Here is a new chapter hope you enjoy it!
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It was the day that I had been dreading, the last day here in Paris. That morning I thought of the night before the kiss that James stole from me. He took me by surprise. Our bags were all packed up and set next to the door. We only have a couple of hours left before we have to head out to the airport. Before leaving the airport we made a couple of pit stops near the hotel to buy a couple of souvenirs. There were a couple of cute shops near where they sold souvenirs and desserts. I got myself a box of chocolates, a couple of bags of the delicious coffee beans, a black beret, and a couple of postcards with the landmarks in Paris. We went back to the hotel where our suitcases are in the SUV waiting in front of the hotel. Twe started the drive but instead of going to the route to the airport we had a detour.
We were going around the city, "where are we going James? We are going to miss our flight!" In all honestly I didn't really care if we missed our flight. Another couple of days away from reality and responsibilities would be okay with me.
"Don't worry about it. I have it all under control. We could spare a moment. I have something planned."
The SUV parked near a bridge. I remember the day I came by myself sightseeing when I took the boat ride. James got out of the SUV. He walked over to my side of the SUV opening the door. He adjusted his coat and held his hand out. My warm hand glided into his hand. With the other hand I wrapped my scarf over my neck. The icy breeze engulfed me. My blood rushed to my ears. I adjusted my hair to cover my ears. As we got closer I noticed the bridge had locks. They were different shapes and colors. Thousand upon thousands of locks hanging on the bridge.
"James STOP! Tell me where you are taking me?" I stopped on my tracks.
He stopped and faced me. "Look over there at the bridge." He nodded his head towards the bridge. "It's the love lock bridge. Or as Google properly corrects me. It is the Pont des Arts. I know it wasn't the best honeymoon I could have given you but I would like to leave something here... maybe we can come back to look for it if this relationship does work out. So before we leave, let's leave a lock."
My heart warmed up. This has to be one of the sweetest things that he has done so far. It gave me a tiny amount of hope that our relationship can work.
"OH! But we don't have a lock. Do you really think that this relationship can work. This bridge has a lot of locks for people who are in love." It's true! It's for people who are in love.
We are far from being in love.
Well true love to be exact.
"There are probably many who didn't work out and theirs are still here. There are probably some that are in the same situation being arranged from people all over the world. If we work out we can tell our children that we left a lock and took a leap of faith." He kindly smiled. He was melting my heart. I could kiss him right now. "Come on let's find a spot for our lock."
We found the perfect spot to secure our lock. It was in the middle of the bridge next to a bright yellow heart shaped lock. I held the lock in my hand to read the text. I couldn't read it. The names have rusted off over the years.
"So where is this lock that we are going to add to the bridge?"
James dug into his inside black coat pocket and took out a red copper color heart shaped lock with a skeleton key to match. He was serious about this lock.
"Are you serious?" I asked and I held on the bridge.
"Look at it." He handed me the lock. I turn it over and it has engraved Alice and James on the top and Arranged Marriage on the bottom with the wedding date. My heart burst.
"This is nice. When did you have time to do this? We weren't on the best terms throught this trip." I let out a laugh.
"I know people. I eventually had to do the right thing between us." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't want to leave Paris on a sour note." He took the key lock and unlocked it. He handed it to me and hooked it in place.
"There we have a part of us in Paris." He smoothly warped an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head. I leaned my head on his chest. He handed me the key. "Throw out the key out to the river." I did as told and threw it to the river. "Ready to go?" He let go of me.
"No, but I had a good time here." He took my hand and we walked back together to the car. We passed the Eiffel Tower for one last time and burned it in my memory forever.
One day I will be back.
✵
Home sweet home. I felt so jet lagged with the time difference. Why is it when flying in an airplane drains all the energy out of a person. The day has just started while in Paris it would have just ended. The taxi dropped off at our home. When I waited for James to take out suitcases to the door I received a text from grandma marylin. In her text message it said that our parents think that we will come back in two more days giving us some days to relax before they bombard us with what our honeymoon was like. I put on my phone jean pocket while I waited for James. He was digging for the house keys.
"Mrs. Jamerson."
He opened the door for me.
"Mr.Jamerson," I smiled.
I walked into the living room and kitchen when I halted in my tracks. James was right behind me when his chest crashed to my back.
"What the?" He looked up and saw why I stopped. The living room and kitchen were full of wedding presents and my presents from the bridal shower. We halted in our tracks. That's a lot of unwrap.
"Whoa. Well look at this." James said as he moved a gift to the side and sat on the sofa.
"This is a lot of presents." I walked over sitting on the opposite side of the sofa, peaking through the wrapping paper. "Are you up to this?"
The rest of the day since we got home we took turns opening the present. Most of the presents were the usual cooking stuff, glasses and plates, pretty usual wedding gifts. Others were home decoration, but there were some questionable choices of a gift. I open a long rectangle box with dark green wrapping paper and a grey bow on it. As I opened the gift, it was garden gnomes, a wedding couple in fact.
"Well this is interesting." I tilted my head as James turned around to look at it.
"My Aunt Rachel. She is obsessed with those things. She can talk about them all day if she can. You should see her garden. It is pretty impressive with all of those millions of gnomes there are." He laughed. I could just imagine a large garden with garden gnomes everywhere in different shapes and sizes.
With the days leading up to the wedding I didn't have time to open the bridal shower gift. After I took a break and cleaned up some of the wrappers on the floor I went to battle the gifts that I got to my bridal shower. As I opened the first gift it was lingerie. Many of them were cute lace bras and panties. As I looked at how much lingerie I got I started to feel hotness overcome my cheeks. Embarrassment. I don't think this was a good idea to open them right here. Well not in front of him. He was in the kitchen fixing himself a snack. He wasn't paying any attention to me. In an empty bag I threw everything in there.
"You should try them on for me." He playfully said as he took a seat across from me. I held in to his stare for a second before I got nervous. "Come one wifey give me a Victoria Secret runway show." He pulled his lower lip into his mouth biting down.
"In your dreams." I rolled my eyes. "There is no way that you are going to see me in these anytime soon."
"So there is a time that I will see them on you. You know dreams do come true. Just as any Disney princess says in the movies." He winked. He must have seen the movie millions of times if he remembers the line from a Disney princess movie.
I went on to the next gift. I received lotions and oils. Odd but okay I guess. I opened one of the oils and dabbed a little on my hand rubbing on my knuckles and the top of my hands. It smelled really good like hot like cinnamon, very spicy. Reminded me of the fall season. As I finished rubbing over my hand I felt a tingling sensation over my hands.
What did I just do?
"What is this?" I looked at the red bottle and read the description of what this is for. Looking over it stated it was. I read out loud, "This oil is perfect during your sexy time with your significant partner. The scent and slight tingle are very heightening to the senses. Use this when starting the role play!" I could handle the sensation. I need this off of me.
James starts to laugh. "What is happening to you?" He saw it in my face that I was uncomfortable.
I quickly got off of the sofa and ran into the kitchen washing the oil off of my hand.
"That oil, the sensation on my skin!"
He laughed. "You should have read the description before putting the oil on your skin. They are used to massaging one another. They feel good when you know. Having fun."
"Well I thought it was just a regular when you go to a spa and get a massage. And those oils don't have this kind of sensation."
"Well now you know that there are other types of oils. And these can get you in the mood much quicker," he grins, closing his eyes. He must be remembering some past quarrel with one of his little lovers.
I dried off my hands and walked back to the living room.
"You know what. From now on you are going to be called Mrs. Jamerson from now on in public."
"Yes I know. You have been reminding me since we got married."
"I think I am going to tell my friends about us."
"What! Why?"
"Well I don't want them to get the wrong impression that you are using me. I don't want my friends to find out about you cheating on me and me trying to act shocked. You know."
He understood. "Well if you are telling your friends I have to tell mine."
"Go for it. You know the night they brought you the night you were blackout drunk. They asked me if I was pregnant."
He chuckled.
As we finished up opening our gifts and cleaned up the mess we ordered chinese food and sit over in the living room and watched our favorite show. Yes, our favorite show. We both have an interest in American Horror Story. At least we have something in common and don't have to fight over what we want to watch. I thought that I could get used to this. If we are civil with each other.
I think we can be good friends.
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-XO