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Part XVIIII

Marshall woke pleasantly to the smell of coffee wafting up the stairs. He stretched his body as far as it would go and then sat up, an irresistible smile plastered on his face. He felt as infatuated as a teenager.
“Shit,” he laughed at himself, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
“Damn,” he laughed again before jumping up and going to get dressed.
Oscar came running in the room barking as he was walking out of the bathroom.
“Hey Oscar!” Marshall said scooping up the puppy, ruffling his ears with one hand.
“Lets go find mommy,” he laughed as the puppy barked and wagged his tail so hard it could have fallen off.
Marshall hurried down the stairs, the smell of food and coffee thick in the air, but that wasn’t what he was most interested in. He rounded the corner and there she was, standing there in all her all-American beauty. Ponytail high on the back of her head, white tank top, cutoff shorts, down to the lace used to tie her shoes.
“I’m surprised I was able to pry you off so that I could out of bed this morning,” Coral said as she stood at the counter. Her hands remained busy and she kept her gaze on the fruit she was slicing. Marshall smiled and noticed her looking up at him as he pet the puppy.
“Yeah, well, what does it matter? We could have done without breakfast this morning,” he grinned.
“Really now?” she asked with an arched eyebrow. Marshall deposited the puppy on the floor and was wrapped around her before he answered,
“Really.” His lips and mouth made quick work of touching every piece of skin he could reach. He slid the strap of her tank top down so he could kiss that small thin piece of skin it had been covering. He kept it up until she finally gave in and gave him a giggle.
“Forget breakfast, let’s go back to bed.” Marshall said, turning her around and pressing her back against the counter. She didn’t get a chance to answer him as his lips kissed hers gently. His hands moved slowly up her sides until he had a hand on each shoulder blade. She kissed him back enthusiastically, lips traveling up from his lips, to his cheeks and eyes, his forehead and back down.
“Did anybody ever tell you, that you got some pretty eyes?” she asked.
“Not that I can remember until now,” he replied starring into her eyes, the best tasting coffee he’d ever had.
“They are.”
“Really, lets go back to bed, I’ll cook you something later,” he said softly taking her hands in his and looking at the delicate fingers.
“Okay,” she said simply. He grinned brightly, pulling her face in for another deep kiss.

They finally decided to get out of bed around four o’clock when they were both hungry with their stomach’s rumbling.
“Marshall, what is all this gonna mean?” Coral asked later, while they were in the kitchen. He’d taken her place at the stove and she his at the counter, nervously biting a nail.
“Mean?” he asked looking over his shoulder.
“Yeah, us. You, me, all of it. This.”
“I think it just means that two people finally found another person that they could confide in, and care about. I’m not gonna lie about it Coral, I really, really like you. I like having you around, I like having you here. I like us being together.” Marshall said seriously. It was the first time in a long time he felt he’d ever told the truth.
“Can we be honest for a second?” she asked.
“I was being honest,” Marshall said, slightly offended.
“I’m sure you were. But what I’m talking about is this. We’ve kinda been living in a fairy tale. This isn’t real life. We’re supposed to be getting divorced.”
“So? We don’t have to.” Marshall surprised himself with that.
“What?” she almost laughed and then realized he was serious.
“You’re serious. Oh my god, you are, you’re serious. But we can’t really, can we?” she didn’t know what she was thinking either. Her eyes flickered up to his and they were trying to read each other’s gazes. He turned off the stove and went over to the counter, leaning across it and taking her hands in his.
“Maybe, maybe it was just a lucky mistake. Maybe it was supposed to happen this way. You know, fate intervening.”
“Fate?” she asked.
“Fate. Good luck, shooting stars, I don’t fucking know. But you’re, just, inside me. You know, you invaded my soul, as corny as it sounds. I think this could work,” Marshall replied. She looked down at his fingers entwining with hers. She smiled.
“Could it?”
“Yes! It could. I, I love you, Coral, and I’m ready to stop pretending. I ready to settle down. I don’t care how weak that makes me or whatever. But I want that big family Christmas, and I want you to be a part of that.” He was almost desperate in his words, his eyes scared and worried that she’d leave him for admitting what he really wanted.
“You love me? Do you? I mean, we’ve only been, we’ve only known,” she was looking for the excuse, the reason. When was it going to be not enough?
“I do, and I don’t care if it’s only been six months. You’ve done more for me, and shown me more of yourself than most of the people I’ve known most of my life. You trust me, for what reason I can’t figure out, but it’s there, and I’m glad I get to see it.” Marshall was almost pleading with her. He knew that she wanted the same thing, she just didn’t want to be hurt again. She bit her bottom lip and looked at him hard.
“I love you too.”
“Thank god, don’t do that to me, dammit, come here,” he rushed around the counter and scooped her up in his arms, hugging her tight. She laughed.
“Paul is gonna kill you.” She said after a minute.
“So he’ll sue me.”
“Go on, go call him so that he can get his ranting out of the way,” she replied patting him slightly.
“All right, don’t go anywhere.” He let her go and was turning to grab the phone when it rang.
“That’s creepy,” he thought as he picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Em, good, glad I got you. Guess what,” it was Paul.
“Hey man, I got some good news for you man, you’re not gonna be dealing with those judges anymore,” Marshall was grinning into the phone.
“Who told you?” Paul asked.
“Huh?”
“Who told you? Was it one of Coral’s sisters?”
“Told me what?”
“That we finally got the divorce to go through, finally, about twenty minutes ago. You are single again man, so is Coral. Congrats.” Marshall felt like the world had stopped moving. He’d been wrong all along. It was fate all right. Fate telling him that he wasn’t meant to be happy.
“Well, aren’t you happy man?” Paul said after a minute, when Marshall didn’t reply.
“Uh, yeah, yeah, sure. Thanks, I uh, guess I’ll talk to you soon. Bye, Paul.” Coral looked up at him from her seat at the counter, reading the look on his face before he had to say anything.
“What’s wrong?”
“The, uh, the divorce went through, twenty minutes ago.”
“Oh, it, it did?”
“I guess, maybe we were wrong, I mean, I was wrong. Fate wasn’t on my side,” he said shaking his head.
“Are you okay Marshall?” she stood up and walked around the counter, standing directly in front of him.
“No, I’m not. I mean, here I am, spouting shit about fate, and this meaning something, and maybe this was meant to happen. The second I attempt to be happy in something, and then it just turns around and bites me.”
“You don’t want to try and make this work then?” she asked, her eyes asking the question as much as her words.
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe we should just give it some time? You know, cool down?” she said gently.
“Yeah, I guess we should,” he nodded and continued to nod as he looked away.
“I guess, maybe I should go then, might make it easier.”
“No! Please, no, don’t go, really, I can’t let it go like this, I mean really,” Marshall said quickly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Besides, Oscar likes you too, and Cody’s my friend too,” Marshall tried to laugh but it was impossible for the situation was now hopeless and a nightmare. He grimaced at the realization of everything in his world adding up and having to be subtracted at the same time. So this was what hell felt like. The only time in his life he’d ever felt worse was when he’d lost his daughter. Now he was losing Coral. Life hated him.