Jennifer swung her bag over the threshold of her front door. She was digging out her keys from her purse when a voice interrupted her.
"Did you make sure the stove is off?"
"Mom, we haven't used the stove the entire time you've been here. It's off." She pulled the door closed and went to lock it.
"No, I made us tea last night. Remember?"
Jennifer sighed inside but now that little nugget of paranoia niggled at the back of her brain. She almost opened the door back up to go check, but forced herself not too. The stove was off, the lights were off, all the faucets were off, the furnace was turned down, the windows were all closed and latched. She knew that. She turned back to her mom with a smile. "Everything's off. Time to go."
Behind their mother, Jennifer could see her sister, Rebecca, give her a little eye roll of sisterly commiseration. Despite all of that, having her mom and Rebecca visit these last two days had been wonderful, and now they were all heading back to San Diego together for nine days. Nine days to catch up with her family and friends, to relax, and to formally introduce Aaron to the rest of her life. He had impressed her friends here at school, and Rebecca had spoken to him a handful of times and had no complaints so far, and her old workmates from the office approved, but what would all of her old friends and her parents think of him? The grain of doubt would be there until her two worlds collided in a little less than twenty-four hours. With nothing else to do about it at the moment, Jennifer squared her shoulders and began rolling her suitcase along the walkway toward the far stairs.
The trio had almost reached the stairs when the apartment door just beyond them popped open, and Daniel, her neighbor stepped out. "Hey there, Jen, looks like you're heading out."
Rebecca stopped two steps down from the top to take in the muscular young man in the doorway.
"Hi, Daniel." Jennifer paused at the top of the stairs and brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Yeah, I'm going home for the week. You'll have to find yourself a new gym buddy for a while."
"I'll keep an eye on your place while you're away." Daniel stepped out his doorway. "And who are these lovely young ladies?" He flashed Rebecca and her mother a gleaming white smile.
Jennifer blushed a little. "Oh, sorry. Mom, Rebecca, this is my neighbor, Daniel. Daniel, meet my mom and sister, Rebecca."
Daniel shook hands with both women. "I can see where Jen gets her looks," he said when he shook her mother's hand.
Her mom laughed at that. "Pleased to meet you. You can call me Julie. It's nice of you to keep an eye on Jennifer's place while she's away."
"Not a problem. It's an easy enough job." He looked at Jennifer. "Do you need a ride to the airport? You should have asked."
Jennifer was irritated to feel her face burn a little more. "We've got an Uber. Thanks anyway."
Those big shoulders shrugged up and down. "Well, if you need someone to pick you up next weekend, just give a holler."
"Okay, thanks. I'll keep it in mind. Have a good week." Jennifer turned to the stairs and ushered her family down them where indeed a car with an Uber symbol in the front window waited in the parking lot.
"Have a nice trip," Daniel called after them.
Jennifer could feel his eyes on the back of her head until they were almost down the stairs, but she refused to turn around to wave again. Finally she heard his door shut.
As the driver was loading their bags in the trunk, Rebecca put one hand on her stomach and other over her mouth and blanched.
"You okay?" Jennifer put a hand on her sister's shoulder.
Rebecca shook her head. "Just a little jet lag. I should still be in bed at home."
Jennifer cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure?"
Instead of answering Rebecca looked back up the stairway at Daniel's closed doorway. "Cute neighbor you've got there."
Jennifer shrugged. "I've got a boyfriend, and you're married, so it doesn't matter. And you're changing the subject." She poked her sister's arm.
"It doesn't hurt to look since neither of them are here. It's just nice to know that if you hadn't met Aaron, you'd have options here, that's all." That response did not seem to satisfy Jennifer. "And I am fine. I'll nap on the plane and be good as new."
Jennifer nodded but kept wearing her narrowed, suspicious eyes. "Hey Mom, Rebecca's feeling a little queasy again this morning. Maybe she should take the front seat."
Their mother came over fussing. "Oh honey, two days in a row. Why didn't you say so? Take the front seat. It's just a short ride anyway."
Jennifer just smiled at her sister's second eye roll.
*****
The next day, Aaron pulled out his phone before getting into his car and texted:
Leaving now. ETA 25 minutes.
Before he could even start the car, Jennifer texted back:
See you then.
The drive from his townhouse across the varied suburbs of San Diego took just over the twenty-five minutes Google predicted. He parked across the street from a two-story ranch style house with peach colored sides and white trim. A bushy podocarpus tree stood in a well trimmed front lawn, and a line of rose bushes sat under the front windows. It had everything but the white picket fence. The neighborhood was older, modest, middle class homes, all well maintained.
Aaron straightened his arms against the steering wheel and pushed back in the seat. His pulse was up, and he felt jittery. Strange to be a successful professional and still nervous to meet his girlfriend's parents at this stage of his life. He was not a teenager or college kid anymore, but it had been almost ten years since he had to appear and make a first impression like this. Apparently, that kind of performance anxiety never went away. Maybe it was because despite knowing Jennifer for over a year, they had been dating only two months, all of it long distance. In some sense, he had no idea what he was walking into this afternoon. Jennifer had tried to prep him, but his palms were sweaty, and he was not sure he was ready. Another spin around the block and some deep breathing exercises might be what was in order here.
His phone trilled with Jen's familiar text tone.
Are you coming in?
Aaron laughed. He was just being stupid again. He hit the switch to roll up the windows, closed the sunroof, and while they all went up, wiped his palms off on his shorts. Show time. He climbed out of his car and headed toward the front door.
Jennifer was watching him from the kitchen through the bay windows that looked out of the living room. Once she saw his car door open, she turned her phone over on the counter and started toward the front of the house.
