The Eternity that Follows (26 page)

Once the door to the refrigerator was open, she held out her
parents can of whipped cream.
“Sure.”
Joey said.

Gabriella proceed to swirl whipped cream on top both cups
of their coffee. “It tastes better on you.” Joey said, while licking
the whipped cream off the top of his coffee.
“Does it now?”
“It sure does. What are you doing?”
“I just fixed your lunch and now I’m toasting some Honey Wheat
English Muffins. Have you ever had this kind before? They’re
real good with butter.”
“No. I’m excited to try it though.”
“Good.” Gabriella said, placing Joey’s plate down before him. “I
bought them last week with the money you gave me. I only picked
a few things up. The stuff for the pizza, some breakfast foods for
this week. I knew we were going out Friday night for dinner, so I
didn’t make a fuss at the store. I’m going to go shopping with the
rest today for this week.” Gabriella said, filling Joey in on how
she selected to spend his money. He had been curious, but he
didn’t want to inquire with Gabriella in regards to it, as to not take
away from their trust.
“Do you need more money?” Joey asked, simply.
“Nope. I should be fine.”
“All right.” Joey said. He then took a bite of his English Muffin
while Gabriella finally sat down at the table. “Yum.” He said.
“Yum? Should I have expected you to say anything else?”
“Yummy?” Joey asked, with a face showing he was waiting for
acceptance.
“Yum’s fine. You’re cute.”
“Thanks my dear. What else do you plan on doing today? Are you
taking care of the invitations?”
“I plan to. I just have to add my friends to the wedding list first. I
have to register somewhere before they can be sent out.”
“Oh right. They add that slip of paper into the invitation, right?”
“What’s the last wedding you’ve been too?”
“Gavin’s. Actually outside of family that’s the only wedding I’ve
been invited to.”
“Yeah besides Danielle and a couple of my cousins, I haven’t been
to any other weddings.”
“So, just pick the stores you want to register at and tell the
invitation people that’s where your registered and then go register
tomorrow.” Joey said, not wanting Gabriella to get flustered with
too much too do in one day.
“Your coming with.”
“Oh am I?”
“Yes. It’s our stuff not mine. It’s important for you to be there.”
“I’d be happy to.” Joey said, thinking about it for a moment.
“How many stores are you registering with?”
“Two to three.” Gabriella said, thinking for a moment herself.
“All right. We’ll hit up one store tonight after dinner, another
tomorrow, and if we need to, a third Wednesday night. That way
when the wedding invitations get printed, mailed and delivered we
will have already registered.”
“Really?”
“Of course. It’s my wedding too.”
“You mean your marriage. The stuff on the registry is for the
home Joey.” Gabriella said, which got Joey thinking about the
house he was building.
“Well, I better get off to the gym and go finish building our house.”
“Joey you can sell the house. We can stay here until your business
picks up.”
“We’ll see.”
“All right. We’ll I made you a cup of coffee to go, and there’s a
bottle of water on the counter for the gym. In the plastic bag is a
bottle of soda for you, to have with the leftovers from last night for
lunch.”
“Oh wonderful. I did love your zucchini. Did I mention that
yesterday?” Joey asked, as he stood to grab all the stuff Gabriella
had laid out for him.
“No.” Gabriella said, with a pouting face.
“Well I meant to.” Joey said, unable to resist how cute Gabriella’s
lips became when she pouted them. Joey gave Gabriella a kiss on
the lips as his way of saying sorry.
“Oh.” Gabriella said, in awe after Joey’s kiss.
“I love you Gabriella.” Joey said, looking into her eyes.

Gabriella started to smile, Joey smiled, Gabriella’s eyes
light up with pure joy, Joey’s eyes light up in happiness.
“I love you too.” Gabriella said, standing to give Joey a goodbye
kiss. Joey became lost in the kiss for a few moments as Gabriella
felt him get excited, and then he pushed away.
“Damn. I got to go.” Joey said, abruptly and then was headed out
the door.

Joey walked in the door after work at seven fifteen, and
quickly found Gabriella in the kitchen.
“I’ve missed you so much.” Joey said, giving Gabriella kisses on
her neck.
“I’ve missed you too, but please wash your hands. I don’t need my
top getting all dirty.” Gabriella said, ruffling Joey's hair so he
wouldn't become offended.

Joey washed up in the sink as Gabriella took her prepared
meal out of the oven. Joey noticed Gabriella had made him
chicken parmigiana with spaghetti.
“All this for me?”
“Yup.”
“You really shouldn’t have.”
“Why? You don’t like chicken parmigiana?”
“Oh it’s my favorite, but still.” Joey said, while Gabriella was
placing their plates on the table.
“Well it’s no big deal. I’d rather cook a big meal, it passes the day
quicker.”
“You had so much to do today.”
“Still.” Gabriella said, remembering how she had grown bored
throughout her day.
“I’m starving. What did you do to occupy your time before me?”
Joey questioned, feeling badly his work called for long hours.
“I don’t know. I went to the beach.” Gabriella said, after thinking
for a moment.

Joey laughed and changed the subject quickly.
“Are we going to register tonight?” Joey asked, while he was
eating fast.
“Joey stop eating so fast. And yes.”
“I can’t help it. You’re a good cook.” Joey said.

Gabriella stood from the table to get Joey more to drink.
She then sat back down. “You don’t have to wait on me hand and
foot, you know?”
“I like to.”
“You really do?”
“I do.”
“Well, okay then.”

When Joey and Gabriella were through eating dinner,
Gabriella stood to do the dishes right away.
“Hey, may I bring the leftovers for work tomorrow?” Joey asked,
being he really enjoyed Gabriella’s cooking.
“If you want. I brought rolls and cold cults today.”
“I’d rather your cooking.” Joey said, grabbing Gabriella by the
sides and then into his arms.

Joey gave Gabriella a long kiss, showing her how much he
missed her all day. “I really did miss you today.”
“I missed you more.” Gabriella said, remembering back to a point
earlier in the day when she felt bored, and simply wanted Joey to
come home.

Gabriella stayed in the kitchen while Joey went upstairs to
take a quick shower. When Gabriella got up to the room, Joey was
in the bathroom doing his hair, styling it as he always did.
Gabriella stared at Joey for a minute while he was coming out of
the bathroom, in disbelief over how handsome he was. She then
sat down to do her makeup quickly as Joey sat and watched in
wonderment, over how fast Gabriella was able to do her makeup.
Gabriella decided to apply top eyeliner tonight, considering Joey
did his hair so nicely. Gabriella stood up when her makeup was all
done.
“You ready?” Joey asked.
“Yup.” Gabriella was pleased to announce.

Joey grabbed Gabriella’s hand, led her out the bedroom,
down the stairs and out the front door. They then got into Joey’s
mustang and headed for the mall.

Gabriella had gone to the mall earlier today because Joey
had suggested so over breakfast. She decided for them to go to the
store where she saw a Lennox vase set and the china set she
wanted to register for.
“Isn’t this place pricey?” Joey asked, looking up at the store
Gabriella was leading him into.
“A little.” Gabriella said, with confidence, sure she wasn’t going
overboard.

Gabriella, with Joey in hand, walked over to the service
desk and inquired what they needed to do to register. The lady set
them up, as a couple, in the computer and gave them both a
scanning device. She briefly instructed Joey and Gabriella on how
to properly use them. The lady then explained what button to press
before you scanned the item, if you wanted multiplies of a
particular item. Gabriella was eager to get started, while Joey was
happy to have a device of his own, feeling like a little kid receiving
a new toy. Gabriella took notice, Joey seemed excited over the
scanning device.
“Would you like to be the one to scan everything?”
“We can share. This thing is quite cool though.”
“Were you paying attention on how to use it?”
“Yes.” Joey said, laughing as Gabriella had made him feel like a
little boy again.
“Well okay.” Gabriella said, then leading Joey over to the china
section. “This is the pattern I saw today. I love it.” Gabriella said,
showing Joey her dream china set.

The set was an off-white color with rose tops and vines
engraved around the brim.
“I like, matches our theme well.” Joey said, then he took a look at
the price. “Woah. Pricey.”
“It’s for display.”
“Ok. You don’t want to use it on holidays and stuff?”
“No. My kitchen dish set is nice enough.”

Gabriella had sat down earlier to pick out her dish set
through a catalog her mother had, being she didn’t like anything in
any of the stores she checked out before she went to the invitation
store.
“So, how many plates?” Joey asked, ready to type in the number
and scan the plates.
“Well, I’m not sure. It really is just for display in a china cabinet.
How big do you think our china cabinet will be?” Gabriella asked,
smililing over the thought of having her own china cabinet.

Joey thought about the dinning room in the house he was
building. It was a mansion after all, he knew the china cabinet
would have to be quite big to fill the room.
“Well. How many chairs do you want at the table?”
“Probably eight.”
“Okay so we’ll get sixteen.” Joey said, figuring their dinning room
table would at least seat ten considering the size of the dinning
room. He also calculated extra china for the family squeezed in by
extra chairs.
“Sixteen?” Gabriella asked, thinking that was way too much.
“Yes. Sixteen.” Joey said, scanning the plate to register sixteen of
dishes.
“Joey, undue that.”
“Why?” Joey asked, sure sixteen was the right amount after he
had envisioned in his head, three long rows to their China Cabinet.
“Well. We also need the little plates to place in front of the big
ones.”
“Okay, so sixteen of those too.” Joey said, then scanning sixteen
of the little plates.
“Fine.” Gabriella said, planning to leave a box of both the little
dishes and the big dishes unopened until they had a china cabinet.
“Oh Gab, look at these.” Joey said, holding up crystal wine
glasses with the same rose print sketched in the glass.

Joey then scanned sixteen of those too. Gabriella knew that
her china set would most likely be the last thing to be bought on
the registry, ‘when it was the only thing left,’ she thought.
“Joey, you do know that whatever we don’t get as a wedding gift
we’re going to have to buy? Right?”

“Yup.” Joey said, already aware of that. “Oh come on Gab. I
have it all set in my head how your going to display the cabinet,
with one cup a big plate and a little plate.”
“Should we get silver spoons and forks to go in this display?”
Gabriella asked, to prove Joey was being ridiculous.
“No. We can buy that in time.” Joey said, even though he wanted
to say yes, but he knew that Gabriella was only being sarcastic.

Gabriella huffed at Joey’s answer and began to walk to
where she spotted the Lennox set she saw earlier. Gabriella turned
around and saw Joey scanning something, she walked back over to
Joey.
“And what are you scanning now?”
“Sixteen bowls.”
“Joey, I don’t need china bowls.” Gabriella proclaimed.

Joey ignored her as he then scanned three different size
serving bowls.
“Sure we do.” Joey said, happily.

Gabriella again walked away from the china section. As
she was walking away, Joey scanned a serving platter also on
display with their print. Gabriella gave him a look to kill, but Joey
knew Gabriella wasn’t mad at him.
“Ok. I’m done.” Joey said, starting to walk where Gabriella was
standing, while she tapped her foot saying ‘I’m waiting.’

Gabriella lead Joey over to the Lennox vases and bowls she
wanted for her living room. She told Joey which ones to scan, and
Joey scanned what he was told.
“I really like these.” Joey admitted, while scanning a small vase.
“I love Lennox.”

After hearing that, Joey took it upon himself to scan a
couple more items in the section. Joey scanned two Lennox angels
in both of their birth months, a Lennox Mickey and Minne Mouse,
and also Whinne the pooh. Joey thought they would go nicely on
display in a nursery.
“Oh really Joey? Do you want people to think we’re getting
married cause I’m pregnant? Why not Tigger Piglet and Eeorye
too.” Gabriella said, cutely as she tickled one of Joey’s sides in the
spot she had found last night.

Joey started to giggle
“All right.” Joey said, happy to scan Tigger, Piglet and Eeorye.
“We can move one set out of the nursery and into another bedroom
and display the second set for our next baby.” Joey said, sharing
his thought out loud.

Gabriella ignored Joey's thought and started walking away
to lead Joey out of the Lennox section before he spotted anything
else he might like. Gabriella was too late walking away. Joey
picked up a box that held a Lennox puppy in a bag.
“We’re buying this one now.”
“Joey, I’m not pregnant.”
“I know. This is for me. Look how cute it is.” Joey said, making
a puppy face of his own.

By the time Joey and Gabriella reached home, they were both
worn out from each of their days. Gabriella put her pajamas on
and washed up for bed right away, as Joey did the same. When
Joey hopped into bed, he held Gabriella tight from behind.
“I really, really missed you today.” He said.

Gabriella didn’t say anything, she was on her side ready to
fall asleep. Joey was a little, more demanding this time. “I want to
make love.” Joey whispered in Gabriella’s ear. Joey’s words gave
Gabriella a tingling feeling so strong, she didn’t have the will to
argue. Joey made love to Gabriella and then held her tight all
through the night.