I knew he was testing the temperature with that early morning text.
The best way to describe the drive home last night would be… polite. I was embarrassed about how I had come on to him only to have him easily turn me down, and I think he knew I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say.
I went to bed once again thinking,why is he even interested in me? I bring nothing to the table.
Still, he didn’t deserve to be ignored, so I quickly replied.
Me: Good morning. She slept a little late today, so I don’t think she’ll be ready to eat again until closer to noon.
Alan: I’ll get there a little before then just in case she wakes up earlier.
Me: That’s probably a good idea. She does not like to be kept waiting when she’s hungry.
Alan: I know the feeling.
He included a smiling emoji. While I’d decided I wasn’t going to be rude to him, I also wasn’t in the mood for small talk via text, so I simply replied,
Me: I’ll see you later.
Around eleven o’clock, I heard the gravel crunch in the driveway and glanced out the window.
Parked in front of the house was a grey Toyota Sienna minivan, and I rolled my eyes, thinking someone from church had stopped to “check on us” since we hadn’t attended services that morning.
I have a newborn baby, people—cut me some freaking slack!
But then I saw Alan exit the driver’s door and I automatically stepped onto the porch to ask him what happened to Brian’s Silverado.
“Hey!” he said with a bright smile but not answering my question as he went around to the passenger door and pulled out a bouquet of flowers.
I couldn’t help but return his smile as he came up the steps.
“You didn’t have to do that…”
He leaned down and kissed my cheek but didn’t hand me the flowers.
“These are for your mom to thank her for inviting me and my parents to dinner.”
I felt silly for automatically assuming he brought me flowers.
“Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you.”
“And the minivan is for you.”
“What!?” I couldn’t help it, I shrieked with excitement. “Are you kidding?”
“Not at all. I’m going to be gone until Wednesday night, and I didn’t want you to worry about transportation. Plus, Brian is going to want his truck back at some point and we need a vehicle here. Do you wanna check it out?”
I was down the steps and had opened the passenger sliding door before he even finished asking the question.
In one of the captain’s chairs was a brand-new, top-of-the-line car seat. I spun around to look at him.
“This is an Ina.”
“Yeah, my assistant said it’s the best. You can take the car seat out, but the base stays in the car, so you just snap it in. No more having to install the car seat every time.” He went around to the back, waved his foot under the tailgate, and the hatch rose to reveal a stroller. “And the car seat attaches to the stroller, too. Plus, we can get a base for your mom’s car.”
Tears welled up in my eyes.
“I can’t believe you did this.”
