Beth Orsoff

Bonus Content: Epilogue

One Year Later
Déjà Vu

Joe walked into my apartment and handed me the Walgreens bag.  I immediately pulled out the box of Benadryl and downed to two tablets.

“I can’t believe you don’t keep that stuff on-hand,” Joe said as he tossed his keys onto the coffee table and sat down next to me on the couch.  “You should be buying stock in the company.”

“This one’s not my fault.  I took the strand test and everything.”  Of course, I only waited one hour instead of the requisite twenty-four to forty-eight.  Who has that kind of time?

“And you couldn’t wait one more day to dye your hair?”

We’d already had this argument—half an hour ago when my scalp started itching and my eyelids swelled.  “I told you, I’m not going to my best friend’s wedding with gray hair.  Why are you being so mean?”

“I’m not being mean.  I just can’t help feeling like all this is déjà vu.”

I had to smile, even though my eyes were so swollen I could barely see.  I’d been thinking the same thing.   “Who knows?  Maybe you’ll get lucky again.”

He gave me a knowing smile.  We’d spent the entire day in bed after Simone’s wedding.  There was no reason we couldn’t do the same after Kaitlyn’s too.  Assuming, of course, my scalp ever stopped itching.

I laid down and put my head in his lap.  “Make yourself useful,” I said, and planted his hands in my hair.

He started scratching in circles above my ears.  “I’ve been thinking.”

“Mmmm.”  He could think all he wanted, as long as he didn’t stop rubbing.  The Benadryl would work eventually, but this was instant relief.

“I’m going to take my sisters up on their offer and move into the main house.”

Joe’s aunt had passed away the day after Thanksgiving.  She had no children of her own and had willed her house to Joe and his three sisters, all of whom still lived in New Jersey.  They talked about selling it but decided with the real estate market down, they’d rather wait.

“Can you afford that?”  The mortgage was paid off, but the taxes and upkeep were high.

“If I rent out the guest house.  I’m just not sure  I want to live in that big place all by myself.”

“You could always get a roommate,” I said dreamily.  He’d circled his fingers up to the top of my head and I was practically purring.

“I thought of that,” he said, then stopped rubbing.

I opened my eyes.  Joe was staring down at me, a faint smile tugging at his lips.  “How would you feel about moving in with me?”

I bolted upright.

He must’ve taken my surprise for reluctance.   “We spend five nights a week together anyway.  Plus you’re always complaining that you have no room in your closet for my stuff.  Doesn’t it seem like the logical next step?”

“Wow, you’re really sweeping me off my feet.”

“Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me I should be more practical?”

That was true.  But not in this instance.  “Mom, I’m moving in with Joe,” didn’t have quite the same ring to it as “Mom, I’m getting married.”  With both Simone and Kaitlyn wed, I had almost no single friends left.  Even Greg and his new girlfriend, one of the producers from First Date, were shopping for rings.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, then laid back down and placed his hands on my head.

He rubbed in silence for a few minutes then stopped again.   This time when I opened my eyes he wasn’t smiling.  “Julie, I love you and I want to be with you.  Do you feel the same?”

Since this looked like it was turning into a serious conversation, I sat up.  “Of course.”  I was crazy about Joe.  Everyone knew it, including him until five minutes ago.

“Good,” he said, and ran into the bedroom.  He returned with a long, thin black velvet box.  It was the wrong size for a ring so I didn’t get my hopes up, not even after he got down on one knee.  “Open it,” he said.

Inside was a silver house key on a thick chain.  I had to smile.  “Yes, Joe, I’ll be your roommate.”

He flashed me a quick grin but didn’t look relieved.  He pulled another black velvet box out from behind his back. “But will you be my wife?”

Of course I said yes to that too!