“Ami’s room.”
Not at all what I was thinking but clearly my thoughts had run along the lines of perverse. Of course he’s asking something about his child that he pays me to take care of. “What about it?”
“I need it to look like…”
He was wavering and I could hear the unspoken words as though he’d said them outlaid. He wanted her room to reflect how he felt now and not the way he’d originally thought of her when he knew she was going to be coming into this world.
“Like?”
“Like a princess lives there. I know the room is okay but it doesn’t look as loved as I want it to. I thought about having a decorator come and do stuff but I figured between you and my mama y’all could probably put it together in a way that really reflects her and not what some random lady wants.”
“Reflects her? She’s nine weeks old, Aldrich.”
He shrugged and I knew he wanted the full princess experience for this room without him saying it. “You know what I’m saying. You think you can handle it?”
I stood up to face him finally done with the stretching and hoping I could walk to the other side of the house once all this was done. “You know I would love to do it. Should I wait on your mom or—”
“Nah. That’s your job based on your position in her life. You’re going to be here all the time so it’s your call.” He did that thing with his eyes like he was trying to say something but he wasn’t going to verbalize it. Like I should know what it was he was trying to say.
“Aldrich—” He kept looking at me with the same intensity and it was like all the blocks he’d placed up were falling the longer he looked at me. Aldrich took one step toward me and I held my breath, wondering what he was about to do.
I didn’t say a word as he came closer but we both jumped back as the doorbell rang and shook us out of whatever trance we’d been in.
With his eyes still on me, Aldrich pulled his phone out of his shorts and I went to grab mine to check the baby monitor.
“Were you expecting someone?”
“Yeah, kinda, they just got here quicker than I expected.” Aldrich was now looking down at the phone with an odd look on his face. I watched to ensure the doorbell hadn’t woken Ami up since she hadn’t been asleep for an hour yet. When I looked up Aldrich was walking toward me and then took my hand.
“Come on, we gotta head outside real quick.” Aldrich hit a button and spoke into the phone. “I’ll be right there, don’t ring the bell again.”
Aldrich started to pull me toward the front of the house and only stopped to toe off the sneakers he’d had and waited on me to do the same.
“What are we doing?”
He was walking ahead of me tugging me along so that I couldn’t stop and make him answer me.
Aldrich glanced back with those two dimples popped out again as we made it to the front of the house.
“You've gotta promise you won’t get mad.”
There was no way in hell I was going to promise that so I simply glared at him as he pulled open the front door. My mouth dropped open when I saw what was going on outside.
“You really went overboard with this.”
I tried to hide my pleasure as I watched the car roll off of the flatbed and into the driveway. The Q7 that was being delivered was a gorgeous car and exactly what I would’ve picked.
“I got one with the prestige package added so we don’t have to worry about maintenance or anything. Not like I wouldn’t cover it if there were an issue. The only interior they hadavailable was the cedar brown but just like you suggested, it seats seven and has great safety reports. So, did I do good?”
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and he had the playful look of the character Murray in the movieCluelesswhen he gave his speech about street slang and misogynistic undertones. All he was missing was his sticking his tongue out gleefully since he knew he’d exceeded my expectations.
“You know it’s amazing, so why are you even seeking my validation?”
“The last thing I was going to do was come up here with a bullshit car and think you weren’t going to check it out or check me if it wasn’t right for Ami.” The look he gave me was playful seriousness. Like he knew I would insist he take the car back if it was some bullshit.
I bumped him playfully with my shoulder causing the bun that had barely been hanging on to fall to one side. “You make me sound like a taskmaster or something. I work for you, remember?”
“Do you though? Cause I thought for sure that you were real good at telling me what I can and can’t do.”
