Page 56 of Strawberry Cake
After the massage, they shared an intimate lunch by themselves before heading to the beach for the day. It was a long walk, but they took their time. After all, they had nowhere else to be. They’d reserved a lounging bed right off the wooden walkway. Hope helped Decan the few steps over the sand, assisting him to walk by his arms around her shoulders. He would’ve felt uncomfortable asking for help from anyone other than his family, possibly even Marco. But Hope had changed that for him—she made helping him natural.
“I want us to do something, but it might be…” She trailed off, her gaze avoiding his. “Well, your family has asked me a few times how serious I am, and I thought maybe we could talk about it.”
“What did you have in mind?”
Blushing, she withdrew a small notebook from her bag. “I researched a few questions someone should ask a partner before getting serious. There were a ton, but I picked through them.”
“These are ones that you felt were the most important?”
“Yes, but we can always add to them.”
“I like that idea.”
“Why don’t you read through them since I already have?”
Decan took the notebook and skimmed over the questions. He had an answer for most of them, but a niggling feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. “What happens if we disagree on them?”
“That’s actually one of the last ones.”
Hope was right, the last one read:How Do You Handle Disagreements Or Fights?
He thought over it for a moment, then looked back to Hope. Her whole body was tense, her eyes hesitant. “I used to be a hothead. I couldn’t handle criticism well and took everything as a personal insult. Now, it depends on the situation. If I’m not able to listen to your side calmly and understand where you’re coming from, I’d like to suggest giving each other some space and addressing it once we’ve cooleddown.”
Hope nodded along with him. “I’ve noticed I get hurt easily by criticism, so sometimes I feel defensive right away when someone disagrees with me.” Her eyes trailed to her lap where her fingers fidgeted with her jumpsuit. “I cry, especially when I’m angry and I often feel as if I can’t explain my side of view the way I would like.”
“So, would it help to take some time away from the situation and return to it once you’ve collected your thoughts?” he asked.
“Yes. I think finding a middle ground is always the goal, but sometimes it should also be okay to agree to disagree.”
He slowly nodded, liking her approach. “Not forcing something on the other person that they don’t want.”
“That’s exactly it.”
“I like the whole agreeing to not agree part.” He moved to the next question. “What are your financial goals and how can we try to reach them?”
“I’m actually content where I am now. I don’t have any debt and right now, I’m comfortable. I always thought of debt as being a big burden, so I try not to spend what I don’t have.” Hope smiled and gave a nervous laugh. “Seeing money in my savings account makes me happy.”
“What about big purchases down the line like a house?”
“I mean, I pay rent now so it would be simply switching to a mortgage. But I don’t want a potential house eating up all my money. I think a mortgage is an acceptable debt, though I don’t want it to suck up my whole income. What about you? Do you have any debt?”
He nodded, hanging his head in shame. “I have medical debt.Since I was driving recklessly, the insurance didn’t pay—which I understand. My parents wanted to pay it off for me, but I refused. I already owned my apartment outright, so I took the money I would have been paying in mortgage and that goes to my medical bills. Though I try to stay healthy, I’m at higher risk for more health issues along the way so this might be something that never goes away.”
“Can I ask something unrelated to the list?”
“Of course.”
“You don’t have to answer.” When he gave her a nod, she continued, “Is paying off the medical bills some sort of punishment for yourself? I mean, if you’d paid them all in one chunk it would be done and over with. Why are you dragging it out?”
He focused on the notebook in his hands, squeezing it so fiercely that his knuckles turned white. Hope had hit something in him that he tried not to think about too much. “You could say that.”
When he said nothing else, Hope reached over and brushed the back of her hand along his arm. “What’s next on the list? Unless you had something else to say?”
He swallowed hard to find his voice again and asked, “What would you want to do about our finances if we were to stay together long term?”
“I saw a video about it once that stuck with me. That couple had four accounts: one for joint expenses, one for savings, and then a personal account each.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Decan’s mouth. “So, if you were to buy more books that would come out of your account?”