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“Because she’s already doing too much for me,” I said, not wanting to tell him the real reason. “And they don’t let you borrow cards anymore. You have to be the account holder or on the account to use it and I don’t want her to have to go shopping with me when I need to go.”

“Ah. I’ll ask the guys. Maybe one of them has one.”

“Thanks. Oh, and thank you for clearing the snow off my car today.”

He looked confused. “Huh?”

“My car. You cleared the snow?”

“I didn’t clear the snow off your car, babe.”

“Well if you didn’t do it, who did?”

We all stood there, looking at one another.

“Maybe someone cleaned it off on accident?” Mom said. “You know how it is, can’t tell whose car it is till you get down to it.”

“But they shoveled the path to our front door,” I said, looking at her. “They knew it was mine.”

“Delta maybe?” Mom said.

“That homeless dude?” Mike asked.

I shook my head. “I haven’t seen him in weeks. I think he’s at the shelter for the winter.”

“Well, he must have come down here just for you,” Mom said.

“In six inches of heavy wet snow?” I said. “With the leg thing he has?” I looked between them. “This is seriously creepy. Who would do this?”

“Maybe you have a secret admirer,” Mike teased.

“Mike, this isn’t funny,” I said. “Whoever did it was out there at like, four in the morning. What if someone’s stalking me? I don’t want some weird stranger touching my car.”

“You can always move in with me sooner,” Mike said, winking at Mom. “I’ll keep you safe.”

This did not make me feel better.

I knew what it took to clear that kind of snow. Whoever did it was out there for at least an hour. An hour. I’d gone out there myself at 5:00 a.m., braced for the cardio, only to find it had already been done. Who wouldn’t take credit for that? Let me know they did it?

Mike watched me chew on my lip.

“Babe, it’s fine. Probably a neighbor or something, some guy trying to do something nice. I would have done it myself, but I had a migraine this morning. I’ll get it next time. No more creepy dude touching your car, okay?”

I nodded, but I was still disturbed.

He kissed my forehead and went back out to the truck with the box he had.

Mom leaned out into the hall to watch him go. Then she turned back to me. “It was Chris,” she said, so quiet she mouthed the last word.

I blinked at her. “What?”

“Chris!”

“Chris… Why would he do that?”

She gave me an Are you kidding me? look.

“He didn’t say anything,” I whispered.