Chapter forty-five

A couple days later they found themselves at Lake Tahoe.

As Sarah had suggested Richie swapped their vacation in Hawaii for this. He had booked one of the houseboats for their stay. Even though Sarah didn't want the biggest one, Richie completely ignored that and got it anyway for its luxury.

It was big enough for everyone to have their own room to sleep with bathroom. The kitchen and living room were both specious. Out on the deck there was room to eat outside or enjoy the sun, even from in the hot tub at the back of the boat.

At first they explored their boat, unpacking and ooh-ing and aah-ing with everything they saw.

After they had seen everything they went out to the lake and the nearby town to explore the neighbourhood.
In only a few days it would be Sarah's birthday and Richie was already looking for a perfect place to celebrate.

For her birthday he was going for simple things. Things she didn't have but could use.



Their first full day of vacation time they spend on the lake, as a lot of the days that would follow would be like.

The kids enjoyed themselves with a bunch of water sports while Sarah and Richie spend time sunbathing on the beach.

Richie had claimed then a pair of chairs so they could lay down comfortably. After a few minutes though, Richie remembered something.

"We need sunscreen." He said excited.
"In the bag." Sarah waved a hand over to the bag, uninterested. Her eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses Richie had bought her the day before while they explored the town, he couldn't see her eyes now but by the lack of interest he assumed she was dozing off.

Richie got up and searched the bag, finding the tube of sunscreen at the bottom. He opened it and sat down on the sunbed next to Sarah, squeezing it into his hands and putting his hands down on her belly to spread the cream.

"What are you doing?" Sarah sprang open, surprised when she felt the hot cream and his even warmer hands on her already hot skin too. She pulled off her sunglasses to look at him.
"Told you we needed sunscreen." He grinned widely.
"Didn't think you meant on me, I was gonna doze off."
"I know but I like this a lot more." Richie's grin grew even wider and his palms spread over Sarah's body.



On her birthday Richie had changed his mind completely. He had made sure the kids were out to one of the clubs they were allowed in town and had Sarah all to himself on their boat.

Sarah was getting ready in their small room, still thinking they were going out while Richie started preparing dinner in the kitchen. He wasn't the best cook but he was going to try for Sarah.

Sarah took her time dressing and getting ready, she brought the summer dress she had worn on their last date and decided to wear it again, knowing Richie had liked it a lot last time. She only had one nice set of underwear that was white and would go unnoticeable under her dress and easily decided on that.

Her hair was a different matter, she always wore it lose, so it covered up the scar she had on her temple. She looked in the mirror, regarding herself, she didn't look too bad but she wanted to do something special.

"Richie!" She called for him.
A minute later he stood at the door. "What do you need, my dear?" He tried to sound most polite.
Sarah chuckled, she loved the silliness that showed once in a while. "Can you get me something from Ava's room? Some stuff for my hair, I don't have anything."
"Okay, back in a minute."

Richie walked across the living room to where Ava's room was, he walked in the room and found a few things on top of Ava's dresser. On the way back he started thinking, he hadn't ever seen Sarah with her hair up or anything special, what did she need it for?

He knocked on the bathroom door to give Sarah the few things he had found but Sarah was quick to keep the door closed, not letting him in.

"I'll be ready in a minute." She said instead.

Richie shrugged and went back to the kitchen, remembering the food he was preparing.



A little while later Sarah did walk out of their room and into the dining room. Richie was just getting the plates to the table, he had completely forgot starters and skipped to the main course, hoping Sarah didn't mind.

He looked up when he noticed Sarah walk in.She looked even more beautiful than she did normally, he wasn't sure if she was wearing a tiny bit of make-up, maybe not. Her hair definitely looked different, it was all put up, showing off the beautiful contours of her face, the reason why he always pushed her hair back.

"You look beautiful." Richie said.
Sarah blushed a little. "Thanks." She walked around the table and went to sit down on the chair opposite of where Richie was standing. "You're staring." She told him when he didn't move at all.
He shook his head, "Sorry," and sat down in his own chair.
"Thought we were going out for dinner?"
"I wanted to make dinner for you instead, might not be as good as at a restaurant though." He already apologized before either of them had a decent taste of it.
"I'm sure it will be just as good." Sarah told him.

They started dinner and Sarah was right, the food was just as good as anywhere else they had been for dinner, it might not have been as fancy but it tasted good. She had no clue Richie could cook like this. In a lot of ways she still had to get to know him but she now had a lifetime to do that. Soon, they would get married.

Once again their conversation led to the subject of marriage.

"Do you still think me and the boys should move in?" Sarah asked back to the conversation they had a few days ago while they were still in New Jersey.
"Of course, it would be easier for them to transfer schools in September than in the middle of the year or something." Richie explained how he thought about it.
Sarah nodded, that made a lot of sense, that way it would be easier for them. "What about my school?"
"Where is it?" He knew Sarah had found a college to learn to be a nurse's aid but she hadn't told him where it was, maybe it wasn't so far.

Sarah tried to explain as best as she could, not remembering the exact address of the college just now.

"I can drive you and pick you up." Richie shrugged.
"I should probably renew my driver's license now." Sarah suggested instead, now that she wasn't scared to go out anymore, she could go places and driving to school would be easier than Richie having to bring her every day.
"That's probably a good thing too." He agreed.
"Yeah then you don't have to drive me around on top of driving Ava around." Sarah joked a little.

"Why don't we just get married then too?" Sarah said out of the blue after a few more bites of dinner.
"When?"
"The end of the summer, it would still be nice weather to get married on the beach but it'll be soon."
"If that's what you want."
"Is it what you want?" Sarah asked him uncertain about how soon it would be.

Richie put his fork down and looked up at her.

"Sarah, if I could, I'd marry you right now, honestly I don't want to wait another year for it either."