Riding in Truck with Boy

It turns out that Aaron didn’t know that Luke was being released, because he had been in a training that whole day, along with Brad.  However, as soon as I spoke with him, he had rushed over and stayed the night with me, keeping me close.  He gave the reassurance I needed but refused to ask for.

Even though I had an underlying feeling of dread clouding my mood, the weather outside had been gorgeous, and when I wasn’t in classes or at practice/matches, I was spending every second outside.

On Tuesday, I was walking out of practice, and had just slung my tennis bag into my trunk when I heard a loud buzzing from inside my car.  I slammed the trunk closed and opened my driver’s door, to see my phone, which I’d left in the cup holder, lit up with a notification of a text.

I opened it up to see a message from Aaron:  Picking you up at 1.  Dress for the outdoors and walking.

I smiled and started my car.  Aaron had been busy at work recently.  There had been a double homicide he was the lead on, and it was taking up a lot of his time.  However, no matter how crazy either of our schedules were, we had agreed that on Tuesdays, everything would be put aside for date night.  Usually we planned something together, or just ordered in and watched Netflix or grabbed some movies from Redbox.  But he also knew I loved surprises.  I giggled giddily to myself, excited to see what he had planned.

We had decided on Tuesdays mainly because that was my “early day.”  Practice was a relaxed day of a mile run and open hitting for a half hour.  We signed up for a time with a designated partner, so coaches could check in if they wanted.  And since it was my last semester, I only had 12 credit hours, and most of them were “easy” classes, because I’d scheduled it that way on purpose.  I only had 1 class on Tuesdays, and it was in the morning, so I was done for the day.  However, I was surprised Aaron was leaving work early. 

I showered quickly and elected to wear my grey Sperry’s, pale green skinny jeans, a flowing white shirt and a grey cardigan.  I threw my hair into a low side pony, and swiped on minimal makeup.

At 12:58 I heard a knock on my door.  I ran downstairs and flung open the door.  Aaron was holding a single red rose out towards me.  I raised my eyebrows in surprise.  “Special occasion?”

He grinned and wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me against him.  I inhaled his cologne deeply, kissing him lightly.  He pulled away, “Just because.”

“I’ll take it,” I grinned, and took the rose from his hand and quickly put it in water.  “Thank you,” I called from the kitchen.

“Ready?”

“Yep!” I skipped over to him, my hand magnetically finding his, and he escorted me out to his real car (truck), opening the door for me.  He can only drive his squad car inside county lines, so I had an idea we were leaving the county.  Compared to my tiny sports car, I loved riding around in his massive recent year Toyota Tundra.

After he pulled onto the highway, Aaron tentatively said, “Hey, Aleah, I need to talk to you about something.”

I turned to him, and looked at him suspiciously.  “Well, this doesn’t sound good.”

He sighed.  “No, sorry.  It’s nothing terrible.  I just know right now is kind of a... trying time for you with everything going on.”  I knew he was referring to Luke’s release.  He looked over at me, quickly studying my facial expression, and continued.  “The first three weeks of June, I was offered to go to and was approved to attend Crash Reconstruction Training in Philadelphia.  It’s going to be an awesome training and so cool to learn all of that.  It involves a lot of math like trigonometry and algebra and will really stretch me.  I’ll be the only detective in the office who will have that training because the other one is retiring in August!”  He was so animated and excited, his hand that wasn’t on the steering wheel moving rapidly in front of him.  When he finished talking, he was looking at me expectantly.

I busted out laughing.

He furrowed his brows at me.  “What?”

“It’s just,” I took a deep breath, to collect myself, “it’s so adorable how nerdy you are getting excited about math.”  He chuckled.  “But, you’re right, that’s so amazing, and I’m so happy for you!”

“Well, you don’t have a job yet, do you?

It was my turn to sigh.  I hadn’t been over-actively searching for a full time job.  As spoiled as it sounded, I knew that I technically wouldn’t need to work right away financially.  My parents had told me when I started college that they would fully support my living needs throughout my school career and 3 months after graduating, but then I better be prepared to help myself, or they wouldn’t be helping me anymore.  I was going to be working at the city park again teaching tennis lessons, and continue working at the racquet club, but unless I wanted to become certified and start teaching full time at the racquet club (which the manager had offered, or rather was begging, me to do), I couldn’t afford to work part time there and live.  I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, and had already decided I would substitute teach, if push came to shove, while I got certified to teach tennis lessons. 

“Not aside from teaching tennis all summer.”

“Why don’t you come with me?  I’ll be in training during the days, but we would have the evenings to explore and go out, and you could do whatever you wanted during the days, too.  And if not for the full time, maybe either the first or last week that I’m there?”

I contemplated that briefly.  “I may take you up on that,” I said, nodding my head, thinking that I could probably swing that.  “Can I think about it, look at my schedule, and make sure I could get some time off for that?”

He reached his hand over and grabbed mine and squeezed.  “Of course.”

I hadn’t even realized how much time had gone by during the drive, and sat up excitedly, when Aaron pulled into Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.

I gasped.  “Aaron!  I love the zoo!”

He laughed.  “We have a lot to see, so we better get going, then!”

He opened up his car door and started to get out but I grabbed his forearm, to stop him.  I pulled him back and leaned in, pushing my lips hard against his.  “Thank you,” I whispered against his lips.