Surrera Advent Calendar 2022

Day 21

Today's story is written by Kat.Marie19

On a quiet Saturday morning in December, Robert was at home, about to pour his first cup of coffee, when he received an unexpected text from Andy.

"Are you decent?"

Robert glanced down at his ratty t-shirt and sweatpants and pondered how he wanted to reply. When they were married, she had teased him mercilessly about his collection of well-worn t-shirts, some of which, she was convinced, were older than she was. Robert had spent much of his adult life in the uniform, both in the Marines and in the SFD, and he took pride in his appearance when he was at work or out socially. However, when he was at home alone, or with someone who had sworn "to death do us part," he had a collection of old, comfortable t-shirts that appeared on lazy weekend mornings. None of them were quite as old as Andy, but several dated back several decades to his time in the service.

"It depends on what you mean by decent," Robert texted back.

"Alone?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I'm coming up your walkway right now," Andy texted back.

She had been parked outside his house, waiting for confirmation that she would not be interrupting anything by showing up on his doorstep early on a weekend morning. When he had said he was alone, she grabbed a garment bag from the backseat and made her way toward the door.

She didn't bother to knock, knowing that Robert wouldn't keep her waiting. Within seconds, the door swung open, and Robert stood there, one hand on the door frame, and a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, if you had known what you were wearing," Andy said without preamble, as she ducked under his outstretched arm and entered the living area. "I wouldn't have had to ask if you were alone. You don't wear those awful t-shirts around anyone you're trying to impress."

While Andy enjoyed teasing him about the t-shirts, she never minded them when they were married. He was so "buttoned up" so much of the time that when the old t-shirts made their first appearance after they were married, she took it as a sign that he felt truly comfortable around her.

"Well, good morning to you too," Robert quipped.

"Good morning," Andy responded sweetly.

All kidding aside, Andy needed his help this morning, and she needed him to agree quickly if they wanted to arrive at the event on time.

"Coffee?" Robert asked, gesturing toward the kitchen where there was a fresh pot. "I was just about to pour myself a cup."

Robert had taken note of the garment bag in Andy's hands, but as she hadn't given any indication of what it was, or why she had shown up on his doorstep this morning, and knowing his ex-wife as well as he did, he figured he could use some caffeine as he waited for her explanation. While they had a friendly rapport at work, they definitely had not reached the stage of their friendship where they just popped into each others' homes on a Saturday morning.

Ignoring Robert's offer of coffee, Andy decided to get to the reason for her unplanned visit.

"Are you doing anything this morning?"

"Laundry, cleaning up around the house, maybe hitting the grocery store..." Robert began.

"Do you think you could help me out? Ben was going to do it, but Pru came home with the sniffles yesterday. They think it's just a cold, but then one of the kids at her preschool tested positive for COVID. Pru's negative, but Ben thought he should stay home just to be sure..."

"Andy," Robert interrupted. "What do you need?"

He got the feeling that the ask was a pretty big one, otherwise Andy would not be rambling.