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“I’m just dropping something—”

“Get in here. You’re letting the flies in.”

She wrangled me inside and shut the door behind me.

“Larissa’s still asleep. I’ll get her.” She turned for the bedroom.

“No, don’t. I’m just dropping something off.”

She twisted to look at me. “You sure?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

She came back over and peeked into the bag I was holding. “Whatcha got?”

Then I heard a noise from the back of the apartment. My dog bolted from Larissa’s room and she came out behind him in her pajamas. “Oh. Chris,” she said, freezing in the hallway. She looked rumpled. Her hair was messy. “Are you picking up Woofarine? I thought it was my turn—”

“No, I got you something. It’s not a big deal. I just figured I should drop it off sooner than later. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t wake me up.” She smiled. “You got me something? Let me brush my teeth, give me a minute.”

She went to the bathroom and I picked up my dog.

“Want some coffee?” Nancy asked, opening the cabinet for a mug.

I shook my head. “No, I’ve got coffee and breakfast in the car. I’m going to Mike’s next.”

“Larissa, coffee?” she yelled, pouring herself a cup.

“Yes, please.”

Woofarine wiggled in my arms, excited to see me and I scratched under his chin.

Larissa came out a minute later, padding down the hall.

“So what’d you get?” she asked, taking the mug her mom handed her.

“It’s not anything big,” I said, putting Woofarine down. I pulled out the contents of the bag and set it on the small kitchen table. “I stopped at the cake section in a craft store on the way over. I got you these.”

I set a stack of flattened white pastry boxes on the table with clear peephole windows in the top, three spools of ribbon in different colors, and some gift tags. “I watched a few videos last night about the graze boards we talked about, and they come in these nice boxes? I got you a few. You know, for prototypes.”

She looked at the things I set on the table. “You bought me all this?”

“I mean, you don’t have to use them. I just thought if you wanted to try it. They put these cardboard inserts in there so the box isn’t wobbly. I got ten of everything, a few different sizes so you can see what works. You tie it closed with the ribbon and then put the tag. You can change the ribbon for the seasons—you probably know that. You’re better at that stuff than I am…” I looked up at her. She’d gone silent.

“Chris, this is… this is so thoughtful.” Her eyes came up to mine.

“I just… want to help you,” I said.

We gazed at each other.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t want to keep looking at her, so I picked up our dog again and pretended I needed to pet him.

I wanted to bring her more. I wanted to get her breakfast and a latte. Actually, I wanted to take her out to eat. Sit somewhere in a booth across from her, stay too long. One of the books we liked came out in theaters last week and I wanted to take her to the movie too.

But there was a fine line between what I could do for her and what I should do for her.