In the Air

The smell was noticeable. Her little home office was small and cramped; any changes were immediately known. Located next to the front door, the frigid winter wind blew in as Mitch stomped and shook snow off and quickly shut the door against the cold.

Resa clicked the remote to mute the radio sitting on the bookcase across the room. She could hear rustling and scraping along the wall she assumed was Mitch taking off his coat and shoes until she heard a clunking bump on the floor. as Mitch took off his coat. She leaned out to look through the open door,

“Mitch? What’s going on? What’s that noise?”

Her leather office chair squeaked, the wheels rumbled as she rolled it away from the desk to get up.

“Wait! Stay there.”

She stood next to the desk with a curious smile and waited.

The rustling sound resumed along with the scraping along the wall. She saw a daggers of swaying, bouncing green poke past the door frame, then a flash of pink flash bobbled in as the door was filled with dozens of pink roses. The heavy, spiced, sweet perfume of the flowers hinted at when the front door opened, now filled the room. Mitch stumbled in and stuck his head around the mass of blooms.

“Hi.”

“Hi?”

The globe of blooms was contained in a large brick heavy fuchsia crock decorated with brown, teal and yellow polka dots which he thunked in the middle of her desk. He briskly swept his hands off, then straightened his shirt.

“Here’s the thing. Resa. I love you. There’s 96, one for each year.”

Rees tipped her head, curious wonder shadowed her features.

Two steps and he gently took her hand and brushed a soft kiss on her cheek. Still holding her hand, he bent down on one knee, raised his other hand which held between thumb and forefinger, a ring with a large sparkling and twinkling diamond captured in it’s prongs.

“Baby, grow old with me. Marry me.”

Written for Speakeasy with the prompt to begin “The smell was noticeable” and to reference or include a photo of a remote control.