Pinch Me

Chapter 2

The Next Morning...

Anthony's P.O.V:

When I woke up, I noticed Cara wasn't in bed. She's up already? It's only 8am. I got up and went downstairs to see her cooking breakfast. I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Good morning," she said with a smile.

"Morning," I smiled back and kissed the side of her head. "What are you doing up so early?"

She shrugged. "Go sit down. Breakfast is ready."

I sat down at the table and she put a delicious looking plate of french toast in front of me and her.

"This looks great, babe." I said.

We both started eating.

"So what time are you heading to your mom's?" I asked.

"After breakfast I'm going to shower, get ready, and head over. She wants me to help her decorate the house for Christmas before we go to lunch." she replied.

"Oh okay," I said.

That works out great. It'll give Jess and I a bigger time slot for ring shopping.

"You have any plans while I'm gone?" she asked.

"I might hang out with Anders, but that's about it." I replied, calmly.

She nodded.

We both finished eating breakfast and cleaned up.

"Okay, I'm gonna go shower." she said.

"Mmm, not so fast," I smirked. "I need to shower, too, so might as well join you."

"Well alright then," she giggled.

I scooped her up in my arms, ran upstairs, and we showered.

A little while later, we were both ready for the day.

"What time do you think you'll be back?" I asked her.

"Mm, I don't know. I'll probably just come home after lunch, so maybe like 2:30ish." she replied.

"Okay," I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Oh, no reason. I just didn't want to be gone with Anders too long and leave you home alone all afternoon." I replied, hoping she'd buy it.

"Oh, that's okay. You guys have fun. I'll see you whenever you get home." she said.

Why is she so amazing?

"Have fun with your mom, baby. Tell her I say hi." I said and kissed her.

"I will." she smiled then left.

I pulled out my phone and called Jess.

"Hello?" she asked, as she answered her phone.

"Hey. Cara just left, so I'm ready when you are." I said.

"Okay. You can come in, like, ten minutes. I'm just finishing up." she replied.

"Okay, see you soon." I said then hung up.

Ten minutes later, I left to pick up Jess and we headed to the jeweler to pick out a ring.

"So I think I have a pretty good idea of what she'd like, but I want you to look around first and tell me what you think." I said to Jess.

She nodded and started looking around.

"Have you given any thought to the location part of this?" I asked her.

"I have, actually." she replied.

"And? What do you think?" I questioned.

"While both ideas are super cute and she would love either one, I thought of something different that she might like better. Obviously, ultimately it's up to you, but just thought I'd put it out there as another option." she said.

"I'm all ears," I replied.

"You guys haven't put up your Christmas decorations yet, right?" she asked.

"No, we're doing that on Saturday." I replied.

"Okay, so what I was thinking is you could incorporate it into that by, like, putting the ring on an ornament, so when she picks it up to put it on the tree, she will see it." she said.

Before I could respond, she started talking again.

"Or I was also thinking you could wait until Christmas day. You could wrap it and give it to her as one of her gifts." she said. "I just thought those options are a little bit more intimate than in the city or at the game, but if you like one of those options better she's still going to love it."

"Both of those are really great ideas, also. I honestly don't know which idea I like best. I like them all." I replied.

"Well, then what I think you should do is just play it by ear and go with whatever feels right. If it feels like the right time when we're in the city on Friday, then go for it. If not, wait till Saturday when you're decorating with her and try again then. If that doesn't feel right either, then you know the game is your decision." she said.

"Yeah, I think that's what I'll do. Thanks Jess." I replied.

She smiled at me.

"Would you like to see any of the rings?" the employee asked Jess.

"Um, yeah. Could you pull out these two, please?" she asked.

"Of course," the employee replied.

She pulled out the rings Jess pointed to and set them in front of me.

"You can't go wrong with either of these. She'll love either one." Jess said to me.

"That's so funny. The one on the right is actually one of the ones I liked for her, too." I said.

"Then there's your ring." she replied.

"You want this one?" the employee asked, holding it up.

"Yes please," I replied.

"You got it," the employee said.

The employee rang it up for me, I paid, and we left. A few minutes later, we arrived back at Jess's house.

"Thanks for all your help, Jess. I really appreciate it." I said and hugged her.

"No problem!" she replied. "I'll see you and Cara on Friday for the city."

"See you Friday!" I said.

Jess walked inside and I drove home. I got home in perfect timing, too. It was only about 2:00pm, so I should still have about a half hour before Cara gets home.

"Cara? Babe are you home?" I yelled as I walked in.

I got no response, so I knew she wasn't home yet. I went upstairs and hid the ring in a spot I know Cara would never find it.

A little while later, Cara arrived home.

"Hey babe," I said and kissed her. "How was lunch and decorating with your mom?"

"It was good! We had fun." she replied. "Did you hang out with Anders?"

"Yeah, I just hung out at his and Jess's house for a few hours. I got home not too long ago." I replied, casually.

"Oh nice," she replied.

Cara and I had a pretty chill rest of the day. Something occurred to me, though, while Cara and I were watching Netflix - I want to get her dad's blessing before I propose. Good thing Thanksgiving is in two days, so I won't have to skip over any of the proposal options due to not asking him in time. I'll pull him aside on Thursday and (hopefully) get his blessing.