Me & My Man - Part 13

I'm so confused.

Then it hits me. I look at Mr. Wonderful. Our eyes meet, and I say in a sing-song voice, "There's a surprise for me inside, isn't there?! You have something special planned in the house for our monthversary, don't you?!" Mr. Wonderful looks down at the grass, then back up at me, and the slightest of grins spreads across his lips...

Part 13: More Surprises

Without saying a word, Mr. Wonderful takes me by the hand and leads me towards the house. He unlocks the door, steps aside and with his hand in the small of my back slowly ushers me inside. There are rose petals on the ground leading from the doorway into the living room. The house which has sat empty for a couple of months now contains a table with chairs, a couch, and a TV.

The table is covered with a linen table cloth, a floral center piece, and candles flickering in the dim room. I turn to look at Mr. Wonderful and throw my arms around his neck.

"You did all this for me?! You've been out of town for over a week, yet you rush back to surprise me like this for our 36th monthversary?!"

We stood there holding each other with smiles that reached from our lips up to our eyes, and then we kissed. This man is too much!

He looks down at me and asks sweetly, with a slight laugh in his voice, "Are you hungry? Would it be ok if we eat here?" All I can do is laugh. This man has rendered me speechless yet again!

He leads me over to the table where there are two place settings and two covered plates. Always the gentleman, Mr. Wonderful pulls a chair out for me, waits for me to get settled, and then takes the seat across the small intimate table. He gently reaches for my hand and then blesses our food. As he lifts his head, he picks up both of the plate covers to reveal two china plates with ceasar salads. It only takes me a couple of bites to recognize something special about this ceasar salad. It tastes exactly like the salad from...

Mr. Wonderful interupts my thoughts, "Do you recognize something?"

Dang! How come this man can always read my mind?!

"I think I do," I reply. We both coyly smile but neither of us finishes the thought.

We continue to eat and start catching up on the events of our last week apart. Mr. Wonderful tells me all about his trip to Indiana and the family that he visited. We laugh at the funny stories about his grandpa. Once we finished our salads, Mr. Wonderful takes both of our plates to the kitchen, and returns with two bigger china plates. He sets them down at each of our places, and I immediately see and smell my favorite tortellini pasta dish.

"I knew it!" I exclaim. "It's from Cafe Capri, isn't it?!"

Mr. Wonderful just smiles. Cafe Capri is one of our favorite restaurants in Bryan. We had been there a few times before for special occassions, but mostly just when our parents came to visit and picked up the dinner tab! :)

"Wait." It hits me. "How did you do this? Today is Sunday. Cafe Capri is closed on Sundays!"

Mr. Wonderful tells me how he decided a couple of days ago that he didn't want to just take me out to some restaurant to celebrate. Instead he wanted to have a private dinner at home. From Indiana he called Cafe Capri and coordinated with the owner to have our dinner ready for pick-up on Saturday. They kept everything separated (the dressing from the salad, the sauce from the pasta, etc.), so that it would still be good for us the next day. Then Mr. Wonderful asked our friend Karley to go pick-up the food and store it overnight. He had been by her house earlier that morning to get everything.

As we enjoyed our delicious Cajun Tortellini, I began asking Mr. Wonderful lots of questions. The house was empty this summer, so how did all the furniture get to the house? His roommates had loaded up their trucks and helped move it in. How did he get all the furniture here and have time to decorate if he had just drove into town a few hours ago? He hadn't just come in town a few hours ago. He'd been here since late last night. And his parents drove in that morning to help as well.

I can't believe it! As I sat there processing all the details, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, he did all this because he was going to propose to me today. My heart lept at the thought. Proposal...ring...getting married...the rest of my life...with Mr. Wonderful!! But as quickly as I thought it, I told myself to let it go. I recalled all the effort that Mr. Wonderful had put into the day, and I didn't want to feel let down at the end if he didn't propose. That would not be fair to him. Plus, I reminded myself, Mr. Wonderful had always put forth a lot of effort for our special monthversaries. And so, miraculously, I never thought about it again.

We enjoyed our pasta, and then ended the meal by splitting a delicious piece of Cafe Capri homemade cheesecake. Oh, the food was so good! So was the conversation. We talked and laughed, and just enjoyed being with each other again.

After our meal, Mr. Wonderful told me that he rented the movie Ocean's Eleven. I thought I had seen a Blockbuster VHS box near the TV. I was excited to see the movie, but truth be told, I was mostly excited to just curl up on the couch next to my man. He told me to go over and get comfortable. He wanted me to watch the previews (I LOVE movie previews!) while he rinsed the dishes quick in the kitchen.

I got settled on the couch with my legs curled underneath me while Mr. Wonderful slipped the video into the VCR and pressed play. He left the room, heading to the back of the house and disappeared into the kitchen.

I sat staring at the TV waiting for the movie previews to start. But as soon as the picture came up on the screen it was clear - this movie is not Ocean's Eleven...