Fan Fiction ❯ Eve's Garden ❯ Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Things continued as they had for the first couple of months, except that now Eve and Michael found that they had a carnal appetite that couldn't be satiated. Eve would wake to find Michael watching her sleep and find that she couldn't keep her hands off of him. Instead of taking him lunch on her days off, Eve and Michael would slip away for trysts in the cotton fields. Some nights, dinner would be cold or forgotten entirely in their zeal. And both had played hooky from work on an occasion or two when the night before had either run too long or not ended at all, leaving them too exhausted for work.

Diane walked in on them on more than one occasion. She was so disgusted with their constant coupling that the pair staged a ruse, moaning loudly enough to put any X-rated film to shame, while not actually performing the act, for the pure sake of teasing Diane. They burst into laughter when they heard her turn her radio up louder, then ran into her room, admitting their deception, and took her out to dinner to apologize for having been so self absorbed as of late.

Michael took Eve to his seaside town again, to the same room with the same romantic view and the same whirlpool tub, but they found that they had no time to walk on the beach, watch the sun set or go fishing.

Eve kidnapped Michael from work again, taking him back to the same look out point. This time they skipped the gourmet dinner and went straight to dessert, eating whipped cream off of each others bodies. Sticky and naked, they danced to the soft, romantic music with the stars shining in the heavens above and the lights of the town twinkling like stars below.

It was the sixteenth of August and the summer was almost to an end. Soon it would be time for Eve to return to classes, leaving her with even less free time to spend with Michael. She and Michael decided to celebrate the last of the freedom afforded by the beautiful outdoor weather by going camping in the mountains.

They drove for two hours to a secluded spot near a creek and unpacked the back of Michael's truck. Michael instructed Eve on the finer points of erecting a tent and Eve taught Michael how to make edible food on an open fire. The two gathered wood, washed dishes in the creek, made faces at the smell left on their hands after scaling two trout they had caught, and forgot all about the day to day stresses of life in the town they had left behind. At night, under the stars, with the crickets chirping and frogs croaking, Michael held Eve close to him. Eve absently played with a button on Michael's shirt. Her hair was made copper by the firelight and it fell in waves around her face as she lay with her head on his chest while they whispered about the future.

"Diane was telling the truth," Michael said, running his fingers through Eve's hair, "when she said I'm the settling down type. I want a family. A wife, kids, the whole shebang."

"Hmm," Eve murmured into his shirt, a sound that reminded Michael of a contented kitten's purr, "That sounds nice. Three or four kids, a little house with a white picket fence and a garden, a cat and a dog? Science projects, PTA meetings, field trips, brown lunches, slumber parties, tree houses, tricycles and scraped knees? Proms and college and weddings? Maybe two boys and a girl?"

"Yes. Perfect."

"You know what?"

"Hmm?"

"You are amazing. Beautiful. Sexy. Smart. A fantastic cook. Spontaneous and adventurous. You're everything I have ever dreamed for."

"Oh, Michael," Eve gushed, "Do you want to know something? You bring out the best in me. I've always been uptight, nervous, self conscious, unsure of myself, uncertain that I even deserved to be loved. I've always been afraid to make mistakes, afraid of disappointing someone. You make me feel beautiful and sexy. You're smart too; you give me someone to bounce all of these crazy ideas in my head off of. And as for my cooking, well, you're easy to please," Eve laughed, "But seriously, until I met you, I had such rotten luck with men. The guys I had been with used me one way or another. And in their defense, I let them. I had no respect for myself, either, I just didn't want to be alone. You make me feel like I can do anything. I see myself through your eyes and I realize I never knew who I was until now. I'll admit I never dreamed of you. Because I know that if I had, I would have wished it away for fear of never meeting someone like you, for fear of living in disappointment my whole life. You're everything I never found the courage to dream for," she said. And, with every fiber of her being, she meant it.

Eve and Michael went to more baseball games, more movies, and had more picnics. He made her breakfast in bed again. This time the eggs weren't runny and the toast was just right. She made him dinner again. This time the polenta was perfect and the veal was tender. Michael wrote poetry for Eve and left it on her car for her to find when she got off of work. Eve read the book aloud to Michael while the lay in bed listening to a summer rain shower cleanse the earth outside. For the first time in her life, Eve felt like a princess, pampered and adored. For the first time in her life, Eve felt truly happy, loved just as she was, with no questions, no games, no pretense, no expectations. Michael picked more roses and sent more lilies .