Vanished

Lingerie

I was more than a little surprised when I suddenly got a text from Austin after him being silent for more than a week, asking if I was available for the weekend and wanted to meet up with him. It was so out of the blue that I had to sit down. I'd been getting ready for a meeting with my team, and was halfway out the door, but turned right around and sat back down behind my desk. I needed a couple of minutes to absorb, and to make sure he was serious.

"For real?" I asked.

His response was immediate. "Yes."

Holy shit. He actually wanted to see me. I typed I would love too, but then another thought struck; what if something was wrong, and that was why he wanted to meet up?

"Ah, shit," I muttered to myself.

I deleted what I'd been writing and asked instead "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, fine, but I miss you."

Awwww. And just like that, he had me swooning and grinning like a loon.

"Okay, YES," I responded. I already had plans, although not very important ones. I was supposed to go shopping with my sister for a birthday present for our dad, but I was canceling that. There was no way in this world that I would miss out on seeing Austin, and Aubrey could handle shopping on her own.

"How about we meet in Memphis?" he suggested.

"Memphis, TN?"

"Yes. Can you meet me there?"

I had no idea if there were direct flights to Memphis from Georgia, but again, I didn't care. I'd go anywhere to get to meet him, so I just needed to figure out how to get there. No big deal.

"Yes," I responded again.

"Is it okay if I book us a hotel room?"

"YES," I wrote again with a giggle. An impromptu invitation to a weekend in Memphis at a hotel he selected sounded romantic. I was intrigued and excited.

"Friday through Monday?"

I glanced at my calendar on my desk. Friday looked open, but there were a few conferences that Monday, so I'd have to be back Sunday evening.

"I can do Thursday night to Sunday afternoon," I suggested instead,

"Okay. I'll do some research and send you some recs."

I kind of liked the idea that he was planning the weekend and that it would be a surprise. I didn't need to know beforehand where we were staying.

"Just book something and tell me what I owe."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. GTG. Meeting. TTYL."

I had the biggest smile on my face as I put the phone down. That was the best news ever. I'd been so upset the entire week when I didn't hear from Austin, and now he was planning our weekend getaway.

"Oh my god," I sing songed as I made my way out of my office. It felt like I was on top of the world, and I couldn't keep the smile off my face for the rest of the day.

I called my sister as soon as I got out of work.

"Ellie, what's wrong?" she asked in way of greeting.

"Nothing."

"Okay," she said slowly. "What's going on?"

"Austin just called." Well, technically he had texted, but whatever.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." I couldn't hold back an excited giggle. "We're going to get together."

"Aww. That's awesome Ellie," she said in an enthusiastic tone. "Is he coming here?"

I heard some commotion in the background and then Aubrey said, "No, Brielle, Aunt Ellie is not coming here right now."

Brielle must have said something else and then Aubrey was back on the phone again. "So is he?"

"Um, no..."

"Oh." She sounded a bit disappointed, and I realized she thought she'd get a chance to see him again. "Are you going to him?" she asked instead.

"We are meeting up. He's going to surprise me," I lied. Or at least partially lied. I knew where we were going-to Memphis-but not where we were going to stay.

"That's kind of romantic."

It really was.

"I know. I'm so excited."

There was some rustling in the background. It sounded like she was doing dishes.

"When are you leaving?" she asked.

"Thursday afternoon."

"Oh, wow, this week?"

"Yeah."

"That's soon. It's in a couple of days."

I giggled because I was well aware of that. There was a lot I had to do in a short amount of time.

"I know. Can you watch Selma for me?"

"Sure, no problem. Selma is always welcome."

"Hold on," Aubrey said, and covered the mouthpiece somewhat. "No, Selma isn't coming now either," she said to Brielle.

I turned into the parking garage at my apartment building while Brielle continued her questioning in the background.

"Jeez," Aubrey sighed once she got back on the phone. "It's like a million questions over here."

I laughed, knowing my niece was a bit like my sister, nosy.

"So," Aubrey continued, "are you going shopping for new lingerie?"

"What? No? Do I need to?"

She laughed. "He's surprising you with a romantic weekend. You know what that mean's right?"

I hadn't even thought about that, but maybe I needed to go shopping. It would just be me and Austin for an entire weekend... in a hotel room... together. That would mean a lot of sex, right?

"Shit."

"I'm just saying you can never go wrong with sexy lingerie. I can help you, if you want. Whenever Brian..."

"No!" I cut her off. "Just no. I don't want to know what lingerie my brother-in-law prefers you in."

She huffed. "I don't have to show you mine. I'm just saying I can help because I have a lot of them."

"Ugh," I groaned. I wasn't sure I needed to know that either.

There was some commotion on Aubrey's side again, and she sighed. "What's lingerie?" she repeated in a whiny tone, which made me laugh. Brielle was still grilling her.

"Serves you right," I told her.