(Now) Brody: Appreciation

I pushed open the door to the small jewelry shop in Colorado Springs and paused for a second, taking in the familiar sights.  I was missing a lot of work time to come here, but my mom has known the owner forever and I don't think I'll ever feel right about buying jewelry anywhere else.

I was greeted cheerfully by an attractive woman who was probably in her early 30s.  She was the type of woman that I would have turned on the charm for a year ago.  But now?  Nah.  I was glad it wouldn't be painful to look at her, but other than that, I just hoped she knew her diamonds.

She started to ask me what she could help me with, but was interrupted.  "Brody?  Brody Adler?  It's about time you stopped in here!"  Don's booming voice carried across the store, empty of customers except for me.

"Hi, Don," I greeted him.

"Don't you 'hi, Don' me, young man.  Get over here and give me a hug!  I haven't even seen your mother in ages, how is she?"  I laughed and walked towards him, obliging him.

"She's hanging in there," I replied, once we had separated from our brief man-hug.  "Doing pretty well, actually.  I'm going to take her out for lunch after I'm done here."

"Good.  You tell her to come visit me.  What can I do for you?  Surely you don't need one of those?"  He motioned to the engagement rings I was peering at through the glass.

I chuckled.  "Not quite yet," I said.  "Soon, maybe.  Today I just need...something.  I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for."

"Uh oh, sounds like you're in trouble," he said knowingly.  "What did you do?"

I smiled.  "No, not today.  This is a 'just because' gift."

"Always a good choice.  Necklace?  Earrings?  Diamonds?  Something else?"

"I...don't know," I said.  I really didn't have much of a plan.  "A necklace, maybe.  Diamonds, definitely."

He nodded and put a hand on my shoulder, guiding me towards a display case a few down from where I was still absently gazing at engagement rings.  "Have a price point in mind?"

I looked through the glass of the case at the necklaces.  "No," I replied.

"No?" he asked, surprised.

"No," I repeated.  "I'll spend whatever I need to on the right piece."

"Well, I'd be remiss to argue with that.  Tell me about the lucky lady," Don said, watching me as I slowly walked the length of the display case, looking at what he had.  "I bet she's pretty.  In fact, she must be something really special if you're here."  This was the first time I'd ever come to see Don with intentions of buying jewelry for anyone but my mother.

I looked up and him and grinned.  "She's absolutely gorgeous, Don.  I'm the lucky one.  She's a therapist--she works with a lot of teenagers.  I don't know how she does it.  I can't stand teenagers."  Don laughed.  "She's brilliant and intuitive and funny.  She's also crazy stubborn and hot-tempered, but I love it most of the time.  She's a tiny little firecracker."

Don nodded, listening.  "What do you think about this one?" he asked, pulling a necklace from the display case.  He laid it on the counter in front of me.

I ran my finger along the white gold chain and shook my head.  "It's beautiful, but it's not her," I said.  It was too flashy for Liv's tastes.   It was something I'd probably buy for someone I wasn't as in tune with, for someone whose tastes and preferences I hadn't bothered to get to know.  He nodded and put it back.   Don waited patiently as I walked back and forth, pausing when I saw something that caught my eye.  Finally I said, "That one.  Middle row, third from the right."

Don pulled out the necklace and laid it on the counter.  I picked it up and inspected it carefully.  It was rose gold, with a reasonably sized, simple pendant.  The pendant had pave-set diamonds around it, and there were two larger diamonds and a pearl nestled within the pendant.  "Yes," I said.  "This is it."  I didn't even bother looking at the price tag.  It didn't matter.

Don grinned.  "Excellent choice.  That one is a custom design that was made just for my shop.  You won't find a duplicate anywhere.  Do you want to look at anything else?"  I shook my head.  I didn't need to stand here and agonize all day.  This was the one.  He took it back and motioned to the lady that had greeted me originally, who was now cleaning the display case glass.  She got to work getting a box while Don walked over to the register tucked back in the corner.  He hit a few buttons then told me the total.  I didn't even blink as I handed over my JP Morgan Palladium card.

Don's employee appeared next to me with my purchase, beautifully gift wrapped.  "Thank you," I said graciously.  She smiled and disappeared.

"Well, son," Don said, clapping me on the back as we walked towards the door.  "I hope she loves it.  If she doesn't, bring her here to pick something else.  I'd love to meet her anyway."

"She'll love it," I said confidently.  I said goodbye to Don and walked to my car.  I called my mom and let her know I was on my way to get her.  When I arrived at her house, she walked outside before I could even put my car in park.

I parked quickly and jumped out so I could open the passenger side door.  She hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek before climbing in.  Once we were headed back towards town, she said, "I could have met you in town, you know."

"I know," I replied.

"You haven't even told me why you were in town.  And on a work day, no less."

"I was paying Don a visit," I said.

"Don?" my mom asked.  "Brody, did you buy...?"  She trailed off, looking at me to confirm or deny.

I chuckled.  "A ring?  No.  Just a necklace."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw disappointment flash across my mom's face before she arranged it back into a neutral expression.  "Maybe someday I'll get some grandchildren," she said wistfully, gazing out the window.

I rolled my eyes and almost laughed at her abnormally dramatic (and not terribly believable) statement.  "You know we don't have to be married to make that happen, right?"

She glared at me, a rare look from my placid, good natured mother.  I tried to keep the smirk off my face but failed.  "You do want to marry her, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, mom.  I absolutely want to marry her.  But I'm pretty sure she's not ready, and I'm not interested in rushing her.  I learned the hard way not to rush her."  My jaw flexed involuntarily as I thought of the night I proposed her moving in with me.  That was not an experience I wished to repeat any time soon.

"Hmmm," my mom said.

Taking her cue, I rambled on.  "I think she's almost ready though.  I really do.  I think Mexico helped."

"So you had a nice time?"

"Yes," I replied.  "It was really great.  Perfect, actually.  I wish we were still there."

"Then why are you making that face?" my mom asked pointedly.  I glanced at her and saw her face screwed up in a frown, impersonating my own impression.

I snorted.  "I was just thinking about how much work I'd have waiting for me when I get back from this little excursion."

Now my mom frowned for real.  "You can't do this forever," she said.

"I don't want to do it forever," I replied.

Either she didn't hear me or she didn't believe me, and she continued.  "You work way too much.  It's not good for you, and I can't imagine it's good for your relationship."  I nodded, agreeing.  "It was fine when you were young and single but you need to start thinking about where you want your priorities to lie going forward."

"Mom, I know," I said.  She gave me a skeptical look.  "I do," I insisted.  "I can't just work less, it doesn't work that way.  I have to make big changes to get there.  But I'm not taking new clients, I have someone actively recruiting staff, and I'm grooming Pete to be able to some day step into the role of managing all the day-to-day stuff.  I don't want to get completely out of the day-to-day, but I do want to be mostly focused on bringing in new clients and our relationships with other agencies and professionals--attorneys, agents, the media.  That's what I like the most, it's what I'm best at, and I can make that happen on a much more reasonable schedule.  I don't want to be at the office until 9 and then working from home until all hours of the night.  Someday I want a family, and I want to be actually present in their lives."  I left, "unlike my dad" unspoken, but the words still hung heavy in the air between my mom and I.

My mom didn't say anything for several seconds and then she nodded.  "Does Olivia know all that?"

I shrugged.  "Kind of, I guess.  I mean, she knows my goal is to not always work this much.  And she's seen me make big changes to the way I do things to improve our relationship.  She knows I'm not taking new clients, but I guess I haven't really told her the rest.  I feel like I make so many 'it won't always be like this' promises that I need to be careful of how often I'm doing that, because I don't want the words to end up feeling empty."

I thought my mom would lecture me on communicating, but instead she just said, "You've worked really hard to get to where you are, and I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom," I replied.

My mom dropped the marriage/grandchildren/working too much conversation and we had a nice lunch.  Towards the end, when she made the third off-hand comment about "a friend", I finally put it all together.  "Mom, are you...dating someone?" I asked in surprise.

She studied my face carefully before giving a curt nod and saying, "Yes, I guess you could call it that."

I grinned broadly.  As far as I knew, my mom hadn't dated anyone even semi-seriously since she and my dad had separated, so many years ago.  She was trying to play this off like it wasn't a big deal, but I could see the smile tugging at the corners of her lips.  "Mom, that's great!" I said happily.  "I'm happy for you."  I was curious who he was, how she'd met him, how long, but I knew if she wanted me to know those things, she'd tell me.

"Thank you," she replied.  Her cheeks were rosy, which was as close as her olive toned skin got to blushing.  "He's a bit younger than me, but he's a very wonderful man."  Then she promptly changed the subject and I knew that would be all I got from her now.

We finished our lunch and I brought her back home, then got started on my way back to Denver.  While I drove, I called Jen.  I didn't know if she'd be done with work or not, but I figured I'd try.  "Hello, my dearest brother who is so good at staying in touch," Jen said sarcastically when she picked up.  "I feel like it was just yesterday when we last talked."

"Hi Jen," I replied, ignoring her dig.  It had been awhile.  I'd like to think we'd spoken since we were both in Miami after dad died, but aside from a few texts, I guess we probably hadn't.  "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good," she replied, softening.  "I had today off, so I don't have much to complain about.  How about you?"

"I'm good," I replied.  "I just had lunch with mom.  And Liv and I went to Mexico a couple weeks ago, so I don't have much to complain about either."

"Yeah, Mom told me you guys were going to Mexico.  How was it?"

I filled her in and we talked about random things for awhile.  Then I said, "Did you know Mom is dating someone?"

Jen laughed.  "I did, actually.  Or rather, I had a suspicion.  She never quite came out and said it, and I didn't ask, but it sure sounded like she was dating him."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked indignantly.

"It was hers to tell, not mine," Jen responded reasonably.  "And anyway, maybe if you called me, I would have."

"Hey," I protested, not willing to get raked over the coals for something that was a two-way street.  "The phone works both ways."

"Fair point," she replied.  "We've both been really busy, I guess.  I've been traveling a lot for work."

"Are you seeing anyone?" I asked.  "Now I feel like this is a question I have to start asking everyone when I haven't talked to them in awhile."

Jen snorted.  "No.  I was, for a little while, but it wasn't very serious and it didn't really work out.  Actually, he ended up being a huge asshole."

"Sorry, Jen.  Want me to fly out and kick his ass?"

She laughed.  "No, but at least you're asking now, and not just threatening boys on the playground when they so much as looked at me."

"Someone had to watch out for you," I replied indignantly.  "None of those boys had honorable intentions."  I could almost hear the sound of her eyes rolling.

Jen and I talked almost my entire drive back to Denver.  It felt good to catch up with her.  At the end, she suggested that Liv and I come out and visit sometime.  I agreed and promised to talk to Liv about it.  The best part was that she didn't lecture me about working too much, and she didn't mention marriage or babies or rings.

I took a quick detour into town.  I'd decided to pick up some things for dinner.  Liv was a great cook, and had been making sure that there was always something to eat when I got home.  If I had been at work late enough that I just ate there (if I remembered to), then I'd take it for lunch the next day.  She'd usually eaten already by the time I got home, but she'd always sit with me while I ate.  I always thanked her and tried to show her how grateful I was, but I was worried that she'd soon start to feel like she'd moved in to do all the work around the house, and I didn't want that. The couple times I'd been done with work early enough to have a chance at eating with her, I'd picked something up so she didn't have to cook, but it wasn't quite the same.  I wanted to sit down and eat with her tonight, and I wanted to cook.

After a quick perusal of my favorite grocery store's meat counter, I picked two New York strips, then grabbed some stuff for a salad and some potatoes.  Outside of breakfast and the basics, I had a pretty limited repertoire of things I made well, and steak was one of them.  Luckily, Liv loves steak as much as I did, so she doesn't seem to mind.

When I got home, I had a couple hours to work before I needed to get dinner started.  On Fridays, Liv's last client usually left at 5, then she'd stay to finish up her paperwork and she was usually home around 6.  So I figured I had about 2 hours before I needed to get the grill on and get the potatoes on, and I could do a little more work while those cooked before I needed to put the steaks on.  I didn't even bother opening my email, because I knew it would just distract me from the more urgent things I needed to get done.  When I got a text from Liv that said, "Stopping at the grocery store, anything you want me to grab?" I only responded, "Thanks, but I'm good.  I'll see you at a reasonable time tonight :)"  I didn't want to ruin the surprise too much.

Her stop at the store bought me an extra 30-45 minutes, and I managed to finish all the things on my to-do list that would have otherwise gotten me out of bed at 2am to finish before I could get some real sleep.  I was relieved, because now I could enjoy my evening with Liv more freely.

I'd just put the steaks on when I heard the garage door opening.  Excellent timing.  Liv walked into the kitchen, where I was opening a bottle of wine, and smiled.  "What are you doing home already?" she asked, looking surprised.  "When you said 'reasonable time' I figured you meant around 8 instead of 9."

"I was already here when I sent that," I said, returning her smile.  I reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her close enough to kiss.  "I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate everything you've been doing lately.  This doesn't come anywhere near close to making up for all the work you've done around here, and your patience with my schedule, but I just want you to know that I notice it and I'm grateful."

"I don't expect you to make up for anything," she replied, "but I do love coming home and getting to spend time with you, especially when it means I don't have to cook."

I kissed her again and handed her a glass of wine.  We went out onto the deck and I flipped the steaks, then we both sat with our wine and talked about our days.  Or, she talked about her day.  I talked about some of the work I'd done.  I'd fill her in on the rest later.

A few minutes later, the steaks were done and I set them on a plate to rest while I got the potatoes off the grill and brought the salad out.  Liv started to get up to help but I shook my head and told her the only thing she was doing tonight was enjoying her wine and her steak.  And not to brag, but I cooked the steaks perfectly.

We took our time eating and finishing our wine.  When we were done, I grabbed Liv's plates plus the other random utensils and dishes scattered around before she could.  I took them into the kitchen and put everything on the counter, then turned to her.  "Don't even think about doing anything with these," I instructed her.  "I'm going to wash them tomorrow, because I'd rather spend the rest of the evening with you, and doing them now will take away from that."

She held up her hands and smirked.  "No problem, I won't touch them.  It'll be hard, but I think I can manage.  You know how much I love to do dishes."

I laughed at her sarcasm and wrapped an arm around her waist.  "I appreciate your commitment to avoiding your favorite things for me," I replied.  I kissed her, letting my hands drift from her waist over her hips then up her back.  She pressed her hips against me and gripped my shirt tightly in her fist, and I pulled away before we got too carried away.  "Hold on," I said.

"Why?" she asked, pouting.  She ran her hands down my chest and stomach and paused at my belt.  It took all my willpower to take a small step away.  She looked puzzled.

"Because, you need to open this first," I replied, pulling the gift wrapped box out of my pocket, where it had been since I left Don's store.

She looked at the box, then back up at me.  "What is it?" she asked curiously.

I smiled. "If I tell you, that kind of defeats the purpose of it being wrapped," I teased her gently.  I held it out to her.  She took it tentatively, as if scared it was going to burn her.

She looked up at me again, the puzzled look still on her face.  "Did I forget some occasion?" she asked, worriedly.  "Because I do that shit all the time."

"No," I said laughing.  "Just open it, would you?  It's not going to hurt you."  I pulled out a chair from the dining room table and motioned for her to sit.  Then I sat next to her.

She tugged at the ribbon, a little squished from being in my pocket for so long.  She got it off and slowly unwrapped the paper.  She set the paper aside carefully and lifted the top off the box inside, then sucked in a sharp breath.  "Oh," she said softly, looking at the necklace.  She ran her finger along the chain, then looked up at me.  "Brody, it's gorgeous.  Thank you."  She still looked puzzled and then she said, "I love it, it's amazing.  Please don't take this the wrong way, but...why?"

"Why not?" I asked, echoing the words from the card with her flowers from last week.  That didn't seem to stifle her curiosity.  I took the box from her hands and took the necklace out.  I motioned for her to turn and she did, pulling her hair out of the way so I could put the necklace on her.  "Because I love you.  Because I appreciate your patience.  Despite the changes I've made in my work schedule, I'm well aware that there are more that need to happen in order for things to be ideal.  And you've changed your expectations and been a lot more flexible with my schedule and I'm grateful."

I paused as she turned back around to face me.  "But, there is one thing that this is not, and I want that to be really clear."  She furrowed her brow and waited for me to continue.  "This is not an attempt to compensate for the lack of time I've been spending with you the past couple weeks.  It's not an apology or a bribe to keep you happy about something you shouldn't be happy about.  It's just a tangible way I can show you that I love you and appreciate you."

She smiled finally.  "I already know that you love me and appreciate me," she said.  "And I'm usually happy to do what I can to make things easier around here, since I have more time right now.  But I'm certainly not going to argue with this."  She lifted the pendant of the necklace and looked down at it, then brought her eyes back up to mine.  "Or with any part of tonight, for that matter.  It was an awesome surprise, thank you."

"You're welcome," I said.  I stood and pulled her to her feet.  "Now, if you'd like to pick up where we left off, I won't stop you this time."