夏至 [3] / [17]
Alexander smiled. She was right, he was being too serious. Sometimes a little frivolity and letting loose were precisely what were warranted. Alexander, by his nature, tended to stick to certain routines. Cynthia reminded him that there were other ways of being, and he appreciated this about her. It wasn't just their similarities that drew them together, Alexander noted to himself, but also their differences.
"So since we're splurging," said Alexander,
"what looks good to you?”
She tilted her glass towards him and took a drink.
"I meant on the menu,"
he added, grinning with a wink.
"The veal parmigiano isn't bad, but the prime rib is to die for,"
she said, with that same grin lighting up her face. Then, her grin faltered, as she added,
"My father used to love this place."
"This restaurant?"
Alexander asked.
"Yeah," she replied,
"It was special to him. This is actually where he took my mom on their first date,"
she laughed, the smile returning to her face.
"I remember him telling me that he blew a whole month's salary here just to impress my mom."
"It must have worked,"
said Alexander, returning her smile, and meeting her gaze.
She really did look lively tonight, and the alcohol was starting to make her sentimental.
"It'll be two years this August,"
she said, with some melancholy in her voice.
Cynthia's father passed away following a lengthy illness after her mother died. She didn't like talking about it, but Alexander remembered the day her father died. She looked like the last rose of autumn, but, given enough time, the warmth of spring always emerges from the bitter cold of winter's grip. So too with Cynthia, but the cold never entirely goes away.
He placed his hand on hers, and she squeezed it back.
"I always wanted him to walk me down the aisle,"
she said, with a laugh that did little to obscure her sad eyes.
"He'd be proud of the woman you've become."
Their eyes met for what felt like minutes, but was, in reality, less than two seconds. But there's so much that can be exchanged in a glance. Eternity itself, even.
"I don't want any kind of wedding march. I just want to celebrate our unification, just the two of us,"
she said.
"Why not?"
Alexander asked. He had thought most women dreamed of a proper wedding.
"Do you really not understand the reason?"
Cynthia asked suspiciously. Alexander pretended not to know.
"What?"