Page 65 - In Five Years

Chapter Ten

“David, we need to get married.”
It’s the following Friday, and David and I are on the couch trying to decide
what to order for dinner. It’s past 10 p.m. We had a reservation for two hours

ago, but one of us had to work later and then the other decided to do the same.
We got home ten minutes ago and collapsed jointly onto the sofa.
“Now?” David asks. He takes his glasses off and looks around. He never uses

the bottom of his T-shirt because he thinks it smudges the lenses more. He makes
a move to get up and go in search of a cleaner when I grab his hand.
“No. I’m serious.”

“Me, too.”
David sits back down. “Dannie, I’ve asked you before to set a date. We’ve
talked about it. You never think it’s the right time.”

“That’s not fair,” I say. “We’ve both felt that way.”
David sighs. “Do you really want to talk about this?”

I nod.
“Life has been busy, yes. But it’s not true to say postponing things has come
from us equally. I’ve been okay with waiting, because it’s what you want.”
David has been patient. We’ve never spoken about it, not in so many words,

but I know he’s wondered, Why hasn’t it happened? Why do we never talk about
it, not in specifics? Life got busy, and it was easy for me to pretend he didn’t

think about it a lot, and maybe he didn’t. David has always been fine with my
being in the driver’s seat when it comes to our relationship. He knows it’s where
I feel comfortable, and he’s happy to let me have it. It’s one of the reasons we
work so well.