Jai
Meg and I sit down in the cafeteria. I've got a slice of chocky cake with a cup of coffee, she's got tea and something she called a daim cake. It looks interesting. It's got the Swedish flag sticking out of it.
I take a bite of my cake. It's good.
"Do you want a bite?" she offers me some of hers.
"Sure," I grin.
She cuts me off a piece and holds it out for me on her fork. I bend forward and take it. I chew it and I'm pleasantly surprised. I think it has toffee and chocky in there.
"I like that one," I tell her.
She grins in reply and sips her tea. I take a sip of my coffee as well. I scoot my chair a bit closer to her and put an arm around her.
She feeds me another bite, giving me what seems to be close to every other one for her. I smile and pull her closer to me.
"So, what's next?" I ask nuzzling with her and kissing her cheek.
She sighs softly.
"We can shop downstairs," she says.
"What's down there?" I inquire.
"We could look at curtains and things like that," she shrugs.
"Alright," I agree.
We finish up and go down there. I let her get whatever she wants—curtains, a few miscellaneous items, an area rug... I add it all to my order for the Michigan shop.
"What about these?" I ask.
"The comforters are okay here but the majority of their bedding is mostly a really low thread count. We may want to order it from somewhere else," she says.
I don't mind so we look a bit more. She does choose some doonas and accessories.
We get to the lighting section and I watch as she looks around. Some are interesting, some weird, others look like a nightmare for collecting dust or cleaning. I'm glad I have someone do mine for me.
"I'm a little lost in here," she admits.
"We can always order more," I shrug. "Are there any that stand out to you?"
"Well, yeah. But I don't really know where I'd put them," she shrugs.
"Okay. Which ones?" I ask.
She shows me a table lamp that's interesting—kind of resembling a tree. It has chrome branches sticking up from the base and spreading out with LED lights on the top.
"Bedroom or lounge room on a bedside cabinet or whatever," I tell her.
She nods and chooses another table lamp.
"Same thing," I shrug.
"I like both of those," she tells me.
I add one of each to our list.
She picks out some simple pendant lights.
"Those could go in the kitchen. We could get three and put them over the island," I suggest.
She smiles at that.
"What about this one?" she asks motioning to a large, unusual one with white flowers. "It's pretty but do you think it would look strange in our home?"
"Where are you thinking? Lounge room or dining room?" I ask. "There are two ceiling fans in the lounge room I want to get rid of and one over the table."
"I don't know. Even though its large, it would kind of get lost in that grand room or people would hit their heads... in the dining room, it would probably be in our faces and take over the whole space," she admits.
"We could put it in the white bedroom if you like it that much. We could put the bed underneath. It might get really dusty and be difficult to deal with, though," I tell her.
"You're right. It is pretty but we won't always be there to clean. I could handle it if we had just one home... but three? Probably not," she replies.
"Yeah, you've got a busier schedule now than me," I admit.
She looks to me and frowns. "I don't know how all this happened," she shrugs.
I laugh lightly. "You took the opportunities presented to you. No worries, love. She'll be right," I tell her rubbing her back.
"How about something more simple and easy to clean?" she suggests.
"Alright, let's decide together," I say.
She smiles at me relieved. I kiss her gently and we pick out lighting we both like—kind of simple ones but nice and appropriate.
I don't think there's much else we need for now other than manchester for the beds and baths. I know we registered for some already but we'll need them straight away for me and any guests that I may have. So, I ask her about manchester.
"What's that?" she asks me confused.
"Linens for the bedroom and for the bath... towels," I clarify.
"Oh, um... we can order some," she shrugs. "You want to look at your house or are we going out for dinner?"
"Whatever you want, love," I grin.
"I kind of want to practice my songs a little on the guitar before I go in tomorrow," she says.
"We could order in or I could cook," I suggest pulling her closer into a hug.
She sighs and wraps her arms around me. She rests her chin gently on my chest and stares up at me lovingly. I decide I don't want to cook today and we're ordering in so I can spend as much time with her as I can. I ask her if that's alright.
"That's fine," she grins up at me.
We quit for the day and walk the remainder of the ground floor shop. She stops several times—looking at frames and pictures, candles and plants. I enter in anything she says she wants to my order. We arrive to a factory-like area with shelves upon shelves up to the roof of boxes. We walk through there quickly. I notice some groceries but she pulls my hand leading me toward the exit.
I grin at her and take her home with me. Traffic is kind of a pain but we make it back eventually.
"Yeah, take out would be better. I'm not up for cooking either after sitting in gridlock that long," Meg says slumping on the lounge. I laugh lightly and join her. I scroll through my apps and choose something for us that I won't feel guilty about having at the gym tomorrow. I order for both of us since she never really cares and I always pick just what she'd want anyway. I offer though, before I hit submit and she tells me that's fine.
"Should I order this, then?" I ask her about the cart from the store we were just at.
She looks it over.
"Oh, I thought you were just making a list. Were we actually buying all that?" she asks me.
"I was planning on it," I tell her seriously.
"You didn't want to look anywhere else?" she inquires.
"These are fine. I like them," I shrug.
"What's our budget?" she questions.
"That total," I laugh.
She chuckles. "I'm serious, though," she says.
"That's significantly less than anything I've ever spent for furnishing a house," I tell her earnestly.
"Are we having them assemble everything, then?" she asks.
"What do you mean?" I question.
"Everything comes disassembled in boxes. You have to put them together or you can pay a fee and they'll do it for you. We'd have to pay for delivery, though," she explains.
I finally realize what that last area was for.
"So, let me add all that on," I mention. That definitely changes the total but its still substantially less than what I've spent before. She's watching as I'm adding everything and filling out the forms.
"Can I ask you a question?" she says hesitantly.
"Of course, love," I tell her.
"Did you want a joint account or are we keeping our finances separate?" she asks me.
I remember what Tom said to me before and it kind of resonates with me now that she's asked the question.
"We don't have to combine them if you'd rather keep it separate," she adds quickly. "I don't mind either way. I know you must make more than me. I don't want you thinking I'm after that or anything. I honestly don't care about that. If you want to combine them we can. And if you want to keep them separate we can do that, too," she shrugs.
I kind of want to keep them separate but I'm honestly finding that hard to tell her that. I stare off thinking of how to explain it to her. There's silence between us for a while and my phone falls asleep.
"How about we keep them separate?" she says. "If you ever want to change that in the future, let me know."
"Alright," I answer quietly. I wake my phone up and I'm about to order everything when she speaks again.
"Are we splitting the cost?" she questions.
"No. I've got this," I tell her.
"Jai?" she whispers. I turn to her. "Are we ever going to share in this kind of thing?"
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Are we... ever going to share the cost of our combined purchases?" she inquires.
"I'll handle this. You got your darkroom equipment," I tell her.
She frowns.
"I don't like that face," I tell her.
I set my phone aside and kiss her cheek. I pull her onto my lap. I hold her for a moment before I pick up my phone and order our new home furnishings. It should be delivered and assembled on the day we arrive.
I ask her about the manchester. She gives me a name of a place her mum likes. We search for it. She picks out several items and I put them all in the cart.
"Can I at least handle those?" she asks me.
"I've got these, too," I tell her.
I go ahead and order them as well. I have them delivered to the house.
The doorbell chimes and she rises. I do so as well and answer it. I tip the driver and come back with the tucker. I sit beside her on the lounge and hand her hers.
"Thank you," she says softly.
"You're welcome, love," I smile.
She forces a smile.
"Everything alright?" I ask concerned.
She nods and opens her container.
"Do you want to pray?" she asks me.
"Sure," I reply.
She prays over our meal and I hold her hand, caressing her soft skin. I sigh as she releases my hand. We eat quietly side by side. When we finish, she takes the trash and tosses it while I go to my bedroom and get out my guitar for her.
I come back to see her on her phone.
"Whatcha doing?" I inquire joining her side on the lounge.
"I'm scheduling a service to pick up my artwork and deliver it home for me," she tells me.
"Alright," I nod.
She sets her phone aside and takes my guitar out of it's case. I watch her tune it and she begins to play something. She starts to sing and I realize I'm getting a special privilege to be the first to hear her perform these songs of hers. I smile at how incredible she sounds. I think she sings the entire song when she stops, but she plays something else, trying a few different times and I actually think she's changing something—or adding something maybe.
When she finally finishes that song, she looks to me. "If there's anything you want to sing with me, just let me know. There was actually a song I thought would be perfect for the two of us..." she says pausing. "But another singer who was recording just before me joined us and actually sang along. They apparently recorded the two of us singing."
"Who's this?" I question intrigued that someone would just jump in.
"Sam Smith," she tells me.
"Oh," I reply surprised.
"You're not worried about that?" she asks looking confused.
"Nah," I shake my head. I heard he's homosexual so I'm not concerned one bit.
She starts to play another song and the styles kind of vary but this one has more of a rock vibe to it. I like it. Her voice is incredible, going from highs to lows easily. She has her own style, too. Her voice can be kind of raw and harsh in a rock song, angelic and sweet in others, strong and powerful, as well as soft and delicate. She has the greatest range and it actually sounds like she can mimic the styles of other artists. It's just incredible.
She plays several more and there are a few I wouldn't mind singing with her. I tell her as she goes through them. She stops and smiles, then encourages me to join her. I attempt to harmonize with her but I'm just struggling to sound well along with her. It's just not coming out how I intended.
"I think you're singing higher than you usually do. Maybe try to take it down a little lower," she says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
She demonstrates where I was singing and then drops the notes down lower singing along with them.
"I think I can do that," I nod.
We practice those notes she just played and it sounds so much better. I smile amazed that she can help me with that. I sing a handful more with her and she's grinning at me.
When she quits for the night, she sets the guitar back in the case and we lounge around together watching pay tv. I hold her and enjoy this moment of peace enveloping her in my embrace.