He Swore He Wouldn't

He swore to himself he wouldn't give in but his friends wouldn't let it go. "Fine! I'll go ask her, but you all owe me a drink when she says no deal?" His friends all gave half-hearted agreements, some cheering that he finally was making a move. He rolled his eyes and left the coffee shop, heading back to work. She was the secretary at the office next to the building that he was doing construction on.

Apparently, her boss was moving the company next door, so she had come over a few times to hand him papers to sign and sometimes she would bring coffee for his crew. They would visit every time one of them stopped by. He only had a few days of work left unless something major came up…and he wanted to keep seeing her. He paused at the window; if she wasn’t at her desk he would leave and try again tomorrow.

Of course, she was sitting there, headphones in, lost in her own little world. He didn't want to bother her, so he turned to leave, but he saw movement in his peripheral vision. She was waving. Well, no backing out now. He walked in, trying to keep his cool.

"Hey, I saw you outside; did ya need something?" Her smile could stop traffic.

"Um, not anything work-related," he teased.

"You’re in luck, I'm not on the clock yet. What's up?" She took out her headphones and put her empty lunch container back in her work bag.

"Well, this job is over in a few days. Barring any slip-ups, I'll be out of here, never to be seen again." He added some drama just to make her laugh.

"Oh my, whatever shall I do?" She made a show of swooning. The two were laughing now, getting dirty looks from her coworkers. They quickly pulled it together.

He took a breath. "Go out with me? Next Friday…you won't be a client by then." He put his hands in his pockets, hoping he wouldn't die from embarrassment.

"Pick me up at six?" Her eyes were soft and her smile contagious.

"Not a minute late.” He handed her his card with his personal cell number written on the back. “Friday?"

"Friday."

With a shared nod, they part ways.

-3 Years Later -

He swore to himself he wouldn't give in but her friends talked him into it. He had planned this whole quiet night at home, but here he was, standing in the entryway of the same office building. "Thanks again, miss, for letting me hang out here. Her friends seem to think she'll love this. I think it gives everything away but hey, if it makes her smile, then it's worth it."

"I think it's sweet, deary; take a seat. If you timed it right, she should be here any second." The secretary was a sweet old lady.

He had sent his girlfriend all over town on a little scavenger hunt of all their favourite places around the city, ending here at her old office where he had first asked her out. Granted, it was next to her current office and she would complain about being this close to her work on her day off. If she hasn't already figured out what’s happening, he thought. He was careful not to crush the flowers in his hand. The ring in his pocket was something he couldn't ignore. Not that he thought she would say no. Quite the opposite, really. They had been talking about a wedding for six months now. He wouldn't be shocked if she had bought her dress already.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. She probably had a book already filled with notes for their wedding. He sighed and felt himself relax.

Just in time, too. Right then, he saw her peering through the window, looking for him. He waved. Her face lit up and she walked in. She smiled at the secretary and grabbed his hand. "Oh! I love that, it was so much fun! I loved all the riddles and seeing all our places in a day. You should have come with me. But, why end here? So close to my job?"

"Well, without ‘here,’ there is no ‘us.’ And I wanted to bring us to the place where it all began…." He handed her the flowers.

She took up a deep breath. "Oh my! They smell amazing. Are they from Mom's shop?"

"Of course, only the best for my girl." He paused and took a deep breath. "I love you."

Before he could continue, she interrupted, "I love you too! You gave me such a great gift, how will I top this one?" She teased and turned to leave.

He gripped her hand. "Wait." She stopped. "I love you. I never want a day to go by where I don't get to see you. Where I can't hear about your day. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He smiled and reached into his pocket. "Marry me?"

"Of course, I'll marry you!" She dropped her flowers and leaped into his arms.

Once she let go she looked around and blushed. "Sorry for the scene, we'll let you go back to work now." Picking up her flowers and taking his hand she pulled him to leave.

"No worries, deary; most exciting thing to happen in this office since we moved here." She waved them off.

As they stepped outside, she lifted her hand to look at the ring in the sunlight. "Oh, I love it! It's so perfect. I can't wait to show It off."

"Come on, I have one place left on our tour that I wanted to show you."

"But, I already went everywhere today." She couldn’t stop staring at her new ring.

"Oh, you did; this place is special to me. See, the day I asked you out, I met my friends here for lunch. They pushed me to ask you out. So, I figured we could get a treat here." He opened the door for her. "My lady."

She giggled. "Thank you, kind sir…. What is this?" She walked in first, to find all their family and friends.

"They couldn't wait." He laughed. "Don't worry we won't stay long." With his hand in hers, they went to visit the people who mattered most to them.

- 5 Years Later-

He swore to himself he wouldn't give in but today was the dance at his daughter's daycare…and how could he tell his little girl no? His wife was busy at work and it couldn’t be helped. She was training her replacement since she was going on mat leave soon; their second baby was due in a month. So, he stood outside his daughter’s daycare in his best suit, flowers in hand.

He paused before he went inside and looked in the window of the play center. There she was, his little girl, in her brand-new dress. She'd had her mom take her dress shopping over the weekend. She hadn't noticed him yet. She was helping her teacher with some tasks he couldn't quite make out.

He saw a few other parents pull up - oh good, he wasn't too early. Then she saw him. Her face lit up and she waved like a madwoman. He pointed to the door and headed inside. As soon as he opened the door he heard, "Daddy!" and his little girl came barreling towards him as fast as her four-year-old legs would carry her.

He barely had time to brace himself before she jumped into his arms. "Hey, little one! Ready to get your dance on?"

"You know it!" She giggled, sounding just like her mom. "What are those for Daddy?" she pointed to the bouquet in his hand.

"Well silly girl, those are for you! I always try to buy your mother flowers when we do something special, and it seemed like it was time I did the same for you." He crouched to set her down and stayed at her eye level to hand her the flowers.

“Are they from grandma’s shop?” She jumped up and down.

He laughed as he stood up again. “Of course! Only the best for my girl!”

"We can put them in my cubby!" She smiled and pulled him by the arm to show him where to go. He hadn't been to the daycare since she moved rooms so this was all new to him.

They had all kinds of fun, dancing, jumping, and singing along to every song. He got to meet some of her new friends and exchange contact info with a few parents. As the afternoon came to a close, they packed up her flowers and loaded the car.

As they headed for home, they were held up by a train.

"Hey, little one?"

"Yes Daddy?" She was so engrossed with her flowers that she was hardly listening.

"We had a fun afternoon, right?"

"Uh-huh!” She nodded her agreement.

"And it would be nice to do something for your mom to make her day special too, don't ya think?" He watched her in the mirror.

"Yep." She looked out the window at the train.

"So, what if we went and got her ice cream from her favourite shop as a surprise?" Her eyes snapped to his and she lit up.

"Ice cream?! Ya, let's do it!" She clapped her hands and kicked her seat. He laughed, and as the train passed he took the familiar detour to pick up a pint of ice cream. When they pulled into the driveway, he reminded her for the third time that this was a surprise before leading the way inside with the ice cream behind his back.

"And what took you two so long?" His wife teased, getting up from the couch.

"Train," he called, as he tried to slip the ice cream into the freezer unnoticed.

"And we stopped to get you ice cream to make your day special too! Look, Daddy brought me flowers for the dance!" His daughter smiled brightly, unaware that she had just spoiled the surprise.

"He did? Let me see!" His daughter handed her mom the flowers. She took a deep breath. "Oh, don't they just smell wonderful! Here, I'll put them in a vase so we all can enjoy them. You go take off your new dress and change for supper, okay?"

"Okay!" She replied, and off she ran. His wife giggled as she set the flowers down and went looking for all she would need to take care of the flowers.

"You know that after supper she is going to yell ‘Surprise’ like she didn't just ruin the surprise?"

He sighed. "Ya I know one day she'll play along." He shook his head. "We had fun today though. She might not remember today forever, but I think I just might."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for the ice cream, Love."

"Just wanted to get you a treat, my lady." He caught her hand and kissed it.

He may have sworn to himself that he wouldn't give in, but not a day went by that he wasn't grateful that he did.

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