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It’s addressed to me.
I pick it up and carry it inside. The box is moderately heavy, rectangular, not too big, but not small either. I place it down on the table, staring like it’s a bomb. Curious, I shoot Gareth a text.
Fiona: Did you send me a package? Something just showed up.
Gareth: Strange. A mystery package. Open it.
I’m smiling to myself as I type.
Fiona: You sent it, didn’t you?
Gareth: I will neither confirm nor deny that. Open it.
Fiona: If it’s lingerie, I swear.
Gareth: I wish it was. And you swear, what? You’d wear it for me?
Fiona: I’ll makeyouwear it.
Gareth: I look good in fishnets. Open the box, Fiona.
I grumble to myself, trying not to smile, before grabbing scissors and cutting it open.
Inside is a shoebox from a new climbing company I’ve been really into lately, Adirondack Peaks. I blink rapidly and my heart rate doubles.
Fiona: Did you get me climbing shoes????
Gareth: Might have. Do you like them?
I open the box and suck in a breath. It’s their top-of-the-line model, their best shoe, the sort of thing I could never, ever afford on my own. I’ve been lusting after these for a really long time. And they’re in my size. He must’ve looked at my old climbing shoes to figure out what I wear.
This is the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me.
Fiona: You didn’t have to do this.
Gareth: Things have been weird between us since we got back from the beach.
Gareth: I wanted to do something nice.
Fiona: Well, this is nice. Thank you. I love them.
I’m grinning to myself as I sit down to try them on.
Like a dream, they fit perfectly.
“Damn it,” I whisper to myself, laughing like a maniac, thinking about what Cait said.
Should I really set aside the no-sex clause?
Try to make this fake thing into something more?
I’m tempted. And this spontaneous gift tempts me even more.
It’s a bit of a mixed signal—he pulls away into his work, but then he does something like this.
A gift that suggests he actually knows me and pays attention to what I want.
He’s obviously into me too—I think Cait’s right about that.
