“Does it have to do with more ice cream?”
I filled the truck with laughter. After all that, he had his mind on ice cream?
“No… but I’ll remember to finally give you your damn ice cream later.”
He rolled his eyes and looked aloof. “Fine…”
“Something tells me you’re going to like this surprise, though,” I tempted.
Fifteen minutes later, I took the truck up the nearby mountain a little bit and turned onto a dirt path.
“Adam, where are we going?” Luke asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“I told you, it’s a surprise!” I said, a tingling sensation in my gut.
The truck took on the pothole-filled road with ease, and before long I was pulling up the long, smooth driveway of a beautiful farmhouse with a towering rustic barn behind it.
“Adam… what is this?” Luke asked, taking it all in.
“It’s my second house,” I said proudly. “Come on, check it out! I don’t have to be at work for another hour or so anyway…”
As I parked the truck, I studied Luke carefully. He was looking at the restored farmhouse with awe, taking in the charming structure with the wrap-around porch, the ornamental gables, and then the modified barn in the back with the fresh coat of paint on it.
“It looks like… it looks like a dollhouse,” he said. “Did you do all this?”
I smiled as I got out of the truck. “Yeah, it’s been my project for the past few years. I love fixing up houses…” Hastily, I went over to Luke’s side, opened the door for him, and helped him step out onto the grass.
“Such a gentleman!” he said, half-joking.
“I try,” I said with a smirk.
“So, is it all bougie inside, too?” Luke asked excitedly as he ran to the front door.
“It is, but I wanted to show you something first,” I said.
His face fell and a shadow crossed his eyes.
“You can trust me. You do trust me, right?” I asked, my tone getting serious.
He closed his eyes, seemed to make some kind of decision deep inside, then said, “Yeah, I trust you.”
Then as if nothing had happened, he threaded his arm through mine and we set off across the lawn. But the way his eyes had fallen just now… didn’t that mean that he didn’t fully trust me?
The way he smiled up at me while he had his arm threaded through mine pushed all of my fears and doubts away, at least for now.
I opened the huge barn door and led him inside. To my delight, everything was just as I’d left it.
“Oh my God…” Luke uttered from behind me as he took it in.
I stood tall and proud. “Do you like it?”
“Do I like it?!” he exclaimed, “This is… this is wonderful, Adam!” he said as he walked around.
The inside of the barn had been completely remodeled into a beautiful chic living space.
Luke went over to a set of chairs in the corner and flopped down in one. “What is it?”
“This? It’s a hosting space,” I said.
“No I mean, that’s obvious,” he said, sinking further into the chair and looking up at me innocently.
I bit my lip, wanting nothing more than to bending him over that chair and give him some spankings.
“I meant, what is it? Why did you build it; do you have parties here all the time or something?”
“Oh!” I said, walking over to the bar area. “Well, sometimes. The city pays me to use it to host a bunch of social groups and stuff from time to time…” I paused, a nugget of gold lingering on the edge of my memory. “Actually, your mother’s hosted events here a few times. Brunches with her friends, fundraiser parties, all kinds of stuff like that.”
Luke didn’t look surprised, but he said, “I had no idea she was so close to you.”
“We’re not close!” I said, waving my hands. “I was just realizing that she probably uses this space more than I do. What I use it for is hosting family events sometimes.”
“Family events?” he asked, curious. “Do you have a big family?”
I tried to suppress a chuckle. “Yeah. There’s my brother Jake — you’ve met him. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s attached at my hip. Then there’s his wife Erin. I don’t think she’s going to be coming around here anymore, though. And I have 2 more brothers, three sisters, plus all of their spouses or long term partners.”
Luke’s mouth popped open. “Wow… that is a huge family!” he said. Then his face fell.
“What?” I asked, my voice full of concern as I rushed over to him.
“It’s just that… I’ve told you before. I’ve always wanted a big family. I’m just a little envious— that’s all.”
I let out a slow breath, relieved that it was something that simple. In my mind, I was already introducing Luke to everyone at Thanksgiving, having him come with us on family vacations, being by my side all the time…
And he wasn’t even my boyfriend yet. He was still just a… friend.
Even saying that in my head sounded lame.
But, I knew that things would change very soon.
“It’s just you and your parents, right? You’re an only child?” I asked, walking over to the ladder to the hayloft.
“No, I have a sister,” he said, sitting up to watch where I was going, “but she’s always off saving the world or something. She’s in the peace corps now.”
“I see,” I said, my mind filled with distraction. “Luke, like I said earlier, I have something I want to show you.”
“It’s not all this?” he asked, gesturing to the room around us and then out the barn door at the house.
I laughed and felt my eyes crinkled up with the smile. “No, no. That’s just showing you a part of me. What I really wanted to show you was a present for you.”
Luke brightened up and hurried over to me. “Really? What is it?”
His eyes looked so innocent and clear when they looked up into mine like that. It was all I could do to resist kissing him right here, right now.
But I
