ASKING ME OUT

Dinner was over and I was just putting the last glass in the dishwasher when my son Alex came into the kitchen with his car keys in his hand.

“I was cleaning off my dresser and I found these.” he said, holding out two gift cards to the bookstore. “I'm going over to see if I can find anything. Do you want to come?”

“Really?” I quickly shut the dishwasher door and hit the start button. “I'd love to go! Just let me grab my shoes and purse and I'll meet you at the front door.” I raced to my bedroom. I couldn't believe he'd just asked me to go with him. He didn't need me to drive him to the store, and he didn't need me to pay for his books. In fact, he didn't need me to go at all. He was asking me because he didn't mind spending time with me. I was almost giggling as I grabbed my shoes and purse and raced to the front door.

“I'm ready!” I called, trying not to sound winded.

“Wow, that was fast.” Alex said as he opened the door for me.

“I didn't want to give you a chance to change your mind.” I said as I followed him out to his car.

“What?” Alex looked confused as he opened his driver's side door looking over the roof of the car at me.

“Nothing.” I said shrugging my shoulders, trying not to sound so pathetic.

As we drove to the bookstore we chatted and laughed, catching up with all our recent news. I've always loved driving anywhere with Alex because the car is where we seem to have some of our best conversations.

Once we got to the store we went our separate ways to shop. Several minutes later, Alex was at my side, holding a book. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

I had two books tucked under my arm and was in the middle of reading the back cover of another. “Sure.” I said as I put the last book back on the shelf and headed to the checkout counter.

“I can wait if you're not done.” he said.

“I'm finished.” I said, holding out my two books. “If you let me, I'd spend hours in a bookstore.”

Alex laughed. “I didn't want to spend that much time here so I guess we are done.”

Once we were at the counter Alex held out his gift cards. “Did you want to put your books on this?” he asked.

I was overwhelmed. “Those are your gift cards.” I said as I reached for my own wallet. “I'll pay for mine.”

“I don't mind.” he said.

“I know you don't, but still...” I was speechless. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have such a nice guy for a son. I was pretty sure that if he held the bookstore door open for me on our way out I was going to burst into tears. So, I made sure we each got a door handle on the way out.

As we got back into the car I didn't want our outing to end. “Do you want to go for some ice cream?” I asked.

“Sure.” he said. “I brought my wallet. How about it being my treat?”

I couldn’t answer right away. I was back to feeling like I was about to cry.