel like my head is going to explode. That's why I came over this morning. I needed Mom to help me figure this out, but she's not here."
"She went to the farmer's market with Maggie. I'm sure they'll be back soon."
They were quiet for a few minutes as Charles surveyed the schedule that Caitlin had drawn out and the voluminous course catalogue. He tabbed a couple of pages, flipping back and forth. "Here." He said triumphantly, handing her back the papers. "I think this would work. There's a Developmental Psychology class being offered on Tuesday and Thursdays that would fit into your schedule. You've already taken the prerequisite, and it looks like you need to take a psychology class at some point this year anyways. And here, you could take either this English class or this Art History class between your Monday, Wednesday and Friday Education classes. Personally, this English class looks cool." He pointed to one on the page titled "New York Stories". "It's all about different New York authors or works. I mean, I might be a little biased considering the business I'm in, but it sounds cool to me."
Caitlin scanned the course description. It actually did sound really interesting, and it looked like she would be able to pick and choose which books she wanted to read. "How in the heck did you figure that out so quick? I must have spent a good two hours looking over this stupid book last night."
"A fresh pair of eyes never hurts." He smiled as she jotted down the names and times of the classes he suggested before closing her notebook and setting her papers down on the coffee table.
"Well, thank you. You're a freaking godsend. Now, we can talk about more important things. What are you planning for Mom's birthday next week?"
"Her birthday is next week?! She hasn't said anything!"
Caitlin rolled her eyes, laughing. "Of course, she didn't. She's not big on birthdays. But I think we should do something for her. It's on Friday."
"I can't believe she hasn't said anything. Well, we need to do something. Any ideas?"
"Any ideas for what?" The door to the apartment opened, Liza and Maggie entering, loaded down with bags from the farmer's market. She dropped her bags on the counter, coming over to lean down between them. "Good Morning, sweet daughter." She kissed Caitlin on the forehead before turning to Charles. "Good Morning, sweet boyfriend," She whispered, leaning in to kiss him on the lips.
"Ew." Caitlin got up as they all laughed and joined Maggie in the kitchen, helping her unload a bag full of fruit.
"You two looked awfully chummy when I walked in." Liza observed, still leaning over the back of the couch.
"We had a good talk."
"Yeah, Mom, he totally saved my ass." Caitlin started to fill Liza in on the scheduling debacle and grabbed the course book to show her the classes Charles had picked out. Charles took advantage of Liza's momentary distraction and sidled up to Maggie to help her unpack her bags.
"So, Caitlin just told me that Liza's birthday is on Friday. How did I not know about this?"
"Well, she's tried to keep her birthday on the DL the past couple of years, for obvious reasons. She probably doesn't want you to make a big deal about it."
Charles raked a hand through his hair, leaning his arms on the island. "How about a party? Nothing too big, just some close friends. We could do it at my house on Friday night."
Maggie nodded as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "She'd probably be okay with that."
"Surprise party or should we tell her?"
Maggie flashed him what could only be described as a wicked grin. "Surprise. Definitely."
"Are you sure he's home?" Kelsey leaned over Liza as the town car idled outside of the brownstone on Friday evening, squinting up at the dark windows. She was, of course, in on the surprise birthday plans for Liza. She had snuck out of the office on Monday afternoon to have lunch with Charles and Maggie to plan Liza's surprise 41st birthday party and had been primarily responsible for keeping Liza distracted today. Charles had taken most of the day off to come home and set up, so Kelsey had brought Liza along on a couple of morning meetings out of the office before treating her to lunch and an afternoon spa treatment and a little shopping.
Kelsey had convinced her to buy a flirty lilac colored dress for her "dinner" with Charles, and Liza sat in the car fidgeting with the deep v neck on the sleeveless A-line dress. Charles had told Liza that he was taking her out to dinner for her birthday, just the two of them, and to meet him at the townhouse at 7:00. But Kelsey was right, the house did look dark.
"Maybe he's stuck at the office. I should text him."
"No, no, just go in. I'll come in and wait with you." Kelsey got out of the car, gesturing for Liza to follow. She had sent a quick text to Charles when they turned onto his street, letting him know that they were almost there. She bounced on her heels as Liza pulled her keys out and unlocked the door, stepping into the dark foyer and reaching over to turn on the lights.
"Surprise!"
"Oh my god!" Liza yelled in shock, her hand jumping up to her chest. "What is this?" She asked Charles, who was standing at the front of a group of about 15 people. He grinned back at her as he walked up to her and hugged her. "Happy Birthday, baby."
"I can't believe you pulled this off without me figuring it out."
He leaned into her, grazing her lips as his hand rested on the small of her back, which was bare in the sexy purple dress that she was wearing, the one that made her legs look a mile long. "I had some good helpers." He gestured to where Kelsey, Maggie and Caitlin stood, smiling mischievously back at her. He stepped back, grinning from ear to ear as she was swept up in a sea of hugs and birthday wishes.
Charles thought he had done a pretty good job with the party. He hadn't planned a birthday party that wasn't for one of his daughters since early on in his marriage to Pauline. He'd kept the guest list small, as promised. He had convinced Pauline to pick the girls up at 8:00 instead of 7:00, so that they could have an hour with Liza, eat some cake, and give her their present. Bob and Julia were there, chatting with Liza's friend Michelle and her husband Tom. Diana and her new beau Enzo were there, as well as Zane, who was talking to Jay. Maggie had been adamant that Josh should be invited, but he wasn't here yet. He was secretly hoping he wouldn't show up but had overheard Maggie say that he was coming with Lauren and should be there in a few minutes.
He had decked the place out in flowers and balloons and had ordered a specialty cake that looked like a stack of books. He had even had the baker put Liza's favorite titles on the spines of the books. He'd hired a bartender and made sure there was plenty of champagne, as well as little trays of all of Liza's favorite foods. A table stood the side of front room, stacked with cards and gifts. He smiled to himself once more before stepping back into the fray.
"Liza! Liza!" Bianca and Nicole ran through the crowd, launching themselves at Liza and wrapping their tiny little arms around her waist, causing her to grab onto Jay to keep from stumbling over.
"Hey kiddos!" She knelt down to give them hugs.
"Open our present, Liza! We made it ourselves." They pointed to a rectangular package wrapped in Frozen wrapping paper.
"You did, did you? Well then I have to open it!" Nicole grabbed it off the table and handed it to her as Charles came over to give her a glass of champagne. "Daddy, Liza's opening our present."
"I see that." He watched as Liza carefully unwrapped the box, opening it to reveal the picture frame that the girls had spent a better part of the morning decorating. They had painted the words "We 3 Liza" across the top, and Charles had printed off the picture that they wanted framed. It was from the 4th of July. Liza sat on the grass in the picture, Nicole and Bianca sitting in front of her. All were grinning wildly, Liza's head resting on Nicole's, and Nicole's resting on Bianca's. He had taken the picture himself, and already had a smaller version framed in his study.
"Aww, babies, I love it. Thank you so much! It's so beautiful!" The girls broke out into huge smiles and leaned in to hug her. Behind them, the door opened, and Lauren and Josh filed in. Charles nodded at them, smiling politely, before leaning down and telling Liza to turn the frame over. A small box was taped to the back.
"Open it!" Bianca giggled excitedly.
"What is this?" Liza looked up at Charles.
"Just open it." He bit his lip as Liza opened up the box and pulled out the necklace, holding it up to examine it closer. "I don't think you two made this, did you?" Both girls giggled again, and Nicole said "No, but we helped Daddy pick it out."
Liza held up the silver chain, from which dangled a pendant with five small circular gemstones, one resting on top of the other.
"Hey, I helped with that one too!" Caitlin called as she walked over. "It's our gemstones, Mom. Charles, you, me, Nicole and Bianca. Put it on! It'll match your dress"
Charles reached down to take the necklace from her. "Let me." He whispered, pulling her hair to one side of her neck and securing the necklace on her neck. He leaned in to kiss her just behind the ear before stepping away. "Beautiful."
Liza turned to him, leaning up to plant a kiss on his lips. "I love it." She saw Josh roll his eyes out of the corner of hers as he set a gift bag on the table and headed towards the bar. She wasn't going to let him ruin this night for her and went over to give Lauren a hug.
The next hour passed quickly as she made her way around the room, talking to everyone. She was officially introduced to Enzo, Diana's new boyfriend, and really liked him. He seemed calm and down to earth, which was something that Diana needed a bit more of, in Liza's opinion. At just past 8:00, Charles climbed halfway up the staircase, clinking a spoon against his glass of champagne. As he did, the door opened again and Pauline slipped in, coming to pick up the girls. Everyone's backs were turned to her, and Charles didn't seem to see her come in.
"I'd like to say just a few words before we cut into that cake. Liza, honey, would you come up here for a minute?" Liza climbed up the steps, joining him with a glass of champagne in hand. Charles slipped his arm around her waist, squeezing her side.
"Love isn't perfect. As much as we would like to believe, it isn't a fairytale or a storybook and it doesn't always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on and never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define and impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, love is realizing that every hour, every minute, every second of it was worth it because you did it together. I couldn't imagine living without you, Liza, and I'm so grateful for the love that we share. I only wish that every single person in this room, in the world, could experience a love like ours. If you're lucky, I mean, if you're the luckiest person on the entire planet, the person you love decides to love you back. I'm one of the lucky ones. Happy Birthday to my person, my love, my girl, my forever. I love you." He pulled her flush against him, leaning down to kiss her sweetly, her hand coming up to rest on his chest. They stood in their embrace for a few moments, only breaking apart when Caitlin shouted "Get a room! There are kids here!" Everyone laughed and Charles took Liza's hand in his as they climbed back down the stairs. It was then that the crowd parted, and Charles finally spotted Pauline by the front door.
"I'll, uh, go get the girls and tell them to go get their bags." Liza shot Pauline a small smile before turning and disappearing into the crowd.
"That was quite a speech, Charles."
He shuffled, sticking his hands in his pockets. He really didn't want to have it out with Pauline, not tonight. "I'm sorry if hearing that upset you Pauline, but I'm not going to apologize for speaking the truth. It's how I feel."
"I know. It's just…." She reached up to wipe a tear from her eye. "I don't remember you ever talking about us like that. It's just making me realize that we never would have worked out, now that she's in your life. Maybe realize isn't the right word. Accept it, maybe. You never loved me like you love her."
"I did. But sometimes love fades, Pauline. I still love you. We spent some good years together, and we have two amazing daughters. I love you for what we had. The happy times, the good memories. It wasn't all bad.
"No, it wasn't." She started to say something else, but was cut off by Bianca and Nicole, followed by Liza carrying their overnight bags.
"Girls, say goodbye to Liza, okay? Time to go with Mommy." Both girls hugged Liza tightly, telling her happy birthday and that they loved her. Charles saw Pauline discreetly wipe away another tear before taking the bags from Liza.
"Happy Birthday, Liza." She smiled tightly at Liza before turning away towards the door, the girls following behind her. Charles and Liza turned back and returned to the party, where Jay and Bob promptly pulled Charles away into a heated debate about something sport related. Shaking her head, Liza went to head upstairs to use the restroom, stopping for a moment to say goodbye to Michelle and Tom, who were heading out. She climbed up the steps and headed towards the main bathroom, where she bumped into Josh.
"Happy Birthday stranger." He leaned in, pulling her into a hug and kissing her on the cheek. "I, uh, didn't know we were supposed to bring presents." He gestured at the necklace she was wearing.
"You know I don't care about that. I'm just glad you made it. I haven't seen you around much."
Josh ran a hand through his hair, sighing frustratingly. "Yeah, well, you've been clocking a lot of hours on the Upper East Side. I don't ever see you at the bar anymore."
"I'm sorry. I really am. I'll try to come around more. How are you doing?" She tilted her head, looking at him questioningly. She really hadn't seen him much since the Clare breakup.
"I'm over it. She wasn't the one, you know?" He trailed off, and the look in his eyes twisted Liza's stomach up into knots.
"Josh, I can't have this conversation again."
"I love you, Liza. I'm in love with you. Doesn't that mean anything to you? I don't care about the rest of it. I love you."
"And I love Charles, Josh. You and me, it's not happening. I don't know what else I can do to make you understand that. I need you to respect that I'm moving on. That I've moved on. I love you so much, as a friend. But I'm in love with him. You need to let me go, Josh." She wiped away a tear falling down her cheek and turned to walk away, but Josh reached out and wrapped his hand around her arm, pulling her back to him and crushing his lips against his.
The movement took Liza by surprise, and it took her a moment to realize what was happening. She reached up and pushed Josh back, holding her arm out to keep him an arm's length away.
"No, Josh. Just no. I'm not doing that." She leaned up against the wall, covering her face with her hands. "I need you to go, Josh."
"Shit, Liza. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she shied away from him. "I'll head out. Happy Birthday." Liza rested her head against the wall with her eyes closed as she listened to him quickly retreat down the hall and heard the front door close a moment later. Sighing, she stood there for a moment, trying to compose herself.
"You okay?" The voice was Kelsey's, and when Liza opened her eyes, she saw her blonde friend standing in front of her, her face concerned.
"Uh, I don't know." Liza laughed shakily. "Josh just professed his love for me again and tried to kiss me."
"Yikes."
"No kidding. I told him that he needed to let me go and move on, but he just doesn't get it. Do you think you could try talking to him, Kels? He might listen to you."
Kelsey nodded, reaching out to rub Liza's arm. "Yeah, I'll try. But right now you need to get your booty back downstairs. It is your party, after all." She hooked her arm through Liza's and guided the birthday girl back downstairs to the party.
2 ½ hours later, Liza shut the door on Caitlin and Kelsey, who were the last to leave the party. She leaned her back against the door and kicked off her shoes, closing her eyes.
"Oof. Watch where you throw those things. You could take an eye out." She opened her eyes to see Charles holding one of her heels, standing a few feet away from her.
"I think my feet are going to fall off. I don't think I can walk."
Charles grinned, taking two quick strides to her and sweeping her up into his arms, bridal style. "Well, I'll just have to carry you around for the rest of the night."
Liza nuzzled her head into his chest as he carried her into the living room and deposited her onto the couch. "But it's present time." He waved a couple of boxes at her, smiling.
"Can I open them tomorrow?"
Charles chuckled, picking up a couple of small boxes and carrying them over to her. He handed them to her before sitting down next to her, lifting her feet to rest on his lap as he began to rub them. "How about just my gifts. Selfish, I know, but I want you to open them. Open the small one first."
"Baby, you didn't have to get me anything. This party was more than enough. You are more than enough." She leaned forward to kiss him before resting her back against a pillow. "But if you insist." She opened the smaller of the two boxes, pulling out a Tiffany blue box that was nestled into the tissue paper. Charles watched, smiling, as she opened it and her jaw dropped. Her eyes flashed towards him and back to the box as she pulled out the golden necklace.
"Charles, it's beautiful. But this is too much." She carefully lifted the necklace to eye level. It was stunning; a beautiful golden infinity symbol on a double strand of gold.
"My love for you is something that I will never run out of, Liza. You're the beginning and end of everything for me." Liza sat up and moved so that she was straddling Charles on the couch and leaned in to kiss him. God, he feels so good, she thought. She ran a hand through his hair as she searched his eyes. She couldn't even convey how much she loved him. It was like he was in her every pore, every nerve. She knew she would never, ever, be able to get enough of him.
"Open up your other present, love." He took the necklace from her hand and deposited it back into its box before handing her the other box. She could see his eyes sparkle as he handed it to her, and she tore the wrapping paper off of the box, lifting the lid.
"Oh my god. Is this what I think it is?" Liza leaned back, resting herself on his legs as she ran her hand gently over the leather-bound book.
"A first edition of A Moveable Feast. I know it's one of your favorites. It was part of my father's collection, and I want it to be yours."
"Charles, this is too much. This belongs to your family."
"That's why I'm giving it to you, Liza. You're my family now, don't you see that? You're my future." He wrapped his hands around her waist as she ran her fingers over the cover of the book. "My parents would have loved you. My grandparents too. I wish you could have met them."
"My parents would have loved you too. My mom, especially. She was an English teacher; she was the one that got me into books. You know, she met my dad at work. He was a gym teacher and she taught English at the same school. They drove to work together, every single day."
Charles smiled at the thought. "I like that idea. My father always said that the luckiest man in the world was a man who loved his job and who had a woman who loved him. I've got both, and I get to share them. I'm pretty damn lucky, Liza." He squeezed her hips and nodded down to the book in her hands. "Open it."
Liza lifted the front cover gently to find a white envelope inside. Glancing at Charles, she opened it carefully before gasping and glancing back up at him. "No. No way."
"Yes way." He chuckled at the look on her face.
"You're taking me to Europe? In three weeks?"
"I'm taking you to Greece. A week in Santorini. Just you and me and the ocean, baby."
"I've always wanted to go to Greece. How did you?"
"Maggie. She knows all. I already cleared it with Diana and Kelsey."
Liza examined the plane tickets again before sticking them back in the envelope. "I can't believe it."
"You better believe it. Now," he paused, glancing at his watch. "There's about 45 minutes left of your birthday. I think there's time for at least one more present." He squeezed Liza's waist and pulled her back to him, grinding against her suggestively. "I think it's time we take the party upstairs", he whispered huskily in her ear, his eyes darkening. Liza squealed and giggled as he stood, his hands wrapping around her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. It really was the best birthday she could remember. How could it not be, when she had everything she could ever want or need in her arms?