Road Trip To The Destiny - 10
"Mom, are you awake? Can I come in?" Jake knocked on her bedroom door in the early morning. Reba allowed Jake to enter. She wondered what Jake needed, but once Jake opened the door, she saw Jake wasn't alone. Brock was also there with a tray of breakfast. Jake held the door open for his dad, then went back to his room.
"What the heck are you up to now?" Reba sat up in bed; Brock placed the breakfast tray in front of her. On the tray, there was a plate of a well planned out breakfast: a stack of heart-shaped pancakes, two sunny side up heart-shaped eggs, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, a mug of freshly brewed coffee, and a little vase with one red rose.
"Happy Valentine's, darling." Brock placed a kiss lightly on the side of her head. He handed her a valentine's card. Reba confusedly checked her calendar.
"It's February 1st."
"I'm giving you 26 days of Valentines, make up for all those years, plus one for this year too."
"Aww, aren't you sweet," said Reba sarcastically. Brock ignored her sarcasm and nudged her to read the card. 'I'll be at your service' Reba read the card aloud.
"Yes, you don't have to lift a finger today. I'll do all your chores; make the bed, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, you name it."
"Oh good, I feel like cleaning the attic and garage today." Reba challenged him.
"Two places I hate cleaning the most, but fine. I'll do it." He wasn't kiddin'. He did everything Reba told him to.
"Hey Reba, is someone in the kitchen?" Questioned Barbra Jean, seeing Reba sitting and reading a magazine, while noise came from the kitchen.
"I'm making Brock clean the oven."
"And he is?" Barbra Jean was truly surprised. Brock never touched housework.
"Go check it out yourself."
"How did you get him to do that?" Puzzled Barbra Jean, sitting down next to her friend.
"He said he'll give me 27 days of Valentines that he kinda messed up. And today my gift is his service. So yeah, I'm milking it, I made him do all the tough, dirty stuff."
"He's really trying, isn't he?" Barbra Jean forced out a smile. Reba changed to subject immediately. She didn't want Barbra Jean to feel anymore hurt than she already was. She asked her about her new talk show, and that got Barbra Jean to yap non stop. Reba made a mental note never to ask that question again.
"I'm done." Brock came out of the kitchen with a glass of white wine for Reba. He noticed Barbra Jean. She gave him a dry smile. "Oh hi Barbra Jean, want a glass of wine?"
"No, I'm good. I better go prepare dinner." She flashed both Reba and Brock a smile before leaving back to her house. She still couldn't bear seeing them together without breaking down, and Reba didn't even show any sign that she interested in having him back yet. After Barbra Jean left, Brock and Reba exchanged glances.
"So I guess I'm making dinner too huh?" Brock questioned after seeing her look. Reba answered with a little smirk. "Fine. What do you want for dinner?"
"Whatever you can cook is fine. Man, I really like this valentine gift. Can I have the same thing tomorrow?"
"What else that has to be done? I scrubbed the bathtub; clean the attic, garage, and oven. I don't think you have anything left to slave me over." Brock answered, a little annoyed that she made him do dirty work, but he was determined to have her back. Besides, what she did to him today probably couldn't even compare to how he let her do them by herself before.
"Shoot! I forgot to wax my car!" Reba was intentionally testing his patience. Brock knew she was testing to see if he would give up.
"I won't have time to do both, you want dinner or your car waxed?"
"Order pizza and I want my car waxed." Reba was so sure that he would give up. But he didn't. On February 2nd, he gave her another valentine gift: 27 'Yes dear' cards. "What are these?" Questioned Reba, examining each card.
"If you want me to do something, just hand me a card and I'll do it without an argument. Use it wisely you have 27 of them."
"You mean if I want you to leave me alone I can hand you a card and you'll leave?" Reba was trying to hurt his feelings on purpose.
"I'll stay away for few hours but not permanently."
"Darn! Well, maybe it could come and handy someday. Thanks." She flashed him a smile before leaving him to her room. Brock had to do better.
"Can I have a set of those, Van?" Cheyenne asked her husband when she found out what Brock gave Reba.
"Fine!" He grabbed a post-it note and wrote 'Yes dear' and gave it to Cheyenne.
"What? Just one and it's not even printed out nicely like the way dad did it." Cheyenne whined.
"You don't want it? Then I'll have it back." Van tried to snatch to piece of paper back from Cheyenne. But Cheyenne said she wanted at least ten of those 'Yes dear' cards, and handed him the paper. Van groaned, he fell for her trick and he noted in his head to have to talk with Brock for unintentionally putting him in trouble.
February 3rd. Brock decided to get a little more personal. He surprised her with two embroidered pillowcases. Reba smiled when she went to bed and saw them. One, on her usual side of the bed, said 'Sweet dreams to my sweetheart, Reba.' And the other one was 'I wish I was here. Love, Brock'
February 4th, he gave her a jar full of heart-shaped notes saying 'I love you because...' Reba read each and every one of them, and got a good chuckle out of 'Without 'U' I'm just a useless 'Q''. She put the notes back in the jar and left it at her bedside table.
February 5th, he hired a limo, and took her to a nice Italian restaurant a little out of town. At first Reba refused to go. But when Brock did that puppy dog face of his, she caved. She went with him, but warned him not to get busy hands or she would never go out with him again. Brock didn't even get a good night kiss after the 'date' was over.
February 6th, he gave her a scrapbook of their pictures from the oldest picture to the newest before their marriage fell apart, every picture that they took either kissing or holding on to each other, Brock marked 'wish we could do that again' on every single one of them. She caught herself smiling looking at them.
February 7th, he gave her a notebook, he wrote all their sweet memories that they shared and never captured in pictures. Reba read every page with tear drops in the corner of her eyes. She too missed those moments.
February 8th, he gave her a CD, with all the songs that they ever slow danced to compiled on one disc. He asked her for a dance, but she said no. She still remained strong and wouldn't give in.
February 9th, he decorated her bedroom with several scented flowers, he grinned when he saw the pillowcase still in their place, and she didn't throw them out. That was good sign. Reba came in to her bedroom, astonished. She inhaled the sweet botanical scent. Seemed like Brock sprayed the cologne she gave him for Christmas in the room too. He was hoping she would think about him in her sweet dreams. Reba loved how romantic the room looked, too bad she would spend the night in this romantic bedroom alone.
February 10th, Reba came home exhausted; she was tired since she had to deal with a difficult couple all day and didn't even make a sale. Brock kept his gift for some other time and offered to give her a head, shoulder and feet massage instead. Reba wanted to say no, but she was too tired and the thought of a massage would be a good idea. He lit a few candles, turned on the soft music and gently relieved her stiff muscles.
February 11th, he contacted 'Petit Jacques' to have catering for two at her house. He ordered her favorite food and her favorite white wine, and had a butler take care of the set up and service. When the butler didn't serve the food, he played his violin, serenading her with her favorite love song that Brock had preciously requested. At the end, they shared a heart-shaped strawberry cheesecake. She still wouldn't give in. But Brock felt that he had gotten a few steps closer to her since she didn't protest when she found out that they would be sharing the cake, or could it be because she didn't want to make a scene since the caterer was there?
February 12th, he gave her a painting of the golf course that he once took her to in the middle of the night. The moment she saw the painting, all the sweet memory of that night replayed itself in her mind. For someone, these past 12 days might have melted their heart already, but not to Reba, she still acted like he had no effect on her anymore. But she looked forward to what else he had in store.
February 13th, he took her out on a horse drawn carriage around the city. It was such a romantic night, with the full moon above their head, and the wind blowing lightly when the horse galloped, Reba let out a happy sigh. She's always loved horses.
February 14th, with tonight being an actual Valentines, everywhere was pretty much packed. Brock went to all her favorites restaurants and got the items that she usually ordered and set up the table at home. Reba was surprised to see all her favorite dishes from different places on the table, but she still didn't thank him with a kiss.
February 15th, he gave her a framed cross-stitch, with the phrase written, 'It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. But it's even better when you get the love you thought you've lost back in your arms.' Reba grinned every time she read it.
February 16th, Reba opened her bedroom door in the morning and found a red rose on the floor, she went to the kitchen and found another red rose on the table, another one where she hung her car keys, one on her car windshield, one on the dashboard, one in her purse, one waiting for her on her office table. When she came home, she found one in the mail box, one by her coat rack, one by the fridge, one inside the fridge by the bottles of water, and Brock showed up with one to make it a complete dozen. Her heart started to melt from his sweetness, but that still couldn't earn him a kiss. Brock decided that maybe he should give her a hint.
February 17th, Brock set up a patio table in the backyard and cooked a romantic steak dinner, the backyard lit only by torches and garden candles, when they finished eating, he handed her 'the bill': salad cost three kisses, steak cost 12 kisses and a pie cost one passionate kiss. At the bottom read, 'Tips greatly appreciated'. Reba paid him with an 'IOU' note. "Hey," cried Brock. "Either that or send the bill to my accountant, Elizabeth." Reba replied with a smirk.
February 18th, he still kept hinting that he wanted kisses. He packed her lunch and a few chocolate kisses. He also applied some lipstick and left his kiss print on every napkin he put in her lunch bag. Reba thanked him for lunch, but said that lipstick color wouldn't suit him, maybe he should try lip gloss. Reba wouldn't let him know that she kept the napkins in between the pages of the notebook he gave her previously.
February 19th, he thought maybe hinting wouldn't work. So he decided to steal some kisses instead, while she was watching an old romantic movie he rented, the one they went to see together on their first date. When a kissing scene came on the screen, he would ask 'can we?' and she'd say 'no'. At one point, he pretended that he heard something and looked around. "Did you hear that?" Asked Brock. "Hear what?" Reba replied looking around, she was letting her guard down so he leaned over and kissed her gently on her lips. "Oh guess it was a mysterious kisser". He ducked when Reba hit him with a pillow. She secretly admitted to herself that he made her heart stop a few seconds when he placed the kiss on her lips.
February 20th, Reba found post-it notes all over the place 'Brock loves Reba', 'Brock adores Reba', 'Brock wants to be with Reba', 'Brock needs Reba', 'Brock desires Reba', Brock wants to kiss Reba', 'Brock wanted to hug Reba', etc. Reba turned red and hunted them all and told herself to kick Brock's butt the moment she saw him. He made her heartbeat faster at every note she found, he didn't use 'I and you' instead he used 'Brock and Reba'. She could feel the concrete wall she built starting to crack in a big way. It was extra sweet, but she was a little embarrassed when her kids saw them.
February 21st, Brock took her to a day cruise and had dinner on the boat. Reba hissed at him for all those post it notes, she said Jake was making fun of her now. He even sung 'Brock and Reba sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. She really wanted to ground him. Well, she didn't know that Brock told Jake to keep repeating those messages for him. And Reba couldn't help but turned red every time Jake said something like 'Brock still loves Reba huh?" Funny, when he referred to his own parents as a third person, Jake didn't mind repeat those messages aloud. After returning from the cruise, she almost question why he was leaving, but then she quickly realized that he didn't live there anymore, and she had just gone on a romantic date with her ex!
February 22nd, he gave her a jigsaw puzzle, made from their wedding picture. He assembled the puzzle and left only one piece undone. It was the piece of her lower face: her smile. He gave her the last piece of the puzzle with a note 'only you can complete this picture'. She had to really fight an urge to complete the puzzle. She kept the last piece a side, maybe she would put it together when she was ready.
February 23rd, he gave her a bouquet of 12 red roses and a 13th one that was fake. He told her, that he would love her until the last one was rotten. Reba put the roses in a vase, and kept the fake one in her bedroom.
February 24th, he rented a Corvette convertible and took her out to their favorite park for stargazing. Recreating a night back when he told her he loved her for the first time. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and lightly kissed her collarbone and her jawbone, just below the ear, and he whispered 'I love you'. Reba fought the temptation to not kiss him. Reba noticed that the concrete wall had gotten thinner and thinner as days went by. But she tried to build it back without success. All she could do right now was to hold on to her strength that she had left, but it was weakening beyond her control.
February 25th, Reba had told him something that made his heart break, but he had promised that he would not invade her personal life. Nevertheless, he still gave her the gift; he gave her a pedicure. He gave her a foot massage after soaking her feet in a basin of luke-warm water. He also lovingly painted her toes nails. Reba almost changed her mind of going on a date with Tommy Johnson the next day.