Indelible Love - Emily's Story (21 page)

“Peter got a gigantic suite and I was
supposed to room with Sarah, but Charlie stayed in our room so I
ended up on the couch.” Of course, Jake immediately insisted on
getting me a separate room. “Jake, no. I don’t want you to get me
my own room. That’s not cool. We came as a group. I need to do
everything with them. Please, don’t do that.”

“All right. Emi? Are you sure you’re
OK? You sound sad. Did something happen with Max again? Do you want
me to fly in today?”

“I’m fine.” The flat tone in my voice
was an unconvincing reassurance. “I think I miss being in my own
bed. Between Hawaii and Vegas, a different bed has greeted me each
night—yours having been the most pleasant one. I miss being with
you as well.” My voice cracked a bit and I knew I needed to get off
the phone right away.

“Emily, I’m coming to see you right
now! I don’t like the way you sound.”

“Jake, I’ll see you
tomorrow. You can
not
abandon your work to come get me. I’m fine. Go to the
hospital and focus on your patients. I don’t want to be a
distraction for you.”

While I was saying this, Max stepped
into the living room, and I quickly wiped my eyes with the back of
my hand.

“Jake, I gotta go. I’m sorry. Have a
wonderful day. I love you. Bye.”

Max had a worried look on his face. He
stared at me with his boyish good looks that reminded me of our
better days in college.

“Em, are you OK?” I wiped away a final
tear and turned my back toward him.

“I’m fine,” I lied.

He sat on the couch and turned me
around to face him. He comforted me with a hug and to Max’s
surprise, I didn’t push him away. The love and tenderness we once
shared for so many years spoke through our embrace. I stayed in his
arms for a while, silently, eventually pulling away. Max let go,
unwillingly.

“Thanks. I really needed that. It was
hard holding back the tears during our phone call. He would come
here immediately if he thought there was something wrong with
me.”

“He’s quite protective of you. Jake
seems to love you very much.” Max didn’t like admitting
this.

“Yeah, I feel loved when I’m with him,
like there’s no one else on earth but me. Maybe it’s his age or
maybe it’s just him. He takes care of me without hovering over me.
It’s been wonderful.”

“Then why are you so weepy this
morning if everything is so perfect with him? Why’d you call him
this early if you didn’t want him to see you like this?” Max’s
expression hardened.

“Jake actually texted me before
leaving for the hospital, and I should have just let it go, but I
missed him and wanted to talk to him.

“Is that why you’re crying, because
you miss him? I’m going to be really mad if I was your shoulder to
cry on because you missed your boyfriend.” I couldn’t tell whether
Max was joking or serious. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

I laughed. “No. That’s not why I’m
crying. I’m just a bit frustrated at the ironies of
life.”

“What does that mean?”

“After our conversation last night, I
realized all throughout undergrad, I wanted nothing more than to
marry you, but you never asked. Obviously, that wasn’t in your
plans. I finally meet a man who wants to marry me, and I don’t have
that same assurance. Maybe it’s just too early. We’ve known each
other for such a brief period, and yet Jake is so sure I’m the one.
I believe I feel the same way, but I’m not positive.”

Max’s nervous expression worried me.
To my surprise, he pulled me off the couch and told me to get
dressed. “Let’s go have breakfast, Em.”

Chapter 9 A Second Proposal

We went downstairs and enjoyed each
other’s company like old times. I had missed his friendship during
our time apart.

“How is it that you can eat so
much?”

“I know, Jake wonders the same thing.
I think I eat as much most men, huh?” After polishing off a
breakfast burrito, it was time to dive into my chocolate croissant.
“Do you know what we’re all doing today?”

“No. I heard some talk about outlet
shopping and some want to gamble again. What do you want to
do?”

“I don’t know. You know I don’t like
this city. There’s not much here for me to do. We should have all
gotten tickets to go watch a show or gone out to a nice
meal.”

“Em, I don’t think I’ve ever taken you
anywhere special in all the years we’ve dated, huh?”

“Of course you have. You’ve done lots
of nice things for me.” I was hoping he wouldn’t ask me to list
them because none came to mind at this instant.

“There’s something I’ve always wanted
to do for you. Would you mind spending the day with me?”

This was not the Max I had lunch with
a week ago, nor the Max I went to the football game with last
night. This was the Max I’d dated all through college. The same boy
I had loved with all my heart, wanted to spend time with me today.
This was my desire as well.

“OK,” I answered with a smile. “What
do you want to do today?”

“If you’re done, let’s go. I think the
first flight leaves at 7:00.”

He grabbed my hand and rushed me out
to the strip and into a taxi. Not far from the Palazzo sat dozens
of helicopters ready to take off.

“You haven’t been to the Grand Canyon
yet, have you?”

“No. It’s still on my to-do list. Is
that what we’re doing? We’re flying over the Grand
Canyon?”

“Get in. This should be
fun.”

Max was absolutely right. We took off
from Vegas and saw an unobstructed view of Boulder City, Hoover
Dam, Lake Mead, and the Colorado River. During this time, headsets
provided interesting facts and stories on these places. Next, we
flew over the breathtaking grandeur of one of the Seven Wonders of
the World—The Grand Canyon. Words could not describe the awe of
taking in the sights of this geographic amazement carved out by the
Colorado River.

“Are we also going to walk on the
Skywalk?”

“Uh huh,” he answered smiling at
me.

If our ride wasn’t cool enough, the
helicopter descended four thousand feet below the canyon along the
Colorado River. We were able to land and explore the canyon where
the Haulapai Indians guard. The touring company gave us four hours
to have lunch and enjoy the surroundings. Max and I decided to take
a mule ride during this time.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Max put
his jacket around my shoulders as he noticed me
shivering.

“Yeah. This is really cool. Thank you.
It was sweet of you to remember all this.”

“This mule ride is supposed to take us
to a ranch where we can have lunch. I’m sure you’re hungry again.
Some things don’t ever change no matter how much time goes
by.”

“Hey. We didn’t tell anyone where we
were going. Can you call Sarah and let her know what we’re up to?
We left in such a rush I didn’t bring anything.”

Max took out his cell phone, but
realized we didn’t get reception. We would call from a payphone
when we got to the ranch.

The mule ride wasn’t as enjoyable as
I’d imagined. We rode on the edge of the canyon overlooking what
could be death if the mule took one misstep. I feared for my life
while Max laughed at me the whole way.

“You’re still such a chicken. There’s
not one daring bone in that body of yours.”

“Knowing this, you shouldn’t have
suggested a mule ride. It’s frightening. What if we die?” The last
four words needed to be whispered in order to not freak out the
other riders.

“Em, you can be so ridiculous at
times.”

“I don’t consider this being
ridiculous!”

We argued, we laughed. It was just
like old times. We were both very happy.

“Hey, Em?”

“Yeah?”

“Never mind.” Max just shook his
head.

“You know I hate it when you do that.
Tell me.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Ugh! Whatever.” I rolled my eyes at
him. It bugged me when he started a conversation that led
nowhere.

During this ride, I thought about
Jake, and how fun it would have been to have him here. As enjoyable
as it was being with Max, I would have preferred riding with, and
sharing this time with him. Pathetically, my joy and sadness hinged
on Jake’s words and actions toward me. Thoughts of my love brought
a smile to my face.

“What are you smiling about? You look
goofy,” Max commented poking his index finger into my
cheek.

“Be quiet,” I answered swatting away
his finger.

We arrived to find an impressive
spread at the ranch. There was a barbeque as well as a Native
American dance. We got so caught up in the festivities neither one
of us kept track of time.

“Max, what time is it? Shouldn’t we
get going?” He looked at his watch and jumped off the rock we were
sitting on.

“Crap! The helicopter just took
off.”

“What? How did this happen? What are
we going to do?” A howl of laughter that escaped my lips couldn’t
be helped. Max looked at me as though I had gone mad.

“What are you cackling
about?”

“Why do these kinds of things always
happen to you? You plan a wonderful activity, and somehow it always
goes awry. Remember the time you planned a Valentine’s picnic, but
forgot to bring the address to the park? We searched for hours then
picnicked at some random park.”

“I planned to go to that
park.”

“Liar. You still can’t admit to any
wrongdoings.” I shook my head and laughed some more. “So what
now?”

“Wait here. Let me go make some
calls.”

Max left to resolve our mess and a
plan B was necessary, as always, when Max made the
arrangements.

He came back to our seat and gave me
the news.

“OK, so here are our options.” His
face already told me that these options were really not
options.

“Number one—we walk up to the top of
the canyon and drive back to Vegas—that would take three hours just
to walk up.

Number two—we charter a helicopter to
pick us up and fly us back to Vegas—we need permission from the
Indians to have a helicopter land near here.

Number three—we spend the night here,
then either take a mule back to the original landing point and fly
back into Vegas, or ride the mule all the way up to the top and
then drive back to Vegas.”

“So you’re basically telling me that
number three is our only option. It’s just a matter of three A or
three B.”

Max nodded his head yes.

“I pick three B. I still want to go on
the Skywalk. Then let’s rent a car and drive back to LA. What are
we going to do about clothes and toiletries? Does the ranch have
rooms for us to stay in?”

“This ranch is kind of like a
dormitory where all the women stay in one cabin, and all the men
stay in another. Front desk says that you’re the only female
occupant so far and there are a few male occupants in the other
cabin. They also provide toothbrushes and stuff at a nominal
charge.”

“All right, then. There’s not much we
can do about this situation.”

“One more thing…”

“Uh-oh. Now what?”

“Peter tells me you need to call
Jake.”

“Jake?”

“Yeah. He’s in Vegas right now looking
for you.”

Oh no! How would I explain this
situation to my boyfriend?

“Max! You’re going to get me into so
much trouble. Jake’s going to insist on chartering a helicopter to
come and get me when I tell him I’m spending a night here with
you.”

“Cool. Then we can go home
tonight.”

“No, you’re not going anywhere. He’ll
fly me home and leave you here.” We both laughed.

Time to face the music…

“Jake?” The sweetest voice magically
appeared. “What are you doing in Vegas?”

“Emi. Where have you been? I got so
worried when you didn’t answer your phone.”

“Well…I’m a bit stuck here in the
Grand Canyon right now. A certain ex-boyfriend of mine brought me
out to the canyon then got us stranded.” Max started tickling me in
retaliation.

“Stop!” I whispered to Max. “I’m in a
lot of trouble with Jake right now.”

Unhappy, Jake came up with the
scenario I had pictured earlier. He offered to charter a helicopter
to come pick me up.

“It’s no use, Jake. They can’t come
down here without the Haulapai Indians’ permission. Plus where we
are, you have to walk at least another hour. It will be too dark by
then.” I could hear Jake’s sigh all the way here at the bottom of
the Grand Canyon. “Why don’t you spend the night in Vegas and come
into the Grand Canyon tomorrow morning? I’d love to go to the
Skywalk with you. Can you do that or do you have to work
tomorrow?”

“Emily. Where will you sleep
tonight?”