“I am,” I tell her, my nose buried in the crook of her neck.
“Where’d you go?”
“Buster wanted to go out.”
“Figured.” She kisses the tip of my nose and adds, “How’s the lip? And your side?”
“It’s fine.” I’d taken another Advil during the night, and the effects of it haven’t worn off quite yet. “What are you doing after work today?”
“Well,” she says, thoughtfully tapping her finger to her chin. “My chess league meeting got canceled, so I guess I can call up my crochet club to see if they want to work on our community afghan.”
“Really?”
She giggles, slapping her hand to my chest. “No! I’m all yours.”
I poke at her side, tickling her sensitive spot to make her squirm. “Smart ass,” I call her endearingly.
“Why? Did you have something planned?”
I think about how to tell her all the things that feel like they’re bursting from my chest. That I love her. That I want us to be more serious and to tell people about us. Her family, my sister. Everyone. But right now, rushing with Grace having toleave for work in an hour, doesn’t feel right. So, I tell her, “It’s a surprise.”
Her brows shoot up to her hairline. “A surprise?” she asks skeptically. “I think right now might be a good time to remind you what happened the last time you had a surprise for me.”
I internally flinch at the memory. “Then think of this as a do-over. To make amends.”
She bites her lip, uncertainty written all over her face through her silence.
“And we’ll stay in,” I add, hoping to ease some of her trepidation. “I’ll cook.”
Her face lights up. “Okay.”
With Grace gone the whole day, I stay busy in her condo. I clean up and do some grocery shopping. I splurge on some lobster to take a stab at a pasta dish I found online. I leave Buster on his own after he’s been following me around all morning so I can get a haircut and go home to get a few things. In particular, an outfit that’s a little more appropriate for a date night, regardless of the fact that we won’t be going out. It worked out since Grace’s dog walker came by while I was out. I make a small mental note to tell Grace to give her dog walker a break while I’m temporarily unemployed. I manage to dig up some candlesticks and dinnerware that look to be set aside for special occasions with its platinum trim and porcelain feel. By the time Grace walks through the door, the scent of savory butter and cream fills the air.
“What’s going on here?” she asks, a pleased look of approval on her face.
“Dinner,” I tell her. What I don’t tell her about are the acrobatics that were involved to prep and cook a lobster tail. I went in blind and ended up using a YouTube video after I realized how ill-prepared I was. The Pinterest recipe I used definitely kept that from me.
“Now this is the kind of surprise I like.” She wraps her arms around my waist as I’m stirring in the last of the lemon zest. I turn down the heat and turn to greet her.
“Hi.”
A contented, blissful smile looks up at me. “Hi.”
“How was your day?”
“Okay,” she answers. “Better now that I’m home. You?”
“Buster and I had a great day.”
“You did?” She looks doubtful, but her support doesn’t waver.
I nod. “Very productive.”
She pulls away, studying me. Her eyes briefly skim over the cut on my lip. She moves over to the rest of my face like she’s looking for any cracks, any slips where my positive pretense could merely be a mask I’m wearing over the glum attitude she’s expecting me to wear.
“What?” I ask when her skeptical look doesn’t waver.
She shrugs. “Just that…you seem pretty upbeat for someone whose job is up in the air.” I know when she left this morning, my emotional well-being was a concern for her. She made sure I was comfortable in her apartment. Told me where she kept an extra box of Buster’s treats, the different frozen dinners stacked in her freezer. I nearly shoved her out the door with the lunch I packed for her as I assured her I’m an adult and can take care of myself for eight hours. Even then, she left with an edge of caution. “Has…HR said anything?”
