A Curve Ball Called Love

“You like it?”

She smiled. For a long time, he had this messy, tousled look kind of like a rock star. Tiffany had actually grown to like it but the new haircut was simply perfect. A low fade with a side part: it was mature and sexy at the same time. She was having a hard time keeping her hands to herself.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “It’s perfect.”

 Douglas let his hand slip to her tummy and looked into her eyes. “We’re growing, huh?”

“Yeah, a little too fast if you ask me. I don’t want to melon out before my third trimester,” she said and he laughed.

“I already told you. You only feel that way because you keep trying to fit into your old clothes. These new ones are just as sexy… trust me, mama. You’ve never looked more beautiful,” he said in a soft voice before they headed out to the party.

***

The party was exactly what the Entity staff needed. There were sandwiches, wings, barbecue skewers and for drinks, there virgin cocktails, bottles of sauvignon blanc and for that extra sports bar mood, beers on tap. The music was courtesy of the Entity house DJ, the same guy they took on road shows. Tiffany couldn’t help but notice how much the place resembled a club. For a moment there, the bull pen looked like the one from The Wolf Of Wall Street. The only difference was that there were no call girls present.

“This is wild,” she said as Douglas led her into the party.

“Yeah, I guess the guys down at HR thought that we needed something like this to get the sticks out of our asses,” Douglas said as he took two glasses of virgin cocktails.

“You’re not drinking?” she asked and he shook his head.

“I’m looking out for two people now. I need to keep a clear head.”

“Come on, live a little. Have a glass of wine or something,” she urged him on.

“I can have a glass of wine at home,” he said as he slipped an arm around her waist. “Also, I am a better dancer when I can still move around without tripping over my feet.”

Tiffany smiled and took a sip of her mocktail. She looked around and spotted Virginia at a corner sipping on a glass of wine. She and Virginia had not really talked since the news of her relationship with Douglas went public and she was not so sure if she had to explain herself to her boss. So, Tiffany had resorted to doing the only thing that made sense. She kept a respectable distance from her boss. She smiled when Virginia raised her glass and she did the same.

She’d just picked up a barbecue skewer when Douglas excused himself and walked to DJ station. She did not really pay any attention to him until the music suddenly went off and his voice came on the PA system.

“What the hell…” she wondered as she looked up.

“Excuse me… pardon me for cutting your party short but I have something I need to get off my chest,” Douglas started.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tiffany asked even though he could not hear her from where he was.

“My name is Douglas Ingram and I have been part of this family for the better part of the year and it is in that time I met the woman who I fell in love with,” Douglas said.

A hushed murmur was heard throughout the room as he began walking towards Tiffany.

“At first she kept me on my toes and with good reason, I was nothing but a spoiled brat back then but Tiffany Meyers in the few months I have had you in my life, I have grown more than I ever have in my thirty plus years.”

By that time, he was standing in front of her.

“I know that you’ve always said that your work is your life which makes everyone here your family. So, there’s no better place or moment to ask this of the future mother of my child,” he got down on his knee and pulled out a ring box from his inside jacket pocket. “You’re the piece of the puzzle I didn’t even know I was missing. You’re what completes me. You’re simply, the best thing that has ever happened to me. Tiffany Giselle Meyers, will you marry me?” he asked as he opened the small, black velvet case.