Mad About You

moved to E, then missed.
    "You don't like him?" He missed.
    "It's not that simple." She missed.
    "I know people who hate each other and still stay married." He missed.
    "Well, I don't hate your father, but we couldn't live together." She missed.
    "Don't you want more kids?" Mercifully, his shot fell in and saved her from answering the very question she'd been asking herself for years. Chad whooped around the court holding his two fingers high in the victory symbol. "You owe me twenty bucks," he crowed.
    She held up her hand for a high-five. "I'll pay you when we get back. I guess I'm stuck washing my own car."
    He worked his mouth, spinning the ball on his palm. "I'll help you," he said simply, then pivoted off and drove away from her for a layup.
    She had a feeling they'd just turned a corner in their relationship, but she knew better than to make a big deal of his offer. "Great," she said. "Let's get something to drink."
    They walked home sipping lemonade from a concession stand, then sat on the small shaded stoop until they'd both cooled off. She could tell Chad had something on his mind by the faraway look in his eye. He was so handsome, her heart squeezed with pride. Her hand itched to smooth his hair or erase the smudge on his cheek. Instead she watched the pedestrian traffic and waited for him to talk.
    "Do you have any pictures of me when I was little?" he finally asked.
    Stunned, she nodded. "A few. Would you like to see that?"
    He shrugged. "Whatever."
    She stood and entered the house, her heart pounding. He followed her as she climbed the stairs to her office and withdrew the album from the closet. When she turned around, Chad was studying the framed shot of her holding him.
    "Is this you and me?"
    "Yes. Bailey took it before we left the hospital on the day we drove you home to Shenoway."
    "You mean you lived on the farm?"
    She nodded. "For a while." Laying the album on the desk, she opened the book and angled it so he could see the photos. She pointed out significant events and items. "This is your first bath... your favorite teddy bear." Tears rose to clog her throat, but she swallowed them.
    "You and Bailey look funny," he said, laughing at their hairstyles.
    She smiled too. "We were very young."
    He turned a couple of pages, then frowned when the pictures ended. "Is that all?"
    "You were only two months old when"—she scrambled for the right words—"when you disappeared." Then a thought struck her. "I do have one more picture." She reached up to touch the flat locket hanging beneath her shirt. She pulled it over her head and, with trembling fingers, opened the case.
    Chad studied the picture and the locket with a grave expression. "It's pretty," he said, sounding enchanted. "Did Bailey give it to you?"
    She nodded. "On the day we were married."
    "Do you wear it all the time?"
    "Most of the time, yes."
    He studied the picture carefully, then handed the locket back to her. Suddenly his expression changed, as if he'd had enough heavy stuff. "I thought you wanted to wash your car."
    Virginia nodded. "I'll get the bucket and meet you out front." She carried the locket to her room and laid it on her dresser.
    Minutes later they were sudsing her car in small sections, and rinsing before the soap dried in the hot sun. Virginia had the water hose, and when Chad turned his back, she couldn't resist giving him a squirt.
    "Ughh!" He lifted his arms and arched his back, then spun around and dove for the hose. She squealed and ran the other way, trying to keep the hose from him, but dousing them both in the process.
    After several minutes of water war, Virginia surrendered and they called a truce, both of them soaked and laughing. She tingled all over, trying to remember when she'd had so much fun. They made quick work of the rest of the car, and were towel-drying it when a package truck pulled up.
    Virginia realized the boxes being removed were packing cartons. "It's all your stuff that was shipped," she told Chad. "Now you can finish setting up your room."
    He jumped up and down enthusiastically, pitching in to help carry the eight boxes into the house and up to his bedroom, then ripped open the lids. "My model collection! I don't think any of them broke," he said, the excitement clear in his voice. He pulled them out carefully, one by one, then set them on a reserved shelf on his new bookcase. Stereo cube, speakers, comic books, sports equipment, games, clothes, and miscellaneous items came out of the boxes.