Boxes, Vans and Surprises

Josh called me Monday night while I was at work and we spoke for a few minutes before my break was over. He called me again on Tuesday but I was already done with my break so I didn’t get the message until I was finished work. I wanted to call him then but I wasn’t sure if he still would be up, so I didn’t.

He called me about ten minutes after I got home; we spoke for a few minutes. He wanted to know if I wanted to go out the next night or just stay in. I told him that it would probably be best if we were some where that we could talk. He told me I was right, we hung up not long after.

Wednesday I spent most of my time at Chad’s house with Susan, she asked me to come over and help her do some decorating in their house. It was officially the first real visit I made to my brother’s house since he moved back to town; I was a little ashamed of myself for that.

Around 3pm, Susan asked me to take their van and go pick up the kids for her. “I just want to finish going through these boxes before they get home,” she told me. Since I wasn’t really helping that much with the boxes, I jumped at the chance to get out.

It was a little weird driving their van but Susan insisted on it since the kids would be looking for it and not my car. “Oh!” Susan exclaimed, “I promised Mary I would pick the girls up too! I totally forgot about that. Mary has an appointment at…” Susan looked up at me. “Well you know.” I nodded, I did know, Mary had an appointment

I arrived at the parent-child center where Conner was attending a few preschool classes every week; he was waiting on the sidewalk with a bunch of other kids. When he saw the van pull up, he looked so happy. When he saw me get out of the van, he paused slightly.

“Aunt Anna!” He started to run towards me, his backpack slipping down his arms as he moved. “I missed you!” He told me when he leaped into my arms. “Are you coming to my house to play with me?”

As I helped him into the van, I told him that I was already at his house. “I’ve been there all morning waiting for you!”

He giggled, “Aunt Anna, I have school now.” Conner looked so cute as he gave me a ‘you should know that’ look; I couldn’t help it as I leaned in and gave him a kiss. “Ewww Aunt Anna!” He wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.

Shaking my head, I slid the door closed and jumped in so we could go to the elementary school to get Krystal and Natalie. The girls were surprised to see me driving the van. “Is mommy ok?” Krystal asked as she pulled her seat beat around and snapped it into place.

“Yes,” I told her as we pulled onto the road and headed for the high school. “Your mom is just in the middle of going through boxes, she wanted to finish so she could spend the whole night with her favorite children.”

That comment lead to Conner and Krystal arguing over who their mom loved the most. “Mommy loves me more because I help her out!” Krystal crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Conner.

“No Krys, mommy loves me more because I’m her little man!” Conner stuck out his tongue at his sister.

Meanwhile Natalie, who was quiet all this time, finally said something. “Your mom loves you both the same, right Aunt Anna? That’s what my mom says.”

I nodded, “That’s right Natalie.”

When I pulled into a parking spot at the high school I didn’t see either Cassie or Lindsay outside the school. But I did spot Josh as he watched over the kids as they left the school. “Umm,” I glanced at the kids in the back. “I’m going to see if Cassie and Lindsay are on their way, I won’t be long!”

I felt a little weird about leaving them in the van by themselves but I told myself I wouldn’t be long and I kept an eye on the van as I made my way down the sidewalk towards the school.

Josh was side on to me as I approached him so he didn’t see me coming. I wanted to do something crazy like jump him but I knew that he wouldn’t like that, seeing the number of times he told me that he wanted to keep work from his personal life, so I had to be satisfied with just talking to him.

“Did you happen to see two teenage girls who happen to be related to me?” I asked as I stood beside him. I know it sounded stupid but I didn’t care, he turned to me that was all I cared about.

“Not in the last couple minutes,” he smiled at me. “What are you doing here? Couldn’t wait until later?” He sounded a little hopeful when he said that.

I nodded and smiled up at him. “Who could blame me though? I have plans with the hottest man in the world.”

Josh chuckled, “Oh? Blowing me off?”

“No!” I scoffed, slapping his arm. “You know I was talking about you!”

He was looking at a group of kids at the bottom of the steps, so he didn’t say anything right away. “I know,” he said once the kids had moved on. “I have something to tell you though, about tonight.”

“What?” I frowned; I was hoping he wasn’t breaking our plans.

“I –”

“Aunt Anna?” Cassie and Lindsay came running over to us. “Where is Aunt Susan? Did something happen to the baby? Is every thing ok?”

I explained to the girls how Susan asked me to pick them all up and bring them back to her house. Looking at Josh, I sighed. “I guess I should get going before Susan starts to worry.” I started to walk away when Josh grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me back along side him, I was facing away from him and he was still watching the kids as they left the school. But his arm was around my waist.

“Before the girls came over I was going to tell you,” he spoke softly against my ear. “I ended up canceling practice today, so as soon as everyone is gone, I’m going home.”

I turned to look up at him, “Really?” I gasped.

He smiled, “Yes really. I have to go home and shower but I would love it if you were able to go out to dinner with me tonight as well.”

“Yes!” I exclaimed, I was really excited about spending more time with him than I thought I would.

A couple kids that were standing around, turned to see what was going on, Josh turned a little red when he saw their curious looks but he didn’t drop his arm from around my waist. “So I’ll pick you up at Chad’s?”

I shook my head, “I have to go home to change and stuff. How about I meet you?”

We made plans for me to meet him at his place by 5 and from there we would go out for dinner and then we would talk about where we were going from there.

I couldn't wait, I was determined to find out once and for all if he was the one who was calling and not talking. And if he was the one who sent me the flowers on Valentine's Day.