Cake: A Love Story (42 page)

Epilogue

Jake

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, shocked. She jumped up and kissed me. This was the reaction I was hoping for. I was a little worried that Casey wouldn’t appreciate having no time to prepare but this was the only way to surprise her and have all the family together in order to make the trip.

If I had to be honest, the vacation was not only a celebration for Casey and all the hard work she’d put into getting her degree. It was also a thank you to our families for all the support and love they had given us the last few months. It hadn’t been an easy road for either of us since I woke up from the coma.

Those weeks in the hospital are a blur to me now. I was transported to my parent’s house after being released. My mom doted on me hand and foot. Usually I wouldn’t have been able to stand such treatment but I was too weak to protest. Casey struggled to complete the semester while spending most of her time in the hospital or at my parent’s house with me. She made the two hour round trip drive nearly every night and stayed the weekends until the winter break mercifully arrived and gave her four weeks off. I was worried about the stress on her but the more I worried about her the more stressed she became.

Two physical therapists alternated treatments for nearly eight hours a day every day. It was truly exhausting but regaining my strength was all I wanted. I hated being dependent on others. One week into Casey’s break, I insisted on moving back to my place against my mom’s strong objections. As grateful as I was to her for all she’d done, I was reaching my breaking point. I was used to being independent and making my own choices. But at home being cared for by my mom, it was like I was back to being the child and I couldn’t take it anymore.

Besides, Casey and I needed alone time. Our relationship had really taken a backseat to my rehabilitation. She’d been more of a nurse than a girlfriend. I wanted to be me again. I wanted Casey and I to get back to the place we were before the shit that crapped down upon our lives happened. And aside from a quick romp in the bathroom at my parent’s house, we hadn’t had sex in a really long time.

Moving home was the push I needed to get my life back together. Interest in me had skyrocketed after nearly dying. An outpouring of support had flowed in from all over the world and once I got home I started back with my music. For a while there in the hospital I worried that I might never regain the fine motor skills necessary to continue on as a musician. It took a lot of hard work to get back into the rhythm of things but I finally felt confident in my abilities again.

As soon as I doing well enough, I started back on social media. I wanted to keep my fans updated on my progress. The response was overwhelming and humbling. My new album came out in the beginning of January debuted at number one. It had been sitting at the top of the charts ever sense.

Casey was at my side through all the craziness. Both of us were ready for her to be done and graduated. She decided to put off getting a job right away. She wanted to travel with me for a while. I had a lot of commitments set for the summer and she wanted to be with me. I secretly hoped that she wouldn’t work at all but it was not my place to say. I would let that decision be up to her.

The chartered private jet whisked the whole McKallister/Caldwell group to a resort in Tahiti where we all got adjoining over-the-water huts. We spent several days laying in the sun and playing in the water and doing various water sports. On our fifth day there, we all took a boat to a private island for a day of sunbathing and barbeque. It was May 30th, one year to the day since Mitch and Kate’s wedding…and one year since Casey and I met. A lot had happened in the past year but it was all worth it to get us to this point in our lives.

I looked over at Mitch. His arm was around his wife who was now four months pregnant. Life just moved forward at lightening speed and if you didn’t get on the ride while you could, you were going to be left behind. That wasn’t going to be me anymore. I was not going to waste time any longer. My past was no longer in control…my future was.

Casey come up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m good. You wanna take a walk down the beach with me?”

“Sure,” she smiled.

I took her hand and we wandered along the water line, not really talking, just enjoying each other’s company.

“Ahh…look,” Casey said. “Someone must be getting married here later.”

She pointed to an arch that was covered in flowers and surrounded by a little white fence.

“Oh yeah,” I commented. “Let’s go take a look.”

We walked up the sand until we came to the fence. I stepped over it.

“Jake. You can’t do that.”

“Why? I’m just looking.”

“There’s a security guard over there,” she whispered as she gestured toward him with her eyes.

“If he says anything we’ll leave. Come on,” I said holding my hand out.

Casey wouldn’t take it. “Jake. No.” She glanced over to the security guard.

“Live a little. What is he going to do?”

Casey hesitated, uncertain what to do.

I sighed. “If he comes over I’ll give him a fifty.”

My hand was still out waiting for hers. Finally she grabbed it and stepped over the fence. I guided her to the arch and we walked under the flowers.

“Oh my God, Jake, this is so pretty,” Casey admired. Then she got a better look at the flowers. “Wait…these are….Gardenias and Stephanotis and Peonies…these are all my favorite flowers…that is crazy! What are the chances?” She smiled as she took in the sight with wonder in her eyes.

After a few seconds she turned to me and said, “Isn’t that crazy?”

“Not so crazy,” I responded.

She looked at me, confused.

I knelt down on one knee.

“What are you…oh my God, Jake…,” Casey gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Tears immediately sprung up in her eyes.

“This is all for you Casey,” I said as I opened my hand to reveal a tiny box with a sparkling 2-carat cushion cut yellow gold diamond engagement ring inside.

Casey looked at the ring, then at me, then back at the ring. She seemed genuinely shocked.

“Will you marry me, Casey Caldwell?” I asked as I slipped the ring on her finger.

Casey was beaming from ear to ear as tears rolled down her cheeks. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Yes. Yes. Of course, yes. I love you.”

We sat in the sand and kissed under the arch of Casey’s favorite flowers. After a couple of minutes we heard cheering back at the BBQ.

“Did they all know what you were planning?” Casey asked, grinning.

“No. Only Kyle and he was sworn to secrecy.”

“Well, they figured it out.”

“A lot quicker than you did? I thought I was going to have to knock you out and drag you under the arch for a minute there.”

“I know. I didn’t want to ruin some girl’s dream day. But that ‘some girl’ turned out to be me!” Casey gushed, her eyes beaming with happiness and love.

I nodded, smiling. Casey wasn’t ‘some girl’ to me. She was my world and my future. We were no longer just Jake and Casey. Today we officially became ‘Cake.’

About the Author

Thank you for taking a chance on a first time author. If you made it to this point, you invested time and patience in this story. As a brand new writer, I really appreciate it. I have been kicking this idea around for a while but only recently decided to try my luck at writing. Although I’m sure I made my share of newbie mistakes, I hope that you still enjoyed reading the story. If you appreciated my earnest effort, I would be grateful for a positive review.

J. Bengtsson is married with three teen/college age kids and lives in Southern California.