I’ve been working a lot and not much else. I tried to redesign our entire website in a week so I could activate the new template that we’ve been instructed to use. I thought I had until May to do this. Turns out they wanted the template in use by the end of January. I asked to have until today because while a lot of the existing pages will display OK inside the new template, a few significant ones won’t.
Blaine looked after me last week. He came by after work every night and made dinner, timing it so it would be ready about the time I made it home. Since I’m not much of a grocery shopper, he had to do that too.
One eats well when Blaine is in the kitchen. We had a baked pork chops and rice dish that he likes a lot, chicken and dumplings (one of my favorites), and one night he made breakfast for dinner--pecan pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. It isn’t a horrible thing to walk into a house that smells of cooking bacon. It isn’t horrible to walk into the kitchen and find Blaine standing there, jacket and tie off, dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck and the sleeves rolled up, the double oven mitt slung over a shoulder like a saddle bag.
He kept me company most evenings. While I worked, he read or watched sports with the sound muted. I told him he didn’t have to stay but was glad when he did anyway. When I’m stressed, I find comfort in having another heartbeat nearby.
I didn’t work at all yesterday so I could help get things ready for the Super Bowl party we decided to host for the usuals and a few others, including Henry and Julia and Blaine’s next-door neighbors, whom I had never seen before. We invited Sophie (had plans to watch at her sister's) and Mica (hates football and declined) and my brother (had to work) as well.
Everyone came for at least a little while. Jan and Steve had another party to make an appearance at and Maggie and Terry left early because Terry had a medical procedure done last week and was supposed to take it easy. He’s doing fine, just needs a few days to get his strength back. The neighbors left at halftime.
Before people arrived, I mentioned, perhaps declared, that I planned to join Blaine on the couch to watch at least a quarter of the game. Sometimes the group splits into women and men, and I hate that.
As halftime ended, Blaine came in and grabbed a couple bottles of beer from the refrigerator. I was there chatting with Eve, Julia and Kim. On his way past us, he stopped and put his arm around me. Near my ear but loud enough for the others to hear, he said, “I’ll need you in there for the fourth quarter.” He handed me the second bottle, and as he walked away he gave me a wink.
“Has he always been a winker?” Kim asked as if she was trying to remember.
We all looked at Eve, the resident expert on Blaine et al. “I don’t remember it.”
Huh. I assumed it was a Blain-ism, along with the long, steady stares he gives, and the way he claps his hands once to mean that’s settled. I don’t hate that the winking might be something he started with me.
“It’s charming,” Kim said. It is, I thought. Kim asked, “Are you two planning anything for Valentine’s Day?”
I told them where we were having dinner but left out the hotel part.
Kim brightened, “Oh, the one-night package? We did that a couple of years ago. It was very romantic.”
Julia laughed. “Is Valentine’s Day supposed to be romantic? Henry will probably insist we take the dog for a walk in time to see the sunset.”
“Paul won’t remember until Caitlin calls to wish him a happy Valentine’s Day, then he’ll open a bottle of wine for us and toddle off to bed by 9:00.”
Kim told Eve to toddle off with him. There was enough laughter that we attracted attention. From the couches, John’s raised voice said, “What are you three hatching in there?”
“How many of us are in trouble?” Henry asked.
I was taking everything in, as I often do when I’m among these couples. I never saw my mom and dad interact as a couple so I don’t have a frame of reference for long-term relationships. My favorite aunt was widowed before I was born. She remarried when I was in junior high and through that marriage I glimpsed what a loving relationship looked like. I’ve called upon those memories quite a few times over the last year. Strange as it is, observance is the way I learned to figure things out since I’ve learned most things through trial and error.
Eve interrupted my processing. “Are you staying at the hotel?”
Uncomfortably, I nodded. I find it awkward to talk to Eve about Blaine and me as a couple. I worry that at some point she’s going to regret having introduced me to him. I worry she’s going to realize there’s someone else in her best friend’s place and it’s going to hit her hard. I worry about it with Allison too, although she seems OK and Blaine insists she is.
Eve set her glass on the counter and engulfed me in a hug. She gives huge, tight hugs that aren’t finished until she decides they’re finished. “Good.” She picked up her glass, and our little group broke up. One final stop at the food, and we rejoined the football watching.
In the end we all agreed the highlight of this Super Bowl was the company.
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