Forever: Chapter 2

By the end of the spring, in Mrs. Wilson's shop arrived the new summer collection, and Mrs. Wilson and Valerie were busier than usual. At work, there were only two of them, and they had to do all the work. To serve the customers, and to start with the unpacking. The people couldn't get into the shop because of the boxes with clothes, which were all over the shop. The loyal customers arrived at the same moment when they heard about the new collection, and they were impatient to try every piece of clothes that arrived.

"I don't know... I'm not sure... I think in this dress I look much bigger," Mrs. Kingsley said with hesitation while she was looking at herself in the mirror.

"That's not true, Mrs. Kingsley. You look beautiful in that dress, but if you want, I can show you more dresses," Valerie said, and she went as fast as she could to find different models for one of their most loyal customers.

"I haven't seen these models."

"They arrived today, and I'm sure that among these models, you'll find what you're looking for."

"I hope so," Mrs. Kingsley said, and she went immediately to the dressing room to try them on.

While Mrs. Kingsley was trying the new dresses in the dressing room, someone opened the entrance door of the shop and walked in. Valerie looked at the door, but because of the boxes, she couldn't see who it was.

"Hello, Mrs. Wilson! How are you today?" Timothy said, and Valerie smiled when she heard his familiar voice.

"Tim! Hello! I'm fine, thank you, and how are you?" Mrs. Wilson said.

"I'm okay! I came to see Valerie if she's not too busy. Do you need some help with the boxes, Mrs. Wilson?"

"No, thank you! Whenever you are here, you are helping me, and if you continue, I should put you on my employee's list in the future. Now, go to see Valerie. You didn't come here to chat with me."

"If you change your mind, and if you'll need some help, I'm here," Timothy said, and he went to see Valerie.

"Thank you, Tim! You are so kind. These days, there are not many men at your age, nice as you are," Mrs. Wilson said.

"Hey, Val!"

"Timmy! What are you doing here?" Valerie said, and she kissed him.

"I wanted to see you. Do you have any news from the magazine? Did you get the job?"

"Yes, they called me. Alexis got the job."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Am I looking like I'm kidding?"

"Oh Val, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Timothy said, and he held her strong in his arms.

"Don't worry. I'm getting used to the rejections."

"One day, you'll see, you'll work for the best magazines in the world."

"Yeah, right, if I can't get a job in our local newspaper, I should hope to work with the best."

"Val, you are the best photographer in the whole world, and you deserve to work with the best. It's not just me who is saying that. Everyone who has seen your photographs thinks the same."

At that moment, Mrs. Kingsley came out of the dressing room, wearing one of the dresses Valerie chose for her.

"From all the dresses I tried today, I chose this one. What do you think, Valerie?"

"You look gorgeous," Valerie said.

"In that dress, you look ten years younger, Mrs. Kingsley, and now you look like a twenty-year-old girl," Timothy added.

"Oh, Tim, you are a horrible liar. Where is your grandmother, by the way? I haven't seen her at church in the past two weeks. Is she all right?" Mrs. Kingsley asked him.

"Yeah, she's fine. She is with grandpa in Texas, and they will be back next week."

"Wait a minute, I haven't seen that red dress before. Can I try it, Valerie?" Mrs. Kingsley asked excitedly.

"Yes, of course," Valerie said.

Mrs. Kingsley returned to the dressing room, full of hope that the new dress was the right one for her, and in that dress, she would look prettier than in all the other dresses she had tried before. In the next ten minutes, while Mrs. Kingsley was trying the new dress, Timothy continued to comfort Valerie, then he looked at his watch, and he said with big disappointment:

"It will be better for me to go."

"What? You have to go, so soon?"

"Unfortunately, yes! Dad has a business meeting, and he will kill me if I don't show up in the store before he has to go."

"If you were curious about the job, you could simply call me on the phone."

"I could, but a phone call could never be pleasant like this," he said, and he kissed her.

"Yes, you are right, Timmy."

"Of course, that I'm right! I can't kiss you over the phone."

She took him by his hand, and they went to hide behind the clothes, where nobody could see them. Timothy had to go, but they couldn't stop their passionate kisses.

"I'm going," he said, and he kissed her again.

"Bye," she said, and this time she kissed him.

"Okay, seriously, I have to go," Timothy said, and he kissed her one more time.

"I already miss you, Timmy," she said quietly while they were walking toward the entrance door, hand in hand.

"Me too, Val! Mrs. Wilson, it was nice to see you, but I have to go back to work," Timothy said to Mrs. Wilson.

"All right, I know that I'll see you soon."

"You can bet on that! Have a nice day, Mrs. Wilson!"

Before he left, Timothy stopped at the entrance door. He looked at Valerie, and he gently kissed her. With a big smile on her face, and without blinking, Valerie continued to stand at the door and look at Timothy until she lost him on the horizon.

Today Timothy arrived home a few hours before Valerie, and when she opened the door of their apartment, where they had been living for the past ten months, she could smell that Timothy was cooking something fantastic for dinner. Valerie loved it when he was cooking, even if the meals sometimes were burned and tasted weird. She found him next to the stove, and when she looked at the table, the table was romantically set for two. In the middle of the table was a vase with a bouquet of red roses. Of all the flowers, Valerie loved the red roses the most.

"Hey, Val!"

"Hi! Wow! Red roses, are we celebrating something?" Valerie went to Timothy, she put her arms around him, and she kissed his neck.

"Yes! This horrible day is finally over!"

"Yes, indeed, it was a terrible day. Alexis got the job at the magazine, and I was unpacking the boxes with clothes, all day long."

"My day was worse than yours. Dad was preaching to me the whole day that was a time to grow up and find a real job..."

"Timmy, you are a writer! That is a real job."

"Not for my father. He left me no other choice, and I had to accept his offer. From tomorrow on, I'll be working full time in his store, which means instead of four hours a day, he will be preaching to me eight hours every day, how it will be smart to quit the writing because there is no future in that."

"I'm sorry. Maybe you should start looking for another job..."

"Val, let's be realistic. Who will hire me with my working inexperience?"

"You're right. Do you need some help?"

"No, thanks! I'm almost done! You take the glasses, put some wine, and sit down at the table."

When the meal was served on the little kitchen table, they sat down opposite of each other, and they began with their everyday routine. Every evening after work, Valerie and Timothy had a habit of talking about how they had spent the day and sharing all the interesting things that were worth mentioning. At the end of their conversation, they got to the serious part.

"This month, I've sent my portfolio to at least fifty magazines all over the country, and I've got zero replies. Timmy, don't you sometimes have an impression that the people to whom we are sending our work, they never see it?"

"I couldn't agree with you anymore, Val. Three months ago, I sent a manuscript to a publisher by email, and four hours later, he replied to me, saying that he had read my book and was not interested in publishing it. Come on, who can read three hundred pages in just four hours? Plus, that day he didn't have just my book for reading. Do you know how many other writers are sending him their books every day?"

"Timmy, what is happening with our lives and our dreams? I was hoping I'd find a job in my chosen field right after graduation, and your books will be in the bookstores by now."

"Hey, Val, this is just temporary! We are only twenty-three years old, and we graduated from college last year. No one said that it would be easy, but our whole lives are in front of us, and we have all the time in the world to realize everything we want."

"I hope you're right. We'll never give up! Only those who never give up will succeed at the end, and that's a fact."

"Yes, that's what everyone says. Have you finished with your dinner?"

"Yes, I have."

"Then let's go to bed. I'll fall asleep at the same moment I'll touch the bed. I'm exhausted."

"Me too. Let's leave the dishes. We'll clean them tomorrow."