Peaches and Cream Pt. 08

Catherine chewed on her bottom lip. "Kenny Loggins said that. I don't know how I know that, but I do. Do you have your phone on so we can verify this? I left mine upstairs."

"Really? You want to verify that quote is Kenny Loggins now?"

"Yes. I won't be able to focus until we know for sure." Matt pulled out his phone from his suit jacket. "When did you get an android? I thought you were dedicated to apple." He gave her a look. Catherine had told him once that Apple and Android couple could not find long-term happiness.

"Yes. Kenny Loggins said that. However, I cannot tell if it is part of a song or just some of his musings on life. Now, that is taken care of, let's try this again. Dr. Catherine Sarah Miller, I love you. I have loved you for 20 years. And I want to love you for the rest of my life. What do you say about giving this a real try?"

"Before I say yes, I have to confess something. I stalked your Instagram since we broke up. Not in a "you should be afraid of me way" but in a "wonder what Matt is up to" obsessive 3-4 times a day way. And you really don't put much out there. There are only so many pictures of walking trails, and healthy eating one woman can take. You should have put up a picture of Amy to give me something to obsess about."

He laughed. "I know. Your mother DM'd me and told me to stop posting pictures. She was hoping it would get you to call me. And if you want to talk about a great IG, your parents really know how to post. There Christmas photos were unbelievable. And did you see them tonight all dressed up? They are such a handsome couple."

"You follow my parents on Instagram?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do after your Dad started following me. But the real joy is his twitter account, that man is funny. People just love it when I retweet him. But why I am I telling you, you should know."

Catherine crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I may have blocked them on Instagram and Twitter when the whole John thing happened. I unblocked them to discover they had blocked me and now refuse to unblock me. At Thanksgiving, Patricia said my Instagram was boring, my selfies are bad, and I only tweet about the reality television. Can you believe the two of them? Quick take a picture of the two of us."

Matt looked shocked. In their brief reconciliation, Cat did not want to post any pictures of them until they figured their situation out. "Are you doing this to annoy your parents or because we are giving this a serious try?"

"Two birds, one stone, Matt" He leaned forward to kiss her. "A picture first and then we kiss." Catherine pulled her lipstick out of her cleavage. She freshened up her lipstick and smiled at him. "We are not getting married next week, but I want to take the next steps with you, Matthew Walker. I want our friends to meet, share our fears, compare our 401Ks and sit through uncomfortable family meals."

"Personally, I have already sat through enough uncomfortable meals with Patricia, and Phillip to last a lifetime." Catherine gave Matt a look. "But I look forward to arguments about where we spend our holidays. However, based on Patricia's pictures I don't think I stand a snowball chance in hell of winning Christmas. Now before you change your mind let's take our last picture together of 2016." Matt stopped a server and asked her to take a few pictures of them. Catherine then grabbed his phone to choose and edit the best photos before sharing her top three with him.

He leaned in and kissed Catherine. "We should probably post your least favorite on my Instagram and then tease others are on your IG. Patricia will definitely unblock you to see them." He kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear "Or I could just DM her and make an appeal on your behalf."

Catherine laughed. "Who would have thought we would ever see the day that Patricia preferred you to me." Catherine wrapped her arms around Matt's neck as she tilted her head up. "But I would like to see if we could get a selfie of me getting my last kiss of 2016. I need to do a true evaluation of your kissing skills. See if they have improved over the last 20 years."

Matt looked into Catherine's brown eyes. He lowered his head and pressed his lip gently against hers before slowly snaking his tongue between her lips. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her closer to him. Catherine opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. Their tongues waged in a battle of dominance. Suddenly, Matt pulled his head back. It was then Catherine heard the hand clapping.

She turned her head to see Amy, Lewis, and Brian smiling and applauding. "This has turned out better than I could have hoped for" Amy exclaimed. "I ran into Brian and Lewis who were looking for Cat. Once I explained who I was, they agreed to help search for you two."

"I suggested we look near the dessert bar," Brian added. "That was one hot kiss. I feel slightly guilty for interrupting, but we have 5 minutes until 2017."

"Grab us some champagne, and we will meet you in the ballroom. We need a minute." Matt smiled at his sister and Cat's friends. "I promise we will join you before 2017 begins."

Amy grabbed Lewis and Brian. "Come on boys, let's give them a moment. Besides I need to find someone to plant a New Year's kiss on. It looks like I am the odd one out. Don't disappoint me, brother, I will be looking for you in the ballroom."

Cat and Matt watched them walk off still wrapped up in each other. "Catherine, I am serious about wanting a real relationship with you. That means we have to move on from the past. If you are not capable of doing that, then we don't have a future."

"Matthew Walker we loved each other when we were young, dumb and insecure. We both were scared we were not enough for the other person. What you did was shitty, and you acknowledge that. And it was shitty how I treated you this Spring and Summer. We are starting a new volume tonight, one that I look forward to exploring. Now I don't want Amy mad at me, so we need to head to that ballroom."

New Year's Day 2017

Patricia sat at her breakfast table sipping her coffee as she scrolled through her Instagram. She was dressed in an embellished caftan with her black hair was pulled back in a chignon that showed off the new ruby earrings Phillip gifted her for Christmas. Since it was a leisure day, Patricia wore simple makeup of a tinted moisturizer, eyeliner, and lip gloss. A smile crept across her face.

Phillip looked up from his eggs benedict. Every New Years Day she fixed eggs benedict before putting her black-eyed peas in the crockpot to simmer all day with Thanksgiving ham bone. She would then use them to make her mother's hoppin john which she served with collard greens, cornbread, and fried chicken. This was Patricia's New Year's Day tradition.

"I take it your meddling worked out." He winked at her before he picked up her discarded plate and headed towards the sink. He dutifully rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He picked up the coffee pot before heading back to the table. He refilled Patricia's cup before refilling his own. "Let me see what has your smiling like a peacock this morning."

Patricia slid the phone over to him. It was open to Catherine's Instagram page. "So you unblocked your daughter, this must be good." Phillip picked up the phone. There was a picture of Catherine and Matt kissing captioned "New Year, New Beginnings." There was another post showing pictures of them captioned "Reunited, and it feels so good."

Phillip was struck by how beautiful Catherine looked. She radiated happiness, and her eyes shone with love for Matthew. Phillip had his doubts that Matt would heed his advice and walk away from her. Phillip knew his daughter and knew she would not have a "come to Jesus moment" until he did. When Catherine called Labor Day crying, he merely told her to decide her heart's desire. Either she wanted to continue to punish Matt or move on to a future with him. He had not taken into account how proud and stubborn his daughter was.

"It is not meddling if you do what's best for your children. And she is just glowing with happiness and love. When you told me about your talk with him, I knew he was a good guy. He loves her and will protect her, and she loves him and will cherish him. However, she is your daughter proud and stubborn."

Phillip laughed before pointing to Patrica "Kettle to your pot."

"Well, this would not have worked if you had not suggested Amy." During his talk with Phillip, Matt, mentioned his sister Amy was moving to the area. Phillip remembers the little girl who followed after her brother devotedly. When Patricia stated after Catherine's Thanksgiving visit, they needed to find a way to get Cat and Matt back together he told her to reach out to Amy.

It was Amy who suggested New Year's Eve. She thought it would be romantic. Patricia knew of Catherine's plan to attend a party at a hotel in Old Town Alexandria and offered to foot the bill for them to go. Amy developed the cover story of winning a last-minute package off the radio. She also invented a date who suddenly was unable to take her leaving her brother as her date.

"You will think this is all worth it when you walk your baby down the aisle." Patricia looked at Phillip. She knew the idea of giving his little girl away made him uncomfortable. But she also knew Catherine's happiness was one of his main priorities. "And we will get another grandbaby. Maybe a little girl we can buy pretty dresses for."

Patricia patted Phillip's hand. "Besides if I didn't meddle, we wouldn't be back together."

"Patricia, you called me to help you change a flat tire because you forgot to renew your AAA. Not exactly sure how that is meddling."

"Phillip Anthony Miller, when I have I ever forgotten to pay a bill. And between us I know to deflate a tire. We are soulmates, and I just needed to remind you of that." She stood up and looked at the clock "Almost time for the rose parade." Watching the Rose Parade was another New Year's tradition. She put her coffee mug in the sink.

Phillip wrapped his arms around he waist and kissed her neck. "What if we start a new New Year's Day tradition. We can call it soulmate appreciation."