say hello wave goodbye

49: what a good wife you would be (1997)

November 1997

Lindsey never anticipated that it would be a TV commercial, of all things, that would finally give him the perfect proposal idea.

He had already picked the date- the day before Thanksgiving, which would be the day that they arrived in New York City. His mother, Jeff, Greg's family, and a couple of his cousins with their wives and kids were all coming out to spend the holiday weekend with them, and so if everything went according to plan, they would have one more reason to celebrate. Now he just needed to find the right way to pop the question.

He considered going the traditional route, with roses and candles and maybe a little bit of champagne, if he could get Stevie to forgo her diet for one day. It was kinda cliche, but he knew she liked that sort of stuff. He wanted something more original, though, if for no other reason than that his rejected proposal two decades ago still stung. Better to try a different approach this time.

And then one night they were relaxing in bed and watching some movie on TV, enjoying an evening off, when a commercial came on. It could've been advertising paper towels, or instant coffee, or air freshener. The product wasn't important. What was important was that in the ad, a man gave his girlfriend a new kitten as a present, and attached to the kitten's collar was an engagement ring.

Lindsey thought it was an unnecessarily risky strategy. What if the woman said no? What was the guy going to do with the kitten then? But Stevie wasn't thinking practicalities.

"God, that's just precious," she said to herself as the happy couple embraced onscreen, dabbing at her eyes without noticing how Lindsey was closely watching her reaction. Hmm...

He wasn't going to get her a kitten- two dogs were enough in the pet department. But he could make this work.

Once again, he had to humble himself by enlisting Karen's help. It didn't take much for her to entice Stevie to leave the hotel in order to hit the stores, and it definitely wasn't unusual when Lindsey turned down the offer of going shopping with the two women.

"Just be back in time," he warned her as he kissed her goodbye, looking over her shoulder at Karen. "I don't want to be late for dinner."

"I will," she promised, and Karen nodded at him, but he had an ominous feeling that he couldn't shake. She wouldn't try to sabotage him, would she? Surely she wouldn't, not after this long. If she wanted to come between them, she would've done it way before now.

Ever since their late night talk three weeks ago, he had been wholeheartedly focused on being the kind of guy Stevie would want to (deserve to) marry. He stopped drinking himself to sleep and did his best to resist the urge to brood in private instead of telling her how he was feeling. And amazingly, it made a difference. He was sleeping better, even without the alcohol, and the dark thoughts that had been crowding at the corners of his mind were becoming easier to push away.

He was still mourning their baby, as was she. And although he meant it when he said he would be okay with them never having a child, it was hard to let go of that idea of them becoming parents, and so secretly he hadn't given up hope that she would be willing to make one more attempt. Maybe once they were engaged, she would see things differently. If not, he'd learn to accept it in time. Whatever it took so that he could finally realize the dream he'd had since he was a teenager, of looking over at her on stage and dedicating a song 'to my wife.'

So what was he wasting time worrying about Karen for? Nobody could stop him now.

-------------------------

"Sara! Damnit, I should've known you'd do that," he groaned, trying to shoo the dog away as she happily scarfed down the rose petals he had scattered across the carpet. So much for that idea. Thankfully, he still had another bouquet in a vase on the table that was out of her reach.