“We’reengaged!”
Part 4:February 13th
It’s almosthere: the day I see her, the day she will be mine forever. I can’twait. I won’t be able to sleep tonight, I know it. But I just haveto wait 23 more hours and she’ll be by my side forever and he’ll beout of the picture for good.
She’ll be sohappy to see me after all these years. After I tell her how greatI’ve become and how amazing life with me will be. I can’t wait forher to hug me and kiss me like she’s kissed him. She’ll forget allabout him though, I know it. I can’t wait.
***
Amber woke tothe sun streaming through her window and remembered blearily thatshe had forgotten to close her curtains the night before. Well, shethought she had closed them but they were wide open. That made herworried but she pushed that feeling down. Amber grumbled to herselfand sat up. She ran a hand over her hair to somewhat calm it beforemaking her way to the window and peering outside.
More snow hadfallen during the night and Amber smiled at the sparklingwhiteness. She hugged herself and allowed the warm air of her ownbreathing fog up the cold window in front of her. Once she wasawake enough, she checked the clock and saw it to be 7AM. Shegroaned and made her way out of the room. The problem with wakingup so early was that once she was awake, she stayed awake.
She was offuntil the 15th and hoped Greg would be back on time to celebrateValentine’s Day. It was the day when everything important happenedto them: their first date, their first kiss, their first timemoving into the same apartment and their engagement. Amber hadalmost been tempted to have her wedding on Valentine’s Day butmoved it to March 1st instead. No one was willing to attend awinter wedding and half her family had to drive a longdistance.
Amber shookthese thoughts from her head as she finished up her morningcleansing routine and trotted down to the kitchen in her bathrobeto start the coffee machine. Once the coffee was brewing, shedarted back upstairs to dress for the day.
As she waspulling on her pants the doorbell rang and she cursed. She quicklythrew on her robe to cover her bra-clad chest and ran backdownstairs. Just as the previous days, there was no one at thefront porch when she peered through the peephole.
She did seefootprints in the snow this time and noticed them to be large, wideand heavy looking. She smirked at the male-looking footprints andunlocked her door. She looked down without a second thought to seea bright red bag decorated with pink hearts.
Amber peekeddown either side of her street but saw nothing of the specialdelivery man. The street seemed strangely empty and she realizedjust how alone she felt. With a mental shudder she shrugged andpicked up the bag. Once the door was locked again she opened thebag to see a rather larger black velvet box.
Her curiositypiqued higher as she opened the simple gold clasp on the box toreveal a gold pendent of two interlocking hearts with a diamond attheir joint hanging from a gold chain. She smiled and immediatelyput the necklace on because it matched her engagement ringperfectly. Amber dabbed at the wetness of her eyes with the end ofher robe and hoped Greg would make it home tomorrow. She had noidea what she would get him for Valentine’s Day but just being ableto see his smile would over-shadow his surprise gifts.
That nightAmber shifted through her and Greg’s DVD collection for somethingshe had not watched in six years. She grumbled at the sheer amountof DVD’s they owned and pushed aside a few comedy films. She letout a little sound of accomplishment when the plain covered DVDcase came into view.
Amber sat backon her haunches and popped open the case. Inside was a single DVDwith “Our Special Day” written in her own neat hand in blackmarker. She giggled to herself and popped it into the DVD player.As she settled back to watch her wedding day she snuggled into thebig red blanket on the couch and hoped Greg would be back soon.
The houseseemed so empty and foreboding without him. She found herselfstarting at every little sound. Creaks came through the night andshe swore that they came from the back porch. She was always tooafraid to check in case someone actually was there so wouldconvince herself that it was merely the house settling.
The past fewnights it had been worse. She felt as if she was being watched andhad closed all the curtains in the house. The feeling would not bealleviated so easily and she found herself looking over hershoulder at the strangest times. She had even locked the bathroomdoor that afternoon without realizing it.
She sighed andwondered how Greg would feel about finally getting a dog. That wasone subject they could not agree on. Greg made a good point aboutneither of them being around enough to take care of a dog daily.Amber wanted a dog, a big mean looking dog just for protectionthough.
Amber trustedin the security system but a friend at work told her that anyonecould cut the wires of a security system and sneak into a person’shouse. Even if they didn’t cut all the wires the response time forpolice to get to Amber’s part of town was half an hour. Amber knewa lot could happen in half an hour.
She tried toconcentrate on the joyous video playing in front of her but foundthat she could not. She flicked off the DVD and cuddled deep intothe blankets wishing for someone to talk to. She wished Greg didnot have to travel so much. She hoped he would agree to get a dog.She wondered if her good friend was off work tonight.
At that thoughtshe reached for the phone and dialed a number. The ringing soundeddismal to her and a machine informed her that her good friend
