Amy sat under her favorite oak tree with her notes in her lap. She was feeling extra irritated at the moment and was beginning to look around for something to throw.
"You aren't helping. Quit smirking. This is hard for me!" Amy said frowning, eyes down on her notes. She had a notebook open with her own Arabic alphabet she had created using her calligraphy pens.
Her companion who was mostly-fluent in Arabic just smiled and brushed a strand of hair out of his handsome face. Jake Rosenbloom, her boyfriend of two years, had recently convinced her to add an Arabic minor to her Harvard undergraduate degree. He had insisted on helping her with daily study sessions. She had only agreed if he added the same minor to his degree, which he had whole-heartedly agreed.
"I'm not smirking!" Jake said with hands in front of him in a sign of mock surrender.
Amy shot him an irritated look.
"I swear, I am helping-you're just saying it wrong." Jake said with a smile in his voice. He liked seeing Amy like this. Normally she was so unflappable and she picked up on learning so quickly that to see her struggle with anything was amusing, and, quite frankly, endearing. "Try it again, it's daawwwdd." Jake pronounced drawing his vowel sound from somewhere deep within.
Amy sighed, wrinkled her brow and spoke the alphabet letter she had so much trouble with. "ddoooowwwddd."
Jake smiled, "Better. Try making it have a guttural sound, like German. You really have to reach down into your throat and yank the sound out! ddaawwdd," Jake said again really focusing on the aw part of the letter.
Amy sighed exasperatedly and flopped backward on the grass. "The letters don't look familiar, I have to learn to read it from right to left, there's 28 letters and a billion exceptions to remember and I can't even pronounce them! I want to give up right now! This is pointless!" She laid still, eyes closed expecting Jake to give her some sort of pep talk.
Silence. Amy could feel Jake lean down next to her but he wasn't saying anything. Finally, curiosity won and she opened one eye to see him propped up on his left elbow, hand on his head just watching her. She scowled at him but said nothing.
"You want to make out?" he finally said.
"WHAT? God no!" Amy said sitting bolt upright and giving him her best disdainful glare. The nerve!
Jake sat upright and his playful attitude was gone.
He was all business, "then your only other choice is to get back to work and get over this pity party you're throwing yourself. Come on Cahill, you're smarter than this," he said giving his head a small nod in the direction of her books and notes.
Amy scowled at him. It had been a ruse to get her out of her funk. Her scowl slowly changed to a smirk. He was right, she was having a pity party. She sat up and looked at him.
"Fine." She sighed. "Let's do this and damnit, I'm going master this f***er!"
"That's the Amy I know, albeit, less cursing generally. Although, I don't mind it. Sometimes a well-placed F-bomb solves a lot of frustration." Jake said turning to face her again.
She looked at him to see his smile had returned. She started quietly laughing.
"You ready?" Jake looked at her expectantly.
"Yes, I'm over my pity party. Thanks for the kick in the butt." Amy said smiling.
"You're welcome, and you should say 'ass'." Jake said deadpan.
Amy broke out in laughter, "ASS!" she shouted.
They worked hard for another half an hour before Amy's eyes were burning and her brain was fog. Jake said she had made good progress and that Arabic was as difficult as English to learn.
"If you really want to learn, you should study with Att. He's the linguist. He picks up languages the way mom did. Dad and I are OK, but it's mostly the romantic languages for us. They all have a similar Latin base and once you learn one, you can pick up the others pretty easily."
Amy wasn't so sure about that, "If you say so. I'm just impressed you and Att knew so many languages before you left high school. Dan and I were at such a disadvantage on the clue hunt because we only knew English. Thank God that Nellie knew French and Spanish."
Jake grabbed her hand as they walked back toward Grace's house, "even more reason to keep studying with me every day," he said giving her a wink. "Plus, it gives me time alone with you, which I'm learning is a rare commodity in Grace's house. It's funny, with a place that size, you'd think we could be alone whenever we want."
"But we never are," Amy said smiling. Dan and Atticus just sort of naturally gravitated toward Jake and Amy, no matter where they were. In fact, as they were speaking, Dan and Atticus were making their way across the pool deck and waved to the two of them.
"Speak of the Devil", Jake said giving their hands a swing.
"I'm going to miss this place," Amy said quietly.
"It'll only be for a little while Ames, then you'll be back. You don't have to live in Cambridge forever." Jake said looking at her.
Amy sighed and then to her surprise, she started crying. "I won't ever be back here. You know that." She said turning to face him.
Jake had a look of utter surprise on his face, "What are you talking about? This is your home. Attleboro is home. Of course you'll be back."
Amy sighed. "Jake, I know you're being sweet, but the fact remains that if you and I continue to date, we'll probably get married and life together won't lead to Attleboro. You'll want to be out on sites, just like your dad and I'll probably be in some museum in some world-famous city. We'll both need to be near major airports and none of that future involves this wonderful sleepy New England town." Amy's tears betrayed her and leaked out of her eyes against her will.
Jake's forehead furrowed and his eyes narrowed at the same time his pupils dilated. "Amy, you just made about a hundred assumptions all at the same time." His mouth opened and then shut, then opened again.
"That could be one possible future scenario, but I know how important this place is to you. Don't you remember me telling you that you are my everything? Making you happy is the number one job I have in this world."
He grabbed both of her hands and searched her eyes, "Ames, if this home is that important to you, then this his home base. I don't care what we have to do to make it happen. You say the word and we'll put in an airfield right over there and buy you a Gulfstream." Jake said pointing to the far corner of the property.
Amy studied his face for any sign of falsehood, "Really?" she said in disbelief.
Jake sighed with his own disbelief, "Of course Amy" he said shaking his head. "You name it, we'll do it. If you want to live here, then here we live! No doubt about it."
"But, what about your career?" Amy said her brow furrowing again.
"I like the idea of an airstrip and Gulfstream. We probably really need one of those down the line. We can't keep asking Jonah to use his." He said smiling and walking toward the house again.
Amy smiled, "You're right. We can't." She stopped walking and put her arms around his neck. She looked up into his eyes. "Thank you. I was so stressed about leaving this place because I honestly thought it would be forever."
Jake put his arms around her waist and pulled her close, "Anything to make my baby happy. Amy, I'd do anything for you. This is an easy request to fill. Easy. Just do me a favor though,"
"What's that?"
"Don't assume our future without me. Talk to me before you freak out for no reason." Jake said touching his forehead to hers.
Amy blushed, "Of course. You're right." She said nodding her head.
"We have to make those plans together Amy. A few at a time; not all at once." He said. "As my dad is fond of saying, we eat the bear one bite at a time."
Amy smiled and kissed him. A huge weight she didn't even know she was carrying around had been lifted. This was reason one million and one why she loved Jake so much.
