So, he’d taken a chance and asked. She’d shyly said yes.
Which led to him racing to his own stores to buy thirty-five pounds of meat, burgers and hot dogs and smokies and steaks, pork chops and chicken breasts, since he actually hadn’t thought to ask what Teela liked. He then figured that maybe she didn’t eat meat at all. That she might actually be a vegetarian or a vegan. So, he’d made a second trip and bought three salad kits. When he got home, he wasn’t sure if salad kits were safe to eat for a pregnant woman, since they might contain bacteria, so he’d gone and got two heads of lettuce and all the appropriate vegetables- carrots and peppers and celery and cucumber, and prepared everything from scratch. He made sure he washed it well, with organic veggie wash, which his stores also sold.
As soon as he’d done that, he searched the cupboards and came up short on the tea for the iced tea so he’d made a third trip. Luckily, he had the foresight to get a few things for dessert.
The salad was currently in his fridge, chilling and fresh, the meat was wrapped up in a plate just below that. There was chocolate cake in his crisper and all the left-over veggies were just below that. The iced tea sat just in front of the milk in the pitcher he’d used only once in his entire life.
Everything was ready. Now all he had to do was pace and worry.
Worry that since it was ten minutes after four and he’d said four, that maybe Teela had changed her mind. Worry that his cooking was shit and she’d puke before she even tasted it and not because of the whole pregnancy sickness deal. He worried that he had no idea how to tell his parents he was going to be a dad. He had no idea how to be a dad period.
The groove in the floor was getting so deep that he’d have to climb out of it, when Teela’s little red car pulled into the driveway.
Ross froze. He watched her park next to his SUV. The car was a quarter of its size and he realized that he shouldn’t let her drive around in it. She was going to be the mother of his child. His baby would be ported in that car, so small it looked like a damn toy.
He said he was totally done with people taking advantage of him, but he had money to spare. Would Teela take it if he offered her his SUV? It was a year old. Paid for with cash. He could treat himself to something newer…
He still had the same house, the house he’d had before the company ever took off, the house he’d been fully prepared to sell. It was nothing special, just a thousand square foot sixties bungalow that he’d renovated inside and out the past year. Still, nothing special. The suburb was decent, but it was old, full of sixties houses with basements that often flooded if there was a lot of snow in the spring.
Teela climbed out of the car. She glanced at the house, then behind her, and off to the sides, as though she was taking everything in. Ross didn’t give her a chance to see him there, gaping at her like the world’s biggest creeper. He took off embarrassingly fast to the front door.
Before Teela even had a chance to ring the bell, he pulled the door open.
She looked up, brushed her long thick hair over her shoulder, and gave him a shy smile that melted every single bone in his body. She’d curled her hair. He noticed right away. Like, really curled it. The ringlets were pretty and even and whatever spray she used gave her hair an even prettier sheen than it normally had. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but then again, she never did and she certainly never needed it. Her skin glowed with health and her cheeks were pink tinged.
“Sorry I’m late,” she breathed. “Traffic was insane. Not sure what’s going on with the Sunday afternoon crowd. I should have left earlier.” Her voice, as pretty and light as ever, did all sorts of tightening things to his insides.
“No problem,” Ross assured her. There was no chance in hell he was going to tell her he’d actually had doubts that she was going to show. “I- come on in. I have everything ready. Not sure if you actually even like BBQ so I made a backup salad. I bought chocolate cake too. Not sure if you liked that either, but…” he cut himself off when he realized he was rambling on and that his palms were damp and that his heart was kicking the shit out of the underside of his ribs. Get it the hell together. This is a BBQ for god sakes. It’s not like we’re going to go to the backyard and get married or something. I shouldn’t be this damn nervous.