Page 74 of ‘Til You Came Along

“Of not having control?” He teases.

I hip check him. “No…well yes. But…I just don’t like not knowing!” He opens the door for me and helps me inside.

“It’s good practice. Let loose a little,” He says as he closes the door.

Once he is in his seat I say, “I don’t think that’s in the cards for me, my sweet potato pie.” He chuckles and rolls his eyes. He is used to my bizarre names by now.

We start driving and I keep trying to guess where we are going. He says no to everything. We finally turn into the parking lot of the diner we had our first date at.

“Aw! Are we recreating our first date?” I exclaim loudly, looking at him with a big grin.

“No. Stay here.” He tells me to stay put, jumps out of the car, and runs inside. I slump in my seat, more confused than ever. He comes back out a few minutes later with a big bag in his hand. He places it in the back seat before hopping back into the driver’s seat. He pulls out of the parking lot and gets back on the road. I narrow my eyes, looking around.

He puts the radio back on to try and distract me and I reach over to swat his arm. After just a few minutes there is a thump and the truck jolts. There is a weird sound and the truck starts to slow down.

“What the hell was that?” He mutters as he puts his hazards on and pulls to the side of the road. Luckily it isn’t a busy road…and it isn’t dark outside yet.

“Is this part of the surprise?” I whisper and he glares at me which makes me laugh. His glares used to make me angry but now I find them entertaining. He doesn’t glare much anymore. He is able to communicate his feelings with me almost perfectly and he has grown a lot in communicating with others as well. I’m so proud of how far he has come. His strength and resilience amaze me.

He gets out of the car and walks around, inspecting. I watch him expectantly. He finally walks back around to my window. “Flat tire,” He grumbles.

“Oh no!” I say sympathetically. “What can I do to help?”

“Nothing, baby. I have a spare. Just give me a few minutes.” He leans in the window to give me a quick peck on my lips.

I turn the radio louder so he can hear it outside. I also take pictures so we canremember it and laugh later. I know it will be funny eventually. Once he realizes I am taking pictures of him, he starts glaring even more, which just makes me laugh more.

After about 30 minutes, he is done…but covered in grease and dirt.

“It’s okay! Honestly, we can just go home!” I insist.

“No. It’s fine, I think I might have a spare shirt in the back.” He strips off his sweater, pulling his undershirt up with it. I whoop and holler .

“Take it off!” I sing. He fixes the t-shirt underneath and gives me an incredulous look, but he smiles too.

“You’re insane,” He chuckles. I smile at him, my head on my arms that areresting on my open window. He rummages through his stuff and comes up with a long sleeve Penbrooke baseball shirt. “Well…it’s better than nothing.”

“I think I’d prefer nothing, honestly,” I tease and he narrows his eyes at me.

“Don’t start with me, baby,” He croons back and gives me his squinty flirty eyes. I pretend to fan myself which makes him shake his head again. He walks back to the driver’s seat.

“Thanks for saving the day, turkey leg,” I say. He mumbles ‘turkey leg’ under his breath while putting his seat belt on. He turns the car back on and we are off again.

“Okay, here we go again!” He says enthusiastically. I know better than to ask where we are going again, so I just settle for holding his hand and telling him about my day. I am just about done when he pulls into a park that is pretty empty. A few people stroll around, but for the most part it isn’t too occupied.

“A park?” I muse. “Are we going to do the monkey bars?” He ignores me this time, but I see him smile.

He drives a little way to a small field next to a pond. “We’re having a picnic.” He smiles at me.

“A picnic?” I gasp. “I’ve always wanted to have a picnic!”

“I know.” He keeps smiling. We get out of the truck, and he walks to the back. I follow him. He opens the tailgate and I see a few blankets, a cooler and a bouquet of beautiful little blue flowers, my favorite ones.

“Baby!” I cry, and he chuckles as I wrap my arms around him. I kiss him quickly before I grab the bag of food he got from the diner, and we make our way to a flat patch of grass next to the pond. He lays out a big flannel blanket, grabs the cooler and opens it. He pulls out a jar, which he sticks the flowers in and setsthem down on the blanket. I smile at him, wondering how on earth I got so lucky. He unpacks some bottles of water and then motions for me to sit. He sits also, grabbing the food back and pulling it towards him.

“I didn’t think the veggie omelet would travel well, so I picked a chicken Caesar wrap with sweet potato fries.” He takes the styrofoam tray out and hands it to me.

“Yum,” I smile. “Thank you, this is…this is amazing. Better than anything I was imagining.” I look at him seriously, earnestly. He smiles.

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