Chapter 003
There’s something so exciting about firsts: the first time he looks into your eyes and makes your heart race, the first kiss that leaves your head spinning and your lungs gasping for air, and the first love that you can finally see forever with. That’s what Joe and Rachel were to each other. She couldn’t imagine how she got through life before him, and he couldn’t see his future without her. “Guess what I did today?” Joe asked one August afternoon.
“I hate playing this game,” she groaned. Ten months together and she still knuckled the phone like there was no tomorrow every time he called. People had told her this feeling would fade, but she’d proved them wrong. She’d never been so in love. “You always do such amazing things, and the coolest thing I did today was make a sandwich from a fresh jar of peanut butter.”
Joe’s voice had a hint of excitement. “But you love that! First scoop’s always the best….”
“That’s beside the point!” She frowned and flipped the television off from her seat on the couch. “What did you do today?”
His voice was hushed, just above a whisper. “I sent you something.”
Rachel’s attention was peaked. This was an added perk to dating a traveling musician; he’d give her the best little gifts from all of his adventures. Joe was out doing something he loved, she couldn’t blame him for that, but Rachel would trade back all of the gifts, the snow globes, magnets, t-shirts, baseball hats, everything if it meant she could be with him every day. “What did you send me, sir?”
“You didn’t get it?”
Rachel furrowed her brow. “Didn’t you just send it? My faith in snail mail is pretty low.” There was a dead silence on the line. The sweltering summer day had kept her holed up in the air-conditioned apartment all day and there’d been no ringing of the doorbell; no indication that anything had arrived. “Is it a letter? I can go out and check the mail.”
He sighed. “It’s bigger than a letter. You’re sure it’s not there?”
“Positive, but I’ll check just to appease you.” She chose to leave out the “and I know you won’t stop whining until I look,” part. To say Joe was persistent would be an understatement. Joe got his way in most situations, and even thousands of miles away he still had a strange power over her.
Stomping toward the garage door, she peeked outside. Nothing. “Try the front door.” This was even less likely. Rachel had a direct view of the front door from the couch; no one had brought anything. As she threw open the door, her jaw dropped and the phone nearly fell from her hands. There was his car, parked in her driveway.
She sprung from the front steps, racing the few feet that would bring her to him. As Rachel approached the front door of the car, a frown was cast onto her face. It was empty. “Where are you?” she asked, her heart pounding in her throat.
“I’m right here!” She spun around. No, he certainly was not right there. Searching through the interior of the vehicle, she still could not find him. It wouldn’t be unlike Joe to jump out from the bushes, so she carefully crept around the yard, looking in every nook and cranny.
“If you don’t come out,” she challenged, “I will shut myself into the apartment and never come out. And when rumors start circulating that you are dating a recluse, I will not deny it.”
Joe laughed; it was killing her to know he was so close yet she couldn’t find him. “I’m right here, honestly!”
“Fine,” Rachel puffed, stomping back up the steps. The heat and frustration were getting to her, as evidenced by the little beads of sweat forming on her brow. As she slammed the front door, Rachel saw him out of the corner of her eye. Dressed in his dark denim jeans and his red polo, her favorite outfit of his, he stood with a bouquet of lilies and a smile swept across his face.
She didn’t run to him, she sprinted and plowed into his open arms. Tears clung to the corners of her eyes. It had been too long. “Whoa, I take it you missed me?”
“Missed doesn’t even begin to cover it. How did you…?” It didn’t even matter. She didn’t care how he snuck into the house, just that he was here with her now. “How long are you in town, or better yet why are you in town?”
Joe still held her tightly in his arms, the familiarity of this feeling pushing all other thoughts from his mind. This is when he was happiest; this was what he lived for. “I convinced everyone to stop off here for the night, instead of in Chicago. We’re due in New York in the morning, so we’re just going to drive through Canada instead. I couldn’t not see my girl before the world tour starts.”
The World Tour. Those three words broke her heart every time. Those three words meant months apart and limited phone calls. Rachel understood life on the road would be busy, she’d been dealing with it long enough, but it was bound to get complicated with all of the international time zones. She was a college student; she couldn’t afford to stay up all night waiting for a phone call from Luxembourg or Switzerland. Her parents barely understood how she put herself through so much agony, dating someone she never saw, but they’d never understand if her grades began to fail because of it. They wouldn’t let that happen.
Now was a time where Rachel could choose to be emotional, or push aside all her feelings of despair and simply enjoy the company of the one person who could sweep her off her feet. She could cry later. “So, I’ve got you for one night hmm…. Oh the possibilities.” Rachel offered a sly wink and placed a delicate kiss on his lips.
Joe smiled. Of all the things he loved, he loved the way she looked at him. “My family would really love to see you again. Are you okay with having dinner with them?”
“I’d love to.” Rachel adored the Jonas’. It was unique to see the way they supported one another and had really created a life out of being a family. And gradually, she had become part of this family. It was one of the most rewarding things she’d ever experienced. “Let me grab my purse and we can go.”
She held his hand the entire ride to the hotel. Whenever Rachel was with him, she felt like she was twelve years old again. Her heart raced and the breath caught in her throat. Joe, in every essence, completed her and she felt blessed to have found a love so real, so young. Joe was her everything, her forever. And nothing would ever change that.
