The Way She Likes It

Dani wishes she was a Gilmore Girl. She thinks extra warm blankets at the foot of the bed in Winter and dresses tailored to her body. She thinks spa days and club lunches and witty dialogue she never has to write herself. She thinks poolside banter full of body-shaming quips that capture real life people. Real, true life people at their best/worst because that's what these pretty shows are all about and, to be honest, Dani's feet are cold.

Dani wishes for a maid to stoke the fire and a cook to prepare her meals. She wishes for her pillows fluffed and an income she never has to try for because it is just there. Unless she wants to try, and then she wishes for make her own way, pull herself up by her bootstraps and fly on caffeinated wings into the plaid arms of true love because that's where she belongs.

Dani wishes for belonging. There's the rub. She wishes for a home that isn't this apartment and a love she isn't afraid of because, yes, she's afraid to love Anthony as much as she loves him. It's too much, the love. And she doesn't know what to do with him when he fluffs her pillows and adds extra blankets over her feet or shows up with groceries to cook for her in her kitchen, then cleans up after himself, never leaving a trace that he was here except the faint scent of his aftershave on her shoulder. Or the warmth in her heart where she always expects there to be cold.

Oh, Dani sighs and stretches and turns on her side. The bed is warm and she smells something delicious. She opens her eyes to the morning and Anthony who says, "I hope you don't mind. I used the key," in a voice that tells her he is afraid too. She might throw him out and he would go without a fight because he knows she is hurt and raw and ragged. Though Dani is unaware that she talks in her sleep about loving him and needing him, she does and he has listened so many nights now he's lost count. She reaches for him in her sleep and rests her hand over his heart and he feels like he might explode from the joy of being pulled so close, so tight, of being so needed and knowing he belongs with Dani, she is it, she is the one. But he can't tell her yet because even though she is searching for what she has already found--it's him! he knows it!--she can't accept that she's found it.

Anthony is waiting when Dani opens her eyes. He has a tray spread with breakfast the way he knows she likes it. He scoots into bed next to her knowing it makes them look like an image from a magazine. They are just too perfect. The other shoe doesn't have to drop, does it? He puts an arm around her while she takes nibbles off the plate and glances at him shyly. Anthony thinks, she's right here. Right here.

Anthony isn't going anywhere.

If you enjoyed this, you can find more of Dani's story here:

Solitary Chill
Calculated Risk
Total Immersion
Promise of the Unexpected
Dangerous Waters
Talking with Leaves
Candy Corn
Sweep Me Up
Wish Magic
World Map