I shoved Morgan into her bed and stayed up very late, busy in the kitchen. I also checked the Woodsmen fan social media accounts and saw that the players’ party had been really fun but at a different bar, far away from the main downtown strip. We had been totally in the wrong place and all we had to show for it were hurt feelings and lighter wallets.
I didn’t sleep very much and before it really counted as morning, I was back in the car and then I was back at Shane’s house, hishalf of the duplex. I waited as the sun slowly rose and finally, his front door opened.
“Hi.”
He spun around and threw up his hands. I saw a sliver flash as his key ring flew through the air and heard a clink as it landed somewhere. “Molly?” he asked, squinting. “Is that you?”
“It’s me,” I agreed.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize and I brought you muffins. They were supposed to be blueberry muffins but we didn’t have any berries and we didn’t have any other fruit, either, and I was making them after midnight so there wasn’t anything open…they’re just naked muffins.” I stepped forward and held out the tin but when he reached for it, he hit my wrist by mistake. The naked muffins went flying, just like the keys had, and arced through the air. They scattered across the driveway.
“Good golly,” he said, staring around at the baked goods fiasco. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I am. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about the mess and I’m sorry about how things went last night. I didn’t mean to make you take care of my sister and I didn’t mean for you to hear all those things about my family. I really, really didn’t mean for your feelings to get hurt.”
“They’re not.” He picked up a few muffins and returned them to the pan, then peered around. “Did you see where my keys went? I have to get to the airport.”
It was getting a lot lighter so it should have been easy to find them. I couldn’t believe that he could have thrown them very far, either.
“I’m going to miss my flight,” he said after we’d searched for much, much too long. “That’s my house key, too. I can’t lock my door.”
“There aren’t a lot of residential burglaries around here,” I said, and hoped that was true. “I have an idea. I’ll drop you off for your flight and then I’ll come back to find them. I’ll set up a grid search like an archaeologist and I’ll crawl on my hands and knees.”
He took another fleeting glance at the driveway. “You’ll find them?”
“I promise,” I said and kissed my two fingertips, a gesture I had never made before and whose meaning was unknown to me. I just wanted him to know that I was serious.
Shane was reluctant but he did agree, and we drove to the airport. “Where are you going?” I asked.
“Chicago. Will you lock my door? I just got a new TV.”
“Yes, I absolutely will. I don’t really think that people steal those anymore, anyway. But I will! I promise.” He turned to look back at his unsecured house. “The muffins might be ok,” I suggested. He had put the tin on his lap but hadn’t yet tasted them. “I didn’t use refined sugar.”
“I’m sure they’re good. You didn’t have to bring them over this morning.” He paused. “And wait in the dark.”
I had considered texting him but had further considered that a surprise would have been better. “I was thinking that you might not want to talk, but if I ambushed you, you might have to.”
At first, he didn’t speak, but then he started to chuckle. “Then it turned into a cluster.”
It definitely had. We weren’t that far away from the airport and I wanted to make sure that everything was ok before I dropped him off. It was very important to me that I made it ok. “What do I need to do?” I asked.
“What do you mean? Find the keys and—”
“I mean, what I need to do to make it all up to you? My sister said rude things that weren’t accurate and I’d like to, um, recompense you in some way.”
“You did give me muffins,” he pointed out. “Molly, I wasn’t offended by anything your sister said. I’m not offended by anything that you think, either.”
“I don’t think that you—” No, it was better not to repeat anything about attraction. “I hope not,” I concluded. But a ride to the airport and dirty, bare muffins weren’t enough recompense. I noticed that when he got out of the car and grabbed his bag from the back seat, he left those behind in the tin.
“Thanks for driving me,” he said. “Let me know if you find the keys.”
“I will find them. Absolutely,” I promised. I planned to skip class so I could look. “I’ll hold them for you and I’ll pick you up when you get back.”
“That’s not necessary.” He suggested a few hiding spots at his house instead and told me to text their location, so we wouldn’t have to see each other at all.
“Oh. Ok, good idea,” I said. “Shane—ok,” I repeated, because he was walking away. Ok.
