You Left Me With Nothing but a Kiss

I woke up to hearing Everybody Loves Raymond on the television.

It took me a second to remember where I was but then everything came flooding back to me.

I bolted up from the couch and saw my mom sitting at the kitchen table.
"Mom!" I yelled hugging her.

"Hi honey. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I'm fine. How are you? How's dad?" I panicked.

"I'm perfectly fine and your dad is going to need open heart surgery," she said in a low tone looking me in the eye. I loved that about my mom. She never beat around the bush.

"Is that safe?" I questioned.

"Well, with his blood pressure and his age he doesn't have a great chance, but your father is a fighter. He'll pull through just fine," she assured me.

"Where's Dan? He said he was staying with you," I remembered.

"Dan went with Sarah and Mark to see dad," she replied.

I looked around the kitchen and noticed it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

I heard some commotion come from the guest room.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, John is watching Alex for me while I grade some papers," my mom shrugged.

And I thought it was all a dream! John is actually here with me.

I got up from the table and walked to the guest room.

I opened the door and saw John blowing up a balloon to entertain the one year-old. He looked up to see me and smiled, taking the balloon from his lips and letting it go so it flew around the room. The baby giggled.

"Hey bud, it's aunt Beth!" John exclaimed.

Alex just looked at me and squealed "Auntie!".

John laughed as he stood up and walked over to me. He gave me a big hug and stroked my hair.

"How ya feeling?" He asked.

"Fine," I replied.

He pulled away and took my hand in his.

"If you need anything, I'm here for you," he told me looking into my eyes. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good," I answered.

"That's good. I was worried you'd be too upset to sleep," he said picking up the deflated balloon so Alex wouldn't get it.

"Why are you here?" I whispered biting my lip.

He frowned.

"If you don't want-"

"No John! I want you here, I do. But why did you come?" I asked.

"Because I thought you'd need someone, and if you didn't then surely your family could use some help,"

"Thank you," I smiled. He said nothing, but smiled back at me. "I want to apologize for what I said this morning about us not getting back together. It was way out of line," I told him.

"It's okay, Bee. I forgive you," he said sitting down, bouncing Alex on his knee.

"Thanks," I replied.

"Hey, you must be starving. How about you watch Alex and I make dinner?" He suggested.

"Can you make your home made pizza?" I asked shyly.

"Of course I can, sweetheart," he smiled, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

I followed him out of the guest room, holding Alex in my arms. I went and sat down with him on the living room floor while John started making the pizza.

As I sat there I looked back at John. He gave up tour and his fans to make sure that I was okay. He left with nothing but the clothes on his back just to be there for me.

I don't care what he's done in the past. Anyone who gives up that much for me is someone I shouldn't be letting go. I set my now sleeping nephew carefully on his blanket and walked out into the kitchen. John was sprinkling cheese on the raw pizza when he looked up at me.

"Are you okay?" He asked nervously.
"I need to talk to you," I said ignoring his question.

"Okay," he said giving me his full attention.

I walked up to him and placed my hands on his chest as his arms found their way around my waist.

"You being here means the world to me. Anybody who gives up as much as you did to come here with me deserves something in return. I forgive you, John. For everything," I said looking up at him.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that," he said as he leaned down to kiss me. His lips touched mine and I felt those familiar butterflies erupt again. He had his hands on my waist still, rubbing circles into my skin with his thumbs. I smiled into the kiss and pulled away.

"I love you. I always will. Let's forget about all the stupid stuff we've done and go back to where we left off," I suggested.

"I'd love that," John told me smiling as he brushed some hair away from my face.

I'd completely forgotten that my mother was separated from us by just a counter until I heard her sniffle and gather her things.

"Mom are you okay?" I asked, not letting go of John.

"Yeah, you guys are just so cute," she smiled, wiping her eyes.

I laughed as she took her things back to her room to give John and I some privacy.

"I love you so much. I was miserable without you," John told me, nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck. "I thought you were going to see another guy and fall in love with him and forget about me," he confessed.
"I could never forget about you, Johno. You're the only man I love," I told him.

"God, I'm so sorry for doing all that stupid shit to you. I love you, querida," he whispered into my ear.

"Querida? Since when do you habla español?" I giggled.

"It means sweetheart. Gabe taught it to me," he defended.

"Well I love it," I smiled, kissing the tip of his nose.

Things were finally back to the way they were. With John and I at least.

_________________

"I like our new apartment," John smiled at me. I looked around at the empty place and smiled as well.

"I could live anywhere as long as I was with you," I said sweetly.

"Aw, darling. You make me blush," he chuckled giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Too bad our bed isn't moved in yet or we could just crash here," I sighed.

"We can sleep here," John stated.

"There's no bed, honey," I reminded him.

"Who says we need a bed? Don't you remember your own favorite song?" John gasped dramatically.

"Your grand dad left home for the circus
He was young just like me, with hope to explore
He married a girl in Virginia
She could swing the trapeze
They could sleep on the floor," John sang.

"This is why I love you," I grinned.

He unpacked some blankets and pillows and we cuddled up on the living room floor and fell asleep in each other's arms.