December   A bouquet had been delivered to Zara, with Aspen’s name on it.   It wasn’t a typical bouquet, either. What had been delivered to the store was a black box from Venus et Fleur, carrying 42 dyed roses arranged in an ombre array, from navy, to sapphire, to emerald and turquoise, and onward to pure white. The note inside that accompanied it merely read Merry Christmas Eve, and that had no real meaning to anyone but Aspen; her heart raced and she smiled as she read the note and looked at the flowers again and again, before closing it all back up securely to return to work.   She took a Lyft home with her roses instead of walking, unwilling to risk the bouquet being damaged on her usual commute. She made it home quickly, only to find a shopping bag waiting for her at the foot of her bed, accompanied by another note, requesting that she wear the contents inside, and be ready at seven. That was only a hour away; Aspen quickly went about taking a shower and redoing her hair and makeup before getting dressed in the selected outfit: a viridian green dress with long sleeves, a mid thigh length and a knotted waist, that accentuated the curves of her body and made her look like the grown woman she hadn’t known that she could be. She picked out shoes and turned her attention to jewelry, deciding immediately to unearth the necklace from its box and don it, with other silver pieces. She was ready when the knock on her door sounded; her heels clicked against the floor as she moved to answer it, finding JB standing on the other side, dressed up himself in a suit vest, button up shirt and pants, all black, his hair styled out of his face. His eyebrows rose as he looked at her, and Aspen immediately felt herself smile.   “Aspen…”   “Do you like it?” she inquired of him, fussing with her skirt a little. “I think it looks pretty good.”   “You look…” He shook his head, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you like this…”   “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment,” Aspen said with a laugh.   “Definitely!” JB insisted, making her laugh harder. “Sorry…I’m a little nervous…”   “Nervous? With me?” With a shake of her head Aspen stepped out into the hallway, closing and locking her door behind her. “That’s a first.”   “You still have it,” JB commented, his eyes on her necklace. Aspen glanced down at it.   “Yeah,” she replied. “I should’ve started wearing it a lot time ago…”   “I’m just happy that you still have it.” He took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers. “Let’s go; we’ve got a reservation.”   Their reservation was at a high end restaurant in Russian Hill, and they were given a very intimate table in a corner near the windows, in possibly the quietest area of the restaurant; Aspen felt as if she was h