The nicest Jules could do that morning was a pair of yoga pants and a tee shirt. She was back on the couch and dangerously close to falling back asleep. She was starting to regret her decision not to double dose on coffee that morning.
At last, the moment she had been waiting for arrived. There was firm but gentle knock on the front door.
"Come in!" she called out loudly for the man to enter the house that was not her own.
Matthew peeked his head through the open door. "Good morning, Jules! Are you ready for our date?"
"Yep," Jules huffed as she sat up. "Just got to go to the bathroom."
"I thought you'd like more variety of clothes," Matthew grunted as he pulled in some large suitcases.
"Great, well, I'll be right back," Jules said. She got off the couch and went to go find the bathroom.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, she took a deep breath. She wasn't quite sure why she was nervous. It was a strange feeling. She guessed it was because it was her first date with him only she knew that the risk was gone. There was undoubtedly going to be a second date and third date and etcetera. Where was the fun in that?
She started pulling back her hair in a ponytail when her fingertips met a ridge. She frowned and followed the ridge in its entirety. Jules held her hair up and turned around to look at the line on the back of her head.
What she found was a large pink scar laid barren on a shaved patch on her head. She had heard that following the crash the doctors had to perform some surgery to relieve the swelling in her brain.
Her hair cascaded back into place. The scar was only visible when her hair swished out of place.
"You look beautiful." Matthew had found another doorway to stand in.
"Alright, you can cut the schmooze. Our date hasn't even started yet," Jules said. She stopped looking at herself in the mirror. "At this rate I'll be sick of you before you even buy me coffee.
Matthew just stood there and smiled. He had gotten used to this level of teasing from her in their almost full year of marriage. He held out his hand for her to take. She eventually did take it, just as she had at the hospital.
They walked back through the living room. Several suitcases lined the sofa.
"You...brought a lot of stuff," Jules noted.
"I wasn't quite sure how long you'd be staying," he laughed nervously. "Hopefully, I brought way too much."
Jules couldn't really say anything about that. She let herself into the passenger side of Matthew's car.
"So, what's so special about this coffee place? Was it our first date or something?" Jules asked once they were on the road.
Matthew laughed. "Close, but no. It was actually our fourth date."
Jules really didn't consider that close at all. "What did we do on our first three?"
"Um, well..." Matthew started nervously. "Those were sort of under special circumstances."
"Special circumstances?" Jules looked at Matthew suspiciously. She couldn't think of any reason why he'd be lying. She had married him despite of whatever he was trying to hide. "Didn't you say we met on an online dating site?"
"Uh huh," Matthew confirmed, though he wasn't paying much attention. "Look! Here we are."
Matthew had pulled over on a street that looked very familiar to Jules. She quickly opened the door and got out of the car.
"Hey! That's my apartment!" Jules pointed happily to the building across the street. She looked three stories up and tried to find the window she remembered looking out of like it was yesterday.
"That's right. You used to live over here." Matthew said.
Jules sighed. After two years, she figured her little one bedroom apartment belonged to someone else. In all her time living there, she hadn't remember a coffee shop. Just a little corner lot perpetually up for sale.
It was a quaint little coffee shop. Jules thought it gave off a very hipster vibes. The walls were filled with charming, weird, mediocre paintings that could only come from local artists.
A pretty barista with dreadlocks and mocha colored skin looked up when they walked in. "Hey you two! It's been a while! I heard about what happened. How are you feeling, Jules?"
"Fine, I guess." She squinted up at the menu, trying to figure out what she wanted.
"I'll just get your usuals..." the barista started.
"No," Jules stopped her mostly because she had no idea what her usual was. She looked at the menu desperately. "Could I get... Ooh! Could I get a cappuccino with a picture of a chick?" She was thrilled to find that the coffee shop offered complimentary pictures in their cappuccinos.
The barista was confused at first and then smiled. "Jules, that is your usual."
Jules frowned. She felt like she had fallen into a trap.
"Jules, how about you find us a place to sit?" Matthew said.
She begrudgingly scoped the resturant. There a couple groups of people already sitting around the circular tables. She slumped over a table against the wall. She peeked up at the painting above her head.
"Do you like the painting?" Matthew came over to her table with a tray of hot coffees.
"I guess so. It's kinda funky looking." Her eyes rolled as she turned to look at her husband. "Why? Is this my usual spot? Do I always sit under this painting?" Her irritation was poorly disguised.
"No. The paintings are usually rotated. There are new ones every time we visit. You usually like to sit under the ones you find the most interesting."
"Hmm." That made Jules a little happier. She cracked a smile when she saw the cappuccino cup. "Hey! That actually looks pretty good," she admired the depiction of the caffeinated chick.
"Yeah, Laurel's pretty great at that stuff," Matthew noted.
"So, what's your big plan in wooing me?" Jules mussed the picture by taking a sip of her cappuccino.
Matthew smiled into his cup. "If I told you, it would ruin the surprise, and what fun would that be?"
Jules could feel her lips curl upward. She thought maybe Matthew had his good points.
"I thought I'd start off with things we like to do together. Try to jog some memories. Is it working?" Matthew clarified.
"Memory aspect, no. I don't remember this place at all."
"That's too bad. You really love this place," Matthew reminisced. "That reminds me! Would you like some coffee cake? It's really good, I promise," he insisted.
"Sure." Jules supported her head with her left hand.
When Matthew went back to the counter, Jules view to the table in front of her unobstructed. Seated a few tables over were a group of middle-aged women with very sad and judgmental looks on their faces. One of the bolder ones got up and headed for Jules' table.
"Excuse me," she said in a hushed tone. "Sorry for intruding, but I couldn't help but notice..."
Jules knew something good and offensive had to be coming next.
"But that man you're here with, he has a ring on his finger. I don't know what pretenses he brought you here under, but he looks at you in a way that would suggest he has romantic implications."
"Yeah?" Jules was still rather confused as to why they were butting in.
Her unsurprised reaction seemed to rile the woman up a bit. "Miss, he's married. Out of respect for his wife and his marriage, I suggest you find a way to break this off. You're ruining a relationship."
Jules grinned. This was what she had been waiting for. "First off, let me just say you are way out of bounds. You have no idea the relationship status of him and his wife, and it's really none of your business. Second, he was the one who invited me, so his respect for his marriage is in his own hands, not mine. And third..." Jules was practically giddy nailing this last nail into the coffin of that conversation. "His wife is fully aware of his romantic intentions towards me. In fact, he has mentioned multiple times to the both of us that he loves both of us the same." Even Jules' mind started to boggle as the conversation took a very meta turn. "Don't you worry about us. We are all in a very healthy relationship."
The woman was speechless and turned away in a huff.
"What was that about?" Matthew said as he came back with cake.
"Oh, nothing. Those ladies just think you're cute and out of my league," Jules said as she grabbed one of the forks.
"Really?" Matthew looked down at the table and started to blush.
"Yeah, they must have been on the lookout for married men because they seemed very interested with the ring on your finger. They thought you were cheating on your wife or something."
Matthew blanched. "Oh no. Should I take my ring off?" He started fiddling with his wedding band.
"Don't worry about it. Keep it on. I set them straight," Jules half lied. "You seem to be pretty popular with the ladies."
"Not really," he said nervously. "I actually don't have very good luck when it comes to women."
"Really?" It was Jules' turn to be surprised. She reasoned that maybe it was true. His wife did happen to lose all of her memories about him.
"Surprised?" He tried to smile while taking a sip of his coffee and spilled a bit on himself. He sharply inhaled as he tried to wipe the burning liquid off of his skin and clothes.
"Yeah, you're a regular Casanova," Jules laughed. "You gonna help me finish this cake or not?" she said to try to clear up some of his embarassment.
"Well, I guess I could say mostly bad luck. I hit the jackpot when I met you," he said.
Jules still wasn't used to the compliments. It made her think that he was hiding something. Regardless, her heart couldn't help but beat faster, warming her even more than the coffee.
Matthew pulled into Westley's driveway after their date was finished. He shifted into park. "Well?" he said, looking straight out the windshield.
"Well what?" Jules asked, confused by the question.
"How was it? How was I?" he asked like his life depended on it.
Jules laughed. "It was okay. Want me to fill out a survey rating every aspect on a scale from one to ten?"
His brows furrowed. He wasn't as satisfied with her answer as he would have liked.
"Hey," Jules said. She leaned over the seat divider and pecked him on the cheek. "You're sweet. That at least deserves a kiss on the first date."
She patted him on said cheek and got out of the car. "Let me know when you want to take me out again."
"I love you, Jules!" Matthew shouted through a rolled down window.
"Bye, Matthew!" she called back.
The door to Westley's house was unlocked, so she let herself in. She flopped facedown on her brother's couch.
"Did you have a good time?" Westley asked as he came into the living room.
Jules responded by hugging the couch cushions closer to her face.
Westley gasped dramatically. "Do you actually like your husband?"
"He's too sweet, okay? That's it," Jules defended. "He's sickly sweet like a gummy bear covered in syrup."
"You like gummy bears," Westley reminded his sister. "Anyway, I had a spare key made. That way you can let yourself in while I'm away at work."
Jules groaned at the mention of work. She supposed it was better than no work. Especially since her work was now a blog. She blindly searched for her laptop and pulled it up to the couch with her. She had a lot to catch up on.