HEJ, MY LOVE

COFFEE PROPOSAL

Sierra didn't know what to think. She came to Sweden to find Jonas. The revelation he made concerning his feelings changed her life; she imagined the man would follow up, but nothing came.

There the couple lived the same routine as they did in France. They took care of Leone and didn't speak about their feelings or the future of their relationship. Yes, the tender gestures were there, but it was not enough of a guarantee for Sierra, whose mind began to race with inquiries. The woman wondered how the man perceived things.

Jonas watched Sierra pace with his cup of coffee in hand. Leone played with Rufus; the dog had no moment of rest since the child's arrival.

"Sierra, what's wrong?"

"I've been here for a month; I used all my vacations at work. I have to go back," Sierra said. She paused her speech to leave space for a response. The woman waited for Jonas to add the very expected don't-leave-me sentence.

The man took another sip of his coffee before saying, "I see."

His voice, zen as always, made the woman want to crawl up the walls like a tarantula.

"You see, ha, you see, great if you see it," Sierra said as she threw her hands in the air.

The man gave her a quizzical stare, "may I know why you are stressing?"

"I'm not stressing. It's just I've been here a month andㅡ."

Sierra stopped; she was desperate. How was she to express she had high expectations concerning their reunion.

The man flexed a brow, "and you were saying?"

Sierra took a deep breath, "nothing, absolutely nothing," she turned to leave the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Jonas asked.

"I'm going to book a flight back to Paris for Leone and me, as I'm supposed to be back at work from Tuesday."

The man watched her resume her course, stamping her feet as she went. Sierra had taken a few more steps when she heard.

"Marry me."

The woman turned back slower than a Wachowski sister's bullet-time, "I beg your pardon?"

"Marry me, Sierra Ajani Lennox."

Sierra's eyes blinked so many times one could not count. Her mind was on overdrive. Jonas's words busted her expectations barometer in one go.

Jonas didn't shy away. The man always stared straight at Sierra when he affirmed something.

He had made up his mind on their day out in Halmstad.

The man decided on the direction he wished their relationship to go when they stood under the tree at his parent's house.

Unlike in his past relationships, where the differences were scales apart and made him hesitate, there, the man was confident. Sierra was more than a shoe that fits. She was made for him. They weren't meant to collide but to connect.

"Jonas, is this how you Swedish do? You ask women to marry you while drinking coffee. I left everything for you, and what do I get a marriage proposal in the middle of your kitchen."

Sierra got the intimacy she desired for the proposal, but not the romance; the woman reflected on when the kitchen became such a central place in her existence. The setting made the woman believe the man proposed on a whim.

"Jonas, if you want me to stay, say it, but don't blurt out atomic bombs. Someone could die from a heart attack," the woman said while she rubbed her hand on her chest. Shock or surprise, the woman was in an emotional limbo. Her heart pounded as though she had run a marathon.