the best surprise

You know how sometimes you find yourself silently wishing for something ludicrous that you would never dare ask for out loud? Those unspoken wishes usually never come true. But sometimes... well, you just never know.

This morning, I found myself back in my shower again. I was running late for work as usual, but unusually late. Col--what a gent--had woken up early to put the coffee on, but then we realized there was no milk left. What is coffee in the morning without milk? I dare not tread that forbidden path, lest my stomach revolt in acid anger. So I decided to go regrettingly without coffee at all.

This all happened before the shower. In fact, probably part of the reason I was running so unusually late was due to the 10 minutes spent in bed deliberating on the no-milk conundrum.

In the shower, however, I had more time to think. Going to work without coffee was really not an option, I was going to have to drink it black and suffer the reflux consequences. Maybe I could mix in lots of maple syrup to soften the blow.

This is where the wish came in. I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be so great if Col surprised me and ran to the store while I was in the shower?” I immediately brushed the thought out of my head. Just too cruel! But as I turned the water off and called out my usual after-shower “Hello?” there was no response. I opened the bathroom door, stuck my head out, and said it again. “Hello?” He wasn’t there. Au Lait, our kitty, was sitting outside the door looking back at me as if to say, “This really is unbelievable!”

At that moment, I heard the downstairs door open and close. I quickly closed the bathroom door and flipped the fan on, so as not to ruin the surprise. He came in quietly, and then said in belated response, “Hello? Are you still moisturizing in there?”

I said, “yup” and waited a couple seconds before going out to greet him. He was standing in the kitchen stirring milk into my coffee. Not only that, but he had bought me a donut for breakfast too. His face was glowing with smiles, “Look what I did!” I ran up to him and gave him a big kiss. “You’re the best,” I said.