Something New & Unexpected

by Sarah Matthews

  “You're not supposed to cut a baby's hair till they're one. Or so I've been told.” Morgan laughed lightly. “So, we’re waiting until after his birthday.”

  With a frown I straightened his little sweater and retied his tennis shoe. “It’s gonna be past his nose by then!”

  While I ate my pumpkin pie, with lots of whip cream, and talking with my family, my phone started ringing. Without checking to see who it was, I answered it.

  “Hello?” I said, trying to swallow a bite of pie.

  After a few seconds of not hearing anything, I again said, “Hello?”

  “Hello... Elle?” the voice asked on the other line.

  “No, this is Beth. Who is this?”

  “It's Steve.”

  “Oh, hi,” I said. Elle... one of my favorite nicknames for Elizabeth, I thought, a hint of a smile on my lips, backing away from the table. “I'm sorry, it's really hard to hear in here... hang on a minute.”

  “Okay.”

  I went over and grabbed my jacket, putting it on before asking someone to open the door for me. Once outside, I could finally hear him clearly.

  “Okay I'm outside so I can hear you better now. I was in a building that when you get enough people in it, you can't hear anything.”

  “I know.”

  “What?”

  “I know you were in a building where you couldn't hear.”

  “How could you know?”

  “Turn around.”

  I turned around and saw Steve, in his Carhartt coat, leaning against the passenger side door of his Ford truck; and I couldn’t help but smile, as I went to him. As I got closer, he started to stand up straight. When I got to him, he leaned down and kissed me. When it ended, he hugged me. As we hugged, I undid my seatbelt and he pulled back slightly, looking at me, questioningly.

  “So you don't have to keep leaning down,” I answered his unspoken question.

  He nodded and I put both of my arms back around his neck. He picked me up and I put my legs around his waist, as he leaned back against the truck again. He squeezed me tight and put his face against my neck, and I could feel that his beard was starting to grow back.

  We hugged for a long time before we finally looked at each other.

  “How did you know I was here?” I asked.

  “Apparently, my uncle knows your grandpa from out at the base and your grandpa was out there this week and they talked about their Christmas plans.”

  “Okay... but how did you find out about me?”

  “Well... I was talking to my uncle yesterday, and he mentioned your grandpa, and that he had a granddaughter around my age in a wheelchair, so, naturally, I asked who. When I found out it was you, I asked my uncle if he remembered where your grandpa said you guys would be today.”

  “Oh,” I said, as I put my head back on his left shoulder.

  A few minutes later, he said, “Oh! I almost forgot,” and stood straight up. “I have to put you down in your chair for a second.”

  “That's fine,” I replied, looking at him again.

  He gently sat me back in my chair, then opened the passenger door and got a long black box.

  “Sorry I didn't wrap it,” he apologized, handing it to me.

  “That's okay. It really doesn't matter to me,” I assured him. I reached into my jacket pocket and took out his gift and handed it to him. “See... I didn't wrap yours either.” I grinned, and he laughed.

  He said, “Open yours first.”

  I did. Inside the box was a somewhat short gold tennis bracelet. “Thank you so much,” I said, with a smile. “Do you think you can help me put it on?”

  “You're welcome and absolutely,” he replied, taking the bracelet out of the box and putting it on my right wrist. “A perfect fit,” he admired, after clasping the hook.

  “I know,” I agreed, looking at it. “Now yours,” I said, a few seconds later.

  “Okay.”

  When he opened the box and saw his watch, he had the biggest smile on his face. “Thank you,” he said, leaning down to kiss me.

  “You're welcome.”

  “Okay... two questions. One, is this the watch my dad gave me, and, two, if so, how did you get it?” he asked, standing back up.

  “Well... to answer your first question, yes, that's the watch your dad gave you. And to answer your other question, remember when I said I couldn't find my keys the other night?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well... when you went to look for them, I grabbed the watch and receipt and put them in my purse.” I smirked.

  “You little sneak... thank you. Did you find out what was wrong with it?”

  “Yeah. They said a screw was loose inside, but they didn't know why.”

  “That’s strange.”

  “I thought so, too.”

  “Oh, crap!” He realized, after putting on his watch.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It's already 1:30, and I'm supposed to be picking up more ice from the store. It only takes about fifteen minutes to go to the store and back and I've been gone forty-five minutes, so they're probably wondering where I am.”

  “Oh. Well... you better get a move on then so they don't start calling the police or something.” I laughed a little.

  “Yeah, I guess I have to... but I don't want to.” He picked me up out of my chair again.

  “I know, I don't want you to either,” I said, putting my head back on his left shoulder.

  Fifteen minutes later, he finally put me back in my chair and kissed me goodbye. As I started toward the door, I felt resistance so I turned back around and we kissed again.

  “Don't you have to go get ice?” I asked, as we kissed.

  “Uh-huh,” he answered, still kissing me.

  “Go... go before I change my mind.” I playfully pushed him back.

  “Okay. I'll call you later.”

  “Okay,” I replied, and headed back toward the door again, calling Matt to let me back in.

  Before I got too far though, I felt Steve pulling on my chair again so I looked back and smiled.

  He let go, and climbed in his truck. While I waited for someone to open the door, I looked back and waved goodbye with a somewhat somber face. Finally, after a few seconds, the door opened and I went back in.

  When I got back in, I took off my jacket and went back to the table to eat my pie.

  “Finally! I thought you got abducted, and Sam, over here, was going to finish your pie if you didn't come back in, in the next five minutes,” Leigh said.

  I pulled up, and started to laugh.

  “Weren't you cold out there with just your leather jacket?” Mom asked, but before I could answer my sister piped in again.

  “Of course she wasn't. Didn't you see that hot guy she was kissing and snuggling with outside? I would be nice and toasty if I snuggled with him, too.”

  Just then, I felt my body getting sweaty and my face turning beet red.

  “Look... she's turning red,” she teased, as she turned and looked at me.

  “Okay, who is he?” one of my aunts sitting at the table asked a few seconds later.

  “He's just a close friend,” I replied, trying to compose myself.

  “Sure he's a close friend, because I'm like that with all my close friends,” I heard my cousin, Michael, laugh, and everyone at the table started to laugh, too.

  “Okay, that's enough. Leave her alone. If she doesn't want us to know who he is then we should drop the subject. I'm sure she'll tell us about him when she's ready,” Morgan cut in, coming to my defense, and everyone got quiet.

  As they started talking amongst themselves, I mouthed, “Thank you,” to him before going back to finishing my piece of pie in peace, and he gave me a wink and smiled.

  The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, and we headed back to Shelbyville around three. When we got home around 4:45, I headed straight for my bathroom. I had to pee so bad that I didn’t
even take my jacket off. I hadn’t gone since I got up, so I felt like I was going to explode! I didn’t want to go at the lodge because I would’ve needed help. After I finished in the bathroom, I took off my coat and boots and laid down on the bed.

  A few minutes later, my cell phone rang and I immediately answered it. “Hello.”

  “Hello,” Steve said, on the other end, “Are you back home yet?”

  “Yeah, we got back about fifteen minutes ago. How about you?”

  “Almost. I'm between Plainfield and Indianapolis.”

  “Okay. Hope you're being careful.”

  “Don't worry... I am.” He laughed a little.

  “I'm serious.”

  “I know. But you don't have to worry about me.”

  “Yes, I do. I don't want anything to happen to you.”

  “I know, I know.”

  “Good. Now that we have that cleared up, I thought you might like to know that we're busted.”

  “Huh, what do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said, we're busted.”

  “How?”

  “Apparently, some of my family looked out the window because I’d been outside a long time, and they saw us.”

  “You were out there a long time.”

  “Yeah, forty-five minutes to be exact.”

  “Oh... oops!” He laughed, nervously.

  “Oops, is right.” I giggled.

  “Anyway, what did you do when they asked you what you were doing out there?”

  “I instantly turned beet red, then just told them I was catching up with a close friend.”

  “Did they buy it?”

  “No, of course not, but I didn't think they would. I just didn't want them to ask any more questions. Anyway, enough about me, what happened with you? Did your family wonder where you had been?”

  “Yeah, but I just told them that the store we usually go to in Riley was out of ice so I had to go to Terre Haute and I got stopped by a really slow train.”

  “Nice.”

  “I know.”

  “So, no one caught on?”

  “I don't think so, except for maybe my uncle... you know, the one who knows your grandpa.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Besides that, I don't think anyone else knows.”

  “They probably suspect something, but just aren't saying anything until they know for sure.”

  “Yeah probably. It sounds like we need to be a little more careful next time,” he suggested, seriously, but laughing.

  “Yeah... at least for a little while,” I agreed.

  “Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “That's fine, but remember it's my family's Christmas so from about five ‘til about nine, I won't answer my phone.”

  “Oh okay. No problem.”

  “Great... bye.”

  “Bye.”

  “Oh yeah, one more thing…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do me a favor, please text me when you get home so I know you made it back in one piece,” I said, laughing a little.

  “Okay, I will,” he replied, a lilt in his voice.

  We said bye a final time.

  A half an hour or so later, I got a text:

  Steve: I'm home and in one piece. :) Talk to ya tomorrow. Sweet dreams!

  And I was thankful.

  Chapter 8

  When I woke up the next morning, I laid in bed for another fifteen minutes trying to go back to sleep. Realizing it wasn't going to happen, because my mind kept going back to the dream, I got up and decided I needed to talk to Jo about it. After finishing in the bathroom, I went into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and to see what was for breakfast. As I fixed my coffee, my mom walked in.

  “Good morning,” she greeted me.

  “Good morning,” I replied, picking up my coffee cup, and heading back to the table. “What time are they supposed to be here this evening?” I asked, pouring some cereal into a bowl.

  “Around five. Why?”

  “Oh, I was just gonna go see Jo for a little while... that is, unless you need me here.”

  “No, I should be fine, but weren't you just there a couple nights ago?”

  “Yeah, but we really didn't get to catch up.”

  “Oh, okay,” she said, taking a sip of her freshly poured cup of coffee, and went back to her bedroom.

  After finishing breakfast, I called Jo to see if she was available to talk then hopped in the shower. Once dressed, I dried my hair before putting on my tennis shoes and my tennis bracelet. With my jacket on, I left for Jo's.

  By the time I got there, it was already 9:45. When I entered the house, I was hit with the scent of something baking.

  “Jo, what smells so good?” I asked, entering the kitchen.

  “Oh hi,” she said, getting a big plate out of one of the upper cabinets, “I'm making brownies.”

  “They sure smell good,” I replied, putting my purse on the table and taking my jacket off.

  “I know they do,” she agreed, putting the plate on the stove.

  A few seconds later, the buzzer went off and Jo took the pan out of the oven and put it on the stove to cool.

  “While we're waiting on those to cool, you want a glass of milk?” she asked, opening another upper cabinet.

  “Sure.”

  After pouring two glasses of milk and putting a straw in one, she set them both on the table.

  “Thanks.” I scooted up to the table.

  “No problem,” she said, returning to the stove.

  After putting the brownies on the plate and making sure the oven was shut off, Jo put the brownies on the table and sat down. “So, what's going on?” she asked, grabbing a brownie and taking a bite.

  “Well, besides the fact that I think I'm going crazy, everything’s fine.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Well, for starters, I had a dream the other night that I was getting married... to Steve.”

  “What?” she asked, making sure she heard me right and moving the brownie away from her mouth.

  “Yep,” I assured her that she heard me correctly.

  “Wow. What was it like?”

  “It was nice, but it creeped me out a little. It was so detailed.”

  “It would me, too,” she replied, breaking off a small piece of brownie and putting it in her mouth.

  “Not only that, but the fact that I've only known him for a few days and I'm already having dreams that I'm going to marry him,” I added.

  “Since you're a little freaked, I definitely want to hear about it... if you don't mind,” she said, taking another bite of her brownie.

  “No, I don't mind,” I replied, with a slight smile, and began telling her my dream.

  As I told her every single detail, I watched her face. Her expression went from smiling, to laughing, to finally amazement and disbelief.

  After telling her everything about the dream, Jo sat back in her chair for a minute then her lips quirked up.

  “I think you're in trouble.”

  “I know. What am I going to do?” I sighed, putting my elbow on the table and leaning my head against my hand. My sleeve slid up and my bracelet showed.

  Jo started to answer, when the bracelet caught her eye. “What is that?” she asked, curiously, but excitedly, sitting up and leaning a bit against the table.

  “What's what?”

  “That,” she clarified, pointing to the bracelet.

  I looked where she was pointing. “Oh that... it's just the Christmas present Steve gave me,” I answered, trailing off under my breath.

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” I responded, quietly, but with a half-smile.

  “I take back what I said, I don't think you're in trouble, I know you are.” She laughed, breathily, as she leaned back in her chair.

  “I know. What am I gonna do?” I asked, in a slightly anxious and worried tone, taking my elbow off t
he table and sitting up.

  As Jo leaned forward to say something, her cell phone, on the counter, rang. “Hang on... sorry.” She got up to answer it.

  “Oh, no problem.” I put my elbow back on the table and leaned my head against my hand.

  “Hello... What do you mean where am I? I'm here talking to Beth. Why? ...Oh... honey, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot. Has it already started? ...Well, how long do you think it will last? ...Oh, alright. Tell them I'm sorry ...I'll see ya when you get home... I'm sorry, again ...I will …I love you, too. Bye, babe.” Jo hung up the phone and sat down. “That was Jay. He said to tell you, ‘Hi”.

  “I figured that. I didn't think you call your dad or any of your coworkers ‘babe’. I could be wrong, but...” I lightly teased, sitting back up.

  “Yeah,” she said, with a little smile, “I guess you're right.”

  “Anyway, what are you missing?”

  “Oh, some of his coworkers, and their wives, invited us to spend the day with them out at the lake. It's no big deal.”

  “You should go.”

  “It's okay, really, there will be other times when I can meet coworkers. Besides, Jay understood completely.”

  “No,” I backed away from the table, “you should go. You hardly get to spend time with him as it is. Besides, I think my mom wanted my help today anyway.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely! Go have fun! It won't be too much longer before you won't have a chance to just spend some time with each other.” I looked at her growing belly.

  “You'll be okay?” she asked, rubbing it.

  “Yes, I'll be okay,” I assured her, grabbing my jacket.

  “Okay,” Jo said, grabbing onto my chair handle and slowly standing up.

  “You okay?” I asked, as she started to help me with my jacket.

  “Yeah, I'm fine,” she answered, trying to catch her breath, but smiling. “I'll be glad when I don't have to ask for help to get up.”

  “I bet.”

  “Jay thinks it’s downright hilarious.”

  “Of course he does. He's a guy. What do you expect? At least he helps you. He does help you, doesn't he?”

  “Of course he does... he laughs while he's helping, but what can you say?”

  “True,” I said, adjusting my jacket, and turning around to face her.