She looked panicked. “What’s going on with Jake?”

That wasn’t an answer.

“Jake can’t wait to spend time with you.” I threw the phone on the bed. “Who is he?” My blood was boiling.

Allison ran to grab the phone and looked at me in shock. “Cedric…Jake…is my brother!”

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My insides settled and I fell back onto the bed in utter embarrassment. I felt like an ass. “Oh, Shit.” I smacked myself on the head. “Sweetheart, for some reason, I didn’t remember what you said his name was…or that you even said his name at all. I am sorry for overreacting. I thought it was some dude you

met

while

we

were

apart

or

something…who was trying to get in your pants. God, I feel so stupid.” She laughed shaking her head. “You know, you had that coming right…with all the girls I’ve had to witness you with?”

“Come here.” I pulled her onto my lap and held her.

I loved her so much it hurt. And just that taste of jealousy was enough to make me almost go off the deep end. I guess I still had a little psycho left in me after all.

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CHAPTER 40

ALLISON

Three Months

Later

Cosmic bliss is coming your way, and soon Gemini will be the Zodiac's favorite child.

You look and feel better than ever, as the stars are aligned nicely. Soon it will be raining lollipops, and that's a good thing, especially for your sweet tooth.

The volume of the music seemed to fade with the feel of the brisk wind that blew in the door when he walked in and sat in booth number three. It wasn’t just the fact that most gorgeous man I had ever laid eyes 690/727

on came in and ordered a salt bagel with butter and a side of coffee. But this stunning man seemed to be staring at me. I could feel his eyes on me when he thought I might not be looking. From the moment I first noticed him, it was like everything turned from black and white in here to color.

So, this was turning out to be a far from typical Monday because this man, the man I loved was here, and I needed to break the news to him.

“Hi honey…you made it! I see Delores already took your order,” I said as I walked over to his table.

Cedric smiled. “You know what this reminds me of?”

I grinned. “The first time you came here. You sat right here at this table and followed me around with your beautiful eyes. It was love at first sight for me.”

“It was more than that,” he said grabbing my hand. “You owned me from that 691/727

moment. I fucking ran because I was so scared of how you made me feel. I’m still scared of it.”

I bent down to kiss him. “Eat your bagel. I’ll be right back.”

As I tended to the other customers, Cedric alternated between reading the paper and following my every move.

His stunning beauty never gets old.

Every time I met his stare, he would flash his beautiful smile at me and I would melt wondering how I got so lucky.

He would have to get back to work soon, so I asked Max if I could take my break early. I brought Cedric a piece of coconut pie from the kitchen and dressed it with a huge dollop of whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.

“Ah, I get the whipped cream and cherry this time…I am officially off your shit list…nice!” he joked.

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“Yes, honey, you are,” I said planting my lips on his, wanting the world to know he was mine.

Cedric dug into the pie and fed me every other bite as I sat next to him in the booth. He stuck his finger into the whipped cream and dabbed it on my nose, licking it off and we both laughed.

The past few months with Cedric have been the best of my life. We were inseparable and had talked about maybe moving in together.

I was also back working with Callie two days a week and had given my two weeks notice at the diner to accept full-time hours at Bright Horizons as part of a program where they would also pay part of my tuition to return to Simmons College so long as I agreed to work for them for a minimum of three years post-graduation. I was supposed to be going back in January to start a masters degree program in Applied Behavioral 693/727

Analysis, a specialized therapy for kids with autism.

During Thanksgiving, Cedric accompanied me back to Illinois where we spent the holiday with Ed and Elaine and took a day trip to the city to finally meet my birth mother. Vanessa was only forty-five and looked more like my sister than my mother.

Things were cordial, but I couldn’t say I felt the same immediate bond with her as I did with Ed. Vanessa was a good person, but it would take more than a short trip to get to know her and trust her.

Jake, on the other hand, was a different story. My brother and I had developed a real relationship over the past months through emails, texts and Skype. Even though Jake had a rough exterior with piercings and tattooed covered arms, he was actually quite bright and a straight A student.

He would be applying for colleges soon and wanted to major in engineering. We were 694/727

planning to fly him out here for Christmas and he was thinking of looking at colleges in Boston, like Northeastern. The thought of possibly having my brother here warmed my heart.

So, everything seemed to be going my way lately, until earlier this morning. That’s what I needed to talk to Cedric about. Maybe I would wait until tonight when we got home. I didn’t want to ruin his pie.

“Sweetie, I have to get back to the office,” he said.

“Okay.” I sulked.

Cedric kissed my forehead. “Can you get the bill?”

I shook my head. “It’s on the house.”

“No, I insist. Get me the bill. I’m going to hit the bathroom, just leave it on the table.”

“Okay.”

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I walked over to the cash register and wrote up the bill charging him for the bagel and coffee, but not the pie.

When I got back to booth number three, Cedric was still in the bathroom.

On the table was a crisp lone fifty-dollar bill. I laughed as I realized the joke Cedric was playing on me giving me the same tip he did on that first day.

As I took the money, I noticed the words ‘I Love You…Turn Over’ were written on the front. My heart flipped and tears started to form when I saw the words ‘ Will You Marry Me?’ written on the back.

I covered my mouth with my hands and turned around toward the bathroom.

Cedric was walking toward me slowly and landed right in front of me on his knees. His eyes were filled with more love than I could ever hope for and one tear streamed down his cheek.

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As I looked around, I noticed that Max, Delores and Mr. Short, all had smiles on their faces and I was pretty sure they were in on this the whole time.

Cedric grabbed my hand and kissed it.

“Allison Ophelia Abraham, you are the single most precious thing to me in this entire world. If someone had told me last year, when I first laid eyes on you here at this diner, that you would end up loving me half as much as I loved you from that first moment, I would have thought they were crazy.

Something deep inside me then told me that you were my future, even if there were going to be many obstacles to get there. When I look at you today, I see everything I have ever wanted. I see my unborn children. I see the person I am going to grow old with. I’ll love you till the day I die. Will you marry me?”

I stood in shock with my hand over my mouth as Cedric opened a blue Tiffany 697/727

box, showcasing a beautiful princess cut diamond.

“Princess cut, two carats…I hear this is what women like,” he said.

“Oh Cedric…it’s…it’s beautiful,” I sobbed. “I love you…so much.”

“So, sweetheart…will you be my wife…what do you say?”

Cedric stood up and held me as I started balling.