Surprise

Part 10

The rest of the night passed without incident. We went to bed and just slept. I knew he was tired, and I was very distracted. Sleeping together was nice, but I had a million things on my mind. I had a lot to get done in a short amount of time without Avi finding out. I set an alarm on my phone and slept until it went off

Her alarm startled the hell out of me and I jerked awake but instantly calmed. I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes. "Grr. What time is it?"

I giggled and stretched. "Nine a.m. It's not that early." I started to get out of bed and go to the bathroom.

"It's too early." I groaned and stretched and laughed at myself. "Please hurry."

I laughed, took care of business, and made my way back to bed. "There's another bathroom down the hall, you know."

"That is not why I was asking." I grabbed her and pulled her close for a moment then stole all of the kisses I dared. "It's nine. What are our breakfast plans, we do at least get breakfast together don't' we, Brad wants to steal me for the day. I have no clue what he wants to do."

I so badly wanted to stay in bed with him, but I knew I had things to do and Brad was giving me the means to do it. "How about a leisurely shower and waffles?

"That will work." I smiled, stole a kiss, and rolled out of bed. "I'll start the shower. I went to the bathroom and started the shower then opened the door for her to come in. The shower was very nice. It felt very good and made me very happy.

I enjoyed the shower. I got out, dried, and dressed quickly. "I'll get the waffle batter started." I headed downstairs and got breakfast going.

I got dressed, checked in with Brad, and headed down to join Lizzie in the kitchen and do whatever needed doing. I made the tea.  I cut up fruit for myself, got out the peanut butter for her, and made sure the waffle iron was hot. "So you're off to run errands today?"

I poured the batter into the waffle iron. "Yeah, a few errands. What are you doing with Brad?" I watched him move around the kitchen to see if there was anything he mentioned wanting in the kitchen.

"I don't know. He didn't tell me. Just said he was stealing me for the day and that he'd have me home in time to make dinner."

"Okie Doke." I plated the waffles and carried them to the bar. "Breakfast is served."

Breakfast was wonderful. We chatted lightly and cleaned up then chatted more until the doorbell rang. "That would be Brad. I guess it is my turn to head out. I'll see you this evening?"

"I wouldn't miss it." I hugged him and kissed him softly before walking with him to the front door. "You boys have fun and behave." I winked at Brad and sent Avi on his way.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm assuming you ate."

"Yes."

"Okay well let's go play some pool for a while."

"Okay." I followed Brad out to his car and hopped in and we were off to play pool. "I want to go by guitar center later and see if they have anything new in to play with."

"Okay."

I grabbed my phone and my purse made sure the house was locked up and headed off on my errands. I stopped by Eddie's and placed the catering order and explained that it was for a surprise party. They promised to have the food where it needed to be. I gave them Esther and Marisa's contact information as well. I went to the party supply store and picked up some simple decorations, balloons, and a helium tank. I stopped by Noah and Marisa's and dropped off the decoration stuff and filled them in on the plan. They agreed to decorate and pick up the cheesecakes for me. I thanked them and headed off to the mall and then Guitar Center.

I won all but one of the games and thought for sure he was letting me win. He laughed and reminded me that he hadn't played since we last played. That was a long time. We grabbed some food and headed to Guitar Center. I wasn't looking for anything in particular. I just wanted to look around. I was certain that Brad would find something to play with.

I got the 'wrapping paper' for me at the mall. I also went to the kitchen gadget store and got him a nice set of mixing bowls and spoons. I made my way to Guitar Center. I had my eyes on a recorder to sit on the piano and possibly a ukulele. I walked in and thought I heard a familiar tune being played on a guitar. My eyes got big as I spied Brad.

Brad spotted me and headed over to where I was. "Lizzie? What are you doing here?"

"Getting part of Avi's gift. What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you were coming here. I'm sorry. Avi wanted to come here. It's one of his favorite places to go." The music stopped and another instrument started playing. It sounded like a bass.

"Can you distract him for a few minutes? I know exactly what I need."

"He's pretty distracted." The music stopped and didn't pick back up again. We both looked for Avi and couldn't see him. "Now where did he go? Shit." Brad started looking around. "Go, I'll do my best."

I finished playing and wandered off to look at some of the percussion instruments that they had on display and found myself in the electronics section.

I sucked in a breath as Avi walked right into the section I was in. The clerk had gone to grab what I asked for. I turned my back to him and concentrated on something on the wall.

"Lizzie?"

I bit my lip and turned around. "Hi, Avi."

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I smiled, looked around, decided I didn't care, and hugged her loosely.

He gave me a loose hug and I let him. "Oh, I was in the area and thought I would stop in. I have been thinking about learning to play the guitar." I was so nervous, I hoped I could hide it.

"Oh really? That would be fun." I was so excited that I wasn't able to put it together that we were not in the right space for that. "I could give you one if you like playing it. We can try sometime soon."

"Hey, Avriel. Come check out this piano" Brad called as he approached. "Oh, do you want to go to the piano shop? A baby grand would look so good in your house."

"I guess I should go. I love you." I let my voice drop in volume and pitch. Bass is harder to hear far away if you are not an elephant. I hugged her loosely again and wandered off with Brad.

I whispered my love while he hugged me and breathed a sigh of relief that he left before the clerk came back. I got the two things I came for and headed home to wrap and hide them.