I could have said it when he gave me the vintage aprons, two of them, one in yellow and one in pink.
Or when we were lying in bed most recently
and I said I have been thinking about you a lot and us a lot
and he said yeah
and I said this is hard can you just say it for me
and he said I am not going to make it so easy for you
so I stopped talking.
On our first real date, sitting in the booth at Roy that faces the Greyhound station, giggling and holding hands and arms and legs draped around each other, driving the petulant waiter nuts with our indecision. I probably would have said it then, years ago, but I'm wiser now.
Esp was all, "You just have to let it slip out." A week later, she asked me what happened, and I said that it hadn't slipped out yet, and she said, "No, Morgan, I meant, YOU still have to consciously say it, but you don't have to make it this big production." I thought she meant it was supposed to come up accidentally.
I apologize for being high-maintenance, but I'm not going to make it so easy for him, either.