’I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make the meaning come true…’

The soft hum of Frank Sinatra plays through a small speaker in the kitchen as we cook. Moving around the space as if it were a choreographed dance.

I’ve been home from tour for almost 2 weeks and we haven’t spent a moment apart. We had started dating just a few months before tour started and I wasn’t sure how you were going to feel about long distance. Luckily, you were up for it and it all worked out in the end. I couldn’t be happier to be back home, and back with you.

’But then I think I’ll wait until the evening gets late and I’m alone with you…’

As you go to brush past me for something on the other side of the kitchen, I grab your arm and whisk you toward me. My hands land on your waist and you laugh as we dance, your arms wrapping around my neck.

’The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars get red, and, oh, the night’s so blue…”

I mouth along with the words of the song as we slow dance in the kitchen. My hands pull you impossibly closer as the lightheartedness of the moment dies and gets replaced with an overwhelming feeling.

”And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid, like…” I sing aloud this time, your eyes zeroed in on mine. “I love you.”

You laugh bashfully, as if you were reacting to being serenaded. But my expression is nothing but serious. And when you notice that, your laughter dies down.

“I mean it… I love you,” I whisper.