Chapter 9：Off to the future

In the park Marie and Vale walk holding hands as they talk and laugh together. Anyone who saw them from a distance could clearly see their affection for one another. Once at the fountain Marie and Vale sat together on one of the benches and Marie puts her head on Vale's shoulder.

"Can you believe if my sister had never brought me to that party to play Cupid, we never would have met?" She watches the fountain dance in the moonlight.

"Maybe Cupid was there." Vale whispers.

"Hm." Marie smiles as they hold hands and watch the fountain.

Marie is surprised by him and she put her hand over her mouth. "Yes." She whispers and Vale places a beautiful heart shaped ruby on her finger. She looks at it in surprise and starts to cry. "When did you do this?!"

"Last night." He smiles.

"Wow" she gives him a kiss.

They sit at the fountain for a long while before heading back to the apartment. Before they go Marie takes a picture withVale showing her ring in front of the fountain.

When they arrive to the apartment she texts Gen the picture, which is immediately answered by a phone call. Marie laughs as she shows Vale and answers.

"Nooooooo wayyyy!" Gen screeches.

"Yes way." Marie laughs.

"When?"

"Just now at the park."

"I'm so happy for you!" Genevieve now sounds like she is crying.

Marie waits a bit before speaking again. "Sis, why are you crying?"

"I don't know. I'm just happy!"

Marie smiles. "How are you doing?"

"I've been pretty emotional but other than that I am fine. The baby is doing good the doctor said!"

"You need anything call me."

"I will."

"Ok, I have to go get some sleep. Tomorrow is my last day of work. I'll call you when I get settled in." Marie is trying not to yawn.

"Ok sis. Love you!"

"Love you too"

Vale is busy with his work while Marie talks with her sister. When he realizes she has stopped talking he looks over to the couch. She is curled up with her head on the arm of the couch, he looks at the time and sees that it is well past midnight and smiles to himself. He doesn't want to disturb her, but decides to move her to the bed anyway so she can sleep more comfortably. He puts the blanket over her and goes back to the table to work.

When Marie's alarm goes off she realizes she fell asleep on the couch again. When she looks over the back of the couch she can see Vale is very busy. "Working on a deadline?" She asks him.

"Yes. They need this done as soon as possible." He looks up at her.

She can see the stress on his face like he is stuck. She knows that look all to well. When she gets up she goes over to him and hugs him over his shoulders as she looks at it. "What is it you are stuck on?"

"This space, they want a gothic Victorian style for the entryway and nothing I have done seems to fit!" He puts his head in his hands.

Marie moves around, sits on his lap, takes his pencil and does a quick sketch in the space he has pointed to. "What about this?"

Vale looks at it and looks at her in disbelief. "I guess I should have asked for help sooner."

"Technically you didn't ask." She gives him a kiss and goes in the shower to get ready for work.

Marie gets to the kitchen and she sees Vale has made coffee. When she looks in the fridge for the creamer, she notices his black bag is gone. She makes some toast and brings Vale a plate as well. "I'm assuming Max will be here after sundown?"

"Yes." He takes the plate.

"I'm going in early so I can hopefully finish up early and pack my desk up."

"Ok."

"You need me to bring anything home with me tonight?"

"No." He smiles.

At work Marie looks through her emails and the list she has checks off all complete work and calls the clients she has left to ask them to send in their approval for the remodels. By lunch she is done with all her work and goes to George's office. "Hey boss" she smiles and hands him the last of her files. "These are all my clients. All of them are complete."

"Ok. Can you come to the lounge?" George puts them on his desk and stands. Marie follows him a bit confused. When she comes in behind him, everyone is in the lounge and they scream. "Surprise!" Marie is surprised. She had written them all a farewell letter and she didn't think they would do this. They spend the afternoon chatting and eating. Marie clears her desk and takes all of her personal belongings as well as a few presents her coworkers gave her. Being in a small office she had gotten to know them all well, she hadn't thought this would be that hard. George helps her put her box in the back seat and gives her a hug.

"Thanks for everything, I really enjoyed working here." Marie smiles.

"We're gonna miss you kid." George pats her back.

It is already late so Marie stops to buy some pizza and soda. When she parks Max is standing next to a truck with some guys. She waves as he starts walking towards her. "Hi Marie."

"Hi! I brought pizza and soda. I wasn't sure how many people you would be bringing."

"That's awesome, want help to carry it?" Max holds her door as she gets out.

"Sure!"

Max waves at one of the guys to carry the food and Marie leads them to the apartment. She lets them in and they dig in as Marie goes to the room to check on Vale. He is tapping up a box and smiles when she comes in. "Your back!"

"Max and a couple guys are here."

"Cool." He says as they walk to the table.

Vale greets the guys and when everyone is done eating they make quick work of loading up the truck. Marie takes her keys to the landlord, watches Vale's motorcycle get loaded into the truck and sits in the passenger seat as she heads to her new life in the country.