Chapter 69: Bucket List
Claire stationed herself behind her new desk, blushing in excitement as she set up her laptop and sketchbooks around. Gabriel smiled as she put her glasses on without his usual encouragement. She looked up at him expectantly, with a who rant smile on her face.
Gabriel hesitated but he sat down on the other side of her desk.
Claire started asking him some questions but he just kept repeating 'I don't know'. She wasn't backing down or telling him off for it. Through years of experience, she learnt how to rephrase questions that the other person had to give more thoughtful answers. Even though Gabriel was wary of disclosing his preferences, Claire started to help him open up. She was writing vividly in her sketchbook, even if Gabriel's answers didn't seem relevant, at least to him.
Midnight has passed when Gabriel started to really get involved, explaining his visions, and Claire was nodding and suggesting some solutions on how things might work in practice.
"I think copper lightning might tie in the styles in the dining room," Claire said after some thought.
"Definitely!" Gabriel answered enthusiastically.
"Same goes for the kitchen, but instead of lighting fixtures, copper can be focused on displayed cooking utensils."
"You mean like one of those peg walls?" Gabriel asked curiously.
"Maybe. Or hang them? What's your preference?"
"I think, visually, I prefer the wall fixture. Depends on what you think about the functionality of it."
"Ah yeah, I forgot that you aren't the cooking type." Claire chuckled. "Wall's fine." She turned the page on her previous design, reaching the 'master bedroom'. She paused silently, now realising that when she initially started designing the villa, not knowing that it was their future home, she put in a master bedroom for the couple. "What would you like your bedroom like? At the moment it follows a monochrome colour scheme and leans towards minimalism. Obviously, the question remains where you'd like it within the house. Vastly advises South-West for health and longevity, and discourages South and North-East. Now, for the current palette, I encourage either South or East as they'll make your bedroom seem much warmer. South generally will give you most sunlight, but seeing as you're up early, East facing bedroom might help with your morning routine." Gabriel looked at Claire silently, his thoughts wandering somewhere that he wouldn't admit to her. He bit his lips as if he was worried that the words will escape them. Claire looked back up at him as she didn't receive an answer, quickly noticing that the topic seemed to make him a little nervous. "Please, speak your mind," Claire said with an encouraging smile.
"I rather not," Gabriel said honestly. "My mind just wandered off a little too far."
"We can return to it some other time," Claire said as she flipped the page. "What other rooms do you want?"
Gabriel started listing his suggestions which made Claire smile.
"I thought you wanted a villa, not a mansion."
"We can upgrade to the palace if you wish," Gabriel said half-jokingly.
They carried on discussing the remaining rooms until early morning, as they progressively were yawning more and more. Eventually, Claire fell asleep in her chair, with Gabriel not too far off.
With the last of his strength, Gabriel gently picked Claire up, cradling her in his arms. The last time he cradled her like that was also when she bit him. He smiled at her peaceful face that was buried in his chest, wondering how she can be so vulnerable and fierce at once. He walked into her room, which she barely changed since he worked with the designer on it. He remembered that she wanted a home with warmth, hence he tried to choose colours that had warm undertones. He tried to make it cosy, and homely. He was even more clueless when it came to the study, but he had a wander in the attic whilst she was gone, curious what she did up there for so many hours when she was missing, and he noticed that there was a lot of paintings and bits of furniture tucked away. The ones he picked for the study had the least dust on them, meaning that Claire put enough interest in them to clean them completely.
He gently placed Claire in her bed, taking her glasses off and placing them on the bedside table. The book from him, his favourite, was on the side. Her bookmark was near the end of the book. He opened it to find that beside her bookmark there was a bit of paper with quotes written out. He smiled at it, putting it back as it was. Gabriel tucked her in under the duvet at which Claire smiled in her sleep.
He was tempted to just sit there and watch her sleep, but he felt like it would cross all of her boundaries. Before he left the room he picked her phone up to turn off her morning alarms.
As he was walking out, a broken necklace caught his eye. He picked it up from the sideboard, looking at the fine metal with amusement. He wondered why Claire kept onto it even though it was broken. He hesitated before walking out of her bedroom with it in his hand.
Claire didn't wake up until late morning, startled by the Sun high up in the sky.
She looked around the room, disoriented. She hurriedly grabbed a shower and got dressed, leaving her bedroom in a hurry, as if she expected punishment for her lie in. As she walked downstairs she found Martha snickering away.
"Good morning." Claire welcomed her quickly. "What's the matter?"
"Sir is in the kitchen, ma'am," Martha said with a bow of her head before walking away in the hurry. As Claire walked closer to the kitchen, she heard Gabriel's irritated voice.
"Oh, for f*ck's sake." Gabriel started swearing. Claire walked in cautiously noticing Jonathan snickering into his hand, and then her gaze landed on Gabriel. Gabriel stood in front of the cooker, breaking eggs into the pan. "There must be some easier way of doing this without all of that mess," Gabriel grumbled as the shell shattered and fell into the pan.
"Sir, would you like me to do it?" Jonathan offered - again.
"No, I've said that I'm doing it on my own. If you're planning to stand there and laugh, you can go." Gabriel said with irritation, breaking up another egg into the pan, yolk splattering throughout the pan.
"May I be of assistance?" Claire asked quietly, worried that she'll get an earful too.
"I've tried, ma'am, but he insisted," Jonathan explained quickly.
"Good morning, Claire. Thank you but I'd like to do it myself." Gabriel said decisively.
"I am not going to take over then, but maybe I can guide you?" Claire suggested as she walked up to him. "Jumping into a pool isn't going to make you learn how to swim."
"I don't want you to laugh at my inability to do anything."
"I wasn't going to." Claire scowled at Jonathan who quickly vanished from the kitchen. "Would you like me to show you how to do it or would you rather give you some pointers?"
"I don't know." Gabriel looked defeated.
Claire walked around and stood beside him. She emptied the pan which had several eggs burned into the crisp. She passed one egg to Gabriel and she grabbed one herself. "I would prefer you not to."
"Why?" Claire asked curiously.
"I was trying to make you breakfast," Gabriel said shyly looking at the mess he made.
"What if I make it for you, and you make one for me?" Claire suggested with a smile.
"That seems like an unfair deal."
"Why?" Claire raised her brow. "Let's start from the beginning." Claire picked a second pan for herself. "If you're not confident in flipping an egg but you want a yolk cooked a little, I recommend lowering the temperature to the minimum, putting a knob of butter, and then slowly dealing with the eggs." She passed Gabriel one of the pans and butter. "Now, instead of trying to smash an egg on the edge of the pan to break it, try gently tapping it on the countertop. A blunt surface works better than a sharper edge. You'll have more control over the crack." Claire explained patiently, showing Gabriel what to do step by step. Gabriel sighed, being confident that he'll make a mess again, but he did as Claire said and he succeeded. "A pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper is all you need. And then cover it with a lid so that the steam cooks the yolk." Claire said with a smile. "Give it feels minutes and it's all done." She finished off the egg that she was preparing, placing it on the plate. Gabriel remembered about the bacon he placed under the grill that now was charcoal, swearing a little bit more as the thick smoke spread across the kitchen.
"I'm so sorry." Gabriel apologised quickly, coughing violently.
"No need to. You know, the best thing with a fried egg is a sourdough toast with some butter." Claire decided quickly. Gabriel followed her suggestion. And as soon as that was ready, they both sat down at the dining table.
"It's not quite what I hoped for. I'm sorry." Gabriel still looked down in shame.
"Thank you," Claire said with a smile instead, placing her hand on his forearm. "It's much more than I ever hoped for."
"I'll keep trying," Gabriel promised.
"I can't wait," Claire responded earnestly.
"I thought that you'll laugh at me for being this sh*t at basic life skills."
"No, I would never. Everyone starts somewhere. And besides, I do appreciate breakfast made by my husband." Claire answered with a smile. "Jonathan, however, might hurt you if you walk into the kitchen again."
"He can bugger off. He just stood there and laughed at me."
"I may need to give him some talking to." Claire laughed as she picked up her fried egg toast.
"You're a great teacher."
"I've learnt a thing or two whilst volunteering in the soup kitchen, but also during the outreach programs at uni."
"Outreach programs?"
"We did a lot of events for kids and teens to encourage them to pursue higher education. We tried to show them all of the opportunities that there were. We often did fun activities to spark their curiosity."
"I didn't know."
"Well, my resume doesn't have everything I was ever involved with in it." Claire chuckled. "You might actually get to know me to know everything about me."
"I'm looking forward to it. It's like unravelling the most brilliant mystery." Gabriel smiled. "How does a fried egg taste so good when you make it?" Gabriel asked with amusement.
"It's obviously all the love I've poured into it." Claire joked.
"You must love me very much then," Gabriel replied with a smug smile. Claire momentarily stopped eating and stared at Gabriel in silence. A simple sentence, a tease or a joke, that somehow twinged on her insides, landing heavily in her chest. Could she ever truly love him? "What's your plan for today?" Gabriel changed a topic not noticing Claire's absent face.
"Hmmm…" Claire tried to focus on the question, her mind still miles away into a new rabbit hole. "I wanted to do a bit of prep for Monday as I have a few presentations to make. Then I need to get ready for the banquet."
"Is your dress white, black, or both?" Gabriel asked curiously.
"Why?"
"I'm curious."
"You'll see."
"I was thinking that maybe I should wear all black and you should wear all white," Gabriel suggested.
"I need to hear your logic behind this."
"Together we'd be in black and white. I in black will match my devil status that you previously declared, and you in white will show off your angelic side." Gabriel said seriously.
"You really thought it through." Claire burst into laughter.
"What do you think?"
"That you're being ridiculous."
"Isn't that what couples usually do?"
"How should I know?" Claire shrugged.
"Don't you want to do it?"
"I'm not fussed by it." Claire noticed Gabriel's sudden change in mood. A subtle flash of disappointment. "Okay." Claire nodded realising that Gabriel did seem to want to do it. "I'll wear white."
"Does it mean that you need to change the dress?"
"No." Claire shook her head. Gabriel took his phone out tapping quickly on the screen. Claire raised her eyebrows but hasn't voiced her questions. Gabriel caught her glance and smiled at her.
"It's my bucket list." He explained as he placed his phone to the side.
"You have a bucket list?"
"Yeah, for dating."
"Can I see it?" Claire couldn't hide her intrigue. Gabriel unlocked his phone and passed it to her. Claire scrolled down the list which had a few things ticked off, such as picnic, dancing, and their first kiss. Claire smiled and blushed. There were many more small milestones on the list that almost any normal couple would do. "There are quite a few more things left to do. It seems like we might be busy." Claire gave his phone back. She found it rather endearing but also somehow it still felt alien to think of them as a couple.
"Is there anything you'd like to add to the list? Or maybe you have a list on your own?"
"I do not." Claire chuckled. "I might have to think about it."
"Please do." Gabriel encouraged her. "I don't want to miss out on anything."
Claire chuckled, tidying up her plate and standing up. She pecked Gabriel's cheek before walking away, firstly into the kitchen, then into her new study.
Sometime later a knock disturbed her.
"Come in." She replied automatically. Gabriel walked in whilst holding a phone to his chest.
"Claire, dear, my friends are coming into the city in two weeks. Would you like to meet them?" Gabriel asked softly. "It's fine if not."
"You actually have friends?" Claire asked in disbelief.
"Well, yeah, and I'd like to introduce you to them. We have our little reunion on Saturday in two weeks, when Alex comes into the city. It's three guys." Gabriel quickly explained. "They'd love to meet you. The only warning you might need is that Alex is a little too social and over-the-top friendly. But they are all good men…" he started mumbling nervously.
"I'd love to but I'm not sure if it's a good idea," Claire said anxiously. "What if they don't like me?"
"Well, it's a little too late. I am not returning you." Gabriel joked. "You can always change your mind and if you don't feel comfortable we'll leave straight away. I promise."
"Okay." Claire nodded with hesitation. "I'll come."
"She said she'd come," Gabriel said excitedly into the phone. "I may need to ask you to keep Alex at a distance as he might scare her off." He continued before putting the phone to the side again. "Thanks, Claire dear." He said to her before leaving the study.
Claire was frozen for a moment before returning to her work, and then she worked until it was time for her to start getting ready for the banquet. Yet, she was rather absent-minded. She introduced Gabriel to her friends already, but her meeting his friends seemed like a much bigger deal. How was she to make a good impression on people that she never even heard of? And she didn't know why but she really wanted to make a good impression.
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