ABBY grumbled and rolled over when a text message woke her up from such desperately needed sleep. She picked up the phone and looked at the screen. Andrew. Oh shit! It was after ten in the morning. Thank goodness he texted her.

She opened the text and read his message.

Andrew: Hi. Had a good sleep?

Abby replied: Hi. Pretty good. Overslept. You?”

Andrew: Heading to my meeting now.

Abby: Good. Going to get ready for my run.

Andrew: Nice. Just hit the gym downstairs.

Abby: Looking forward to tonight.

Andrew: Me too. Ok. Will let you go. When will you be home this afternoon?

Abby: About 2pm.

Andrew: Okay. Have a good one.

Abby: Enjoy your day Andrew

Abby set the phone down and got dressed. When she was ready, she got the phone again and pulled up the music sequence she programmed in for running. She grabbed her earbuds and locked up. Abby’s apartment was fifteen blocks from the water. Whenever she went out on a run, she would head straight for the ocean view, run up the boardwalk, and make a loop to get back.

Her run would normally last about forty-five minutes. On beautiful mornings like this, she would make it an hour. She wanted to do the same today. She needed it. But she had to give her ankle time. She started with a brisk walk to warm up. There was still some mild soreness, but she could work through it. When she was a few blocks from the water she transitioned into a slow jog. It felt good to be moving again.

As she turned south onto boardwalk, she felt the warmth of the sun hit the left side of her face. It was glorious—and hard to believe not even twenty four hours ago she had been snowed in at a Lake Tahoe cabin, with five feet of snow trapping them in. She soaked up the heat and took her jog up a notch. She was running now, letting her legs stretch so her stride could activate her quads and inner thighs. Her breathing had found its balance. Even her stomach was getting a workout. She allowed her arms to get in a neutral position. It began to feel automatic. Soon she was in her element, feeling the runner’s high kick in. She could keep going for a long time.

She ran the entire two miles of boardwalk and turned back to run it again. Going home was always easier. As she ran, she took a few sips of the water she had ready in her runner’s pack. She turned up the music and set her sights back the way she came. Her apartment was before her way too soon. She missed this alone time. She stretched her calves and quads at her front steps when she got back. The sweat was dripping off her chin now. She loved the feel of her drenched skin, sweat dripping down between her shoulder blades, her hair sticking to the sides of her face after a good run.

She got inside and hit the shower. It was time to catch up on the two days she missed, check emails, and get back into the routine of her studies.

* * *

ABBY made her way to campus first thing after her shower. She had hoped there wouldn’t be too much to catch up on. There was one missed seminar and a meeting with her independent project supervisor. While she was on campus, she got the seminar notes from one of her classmates, and rescheduled the meeting with her supervisor. Completely by chance, she bumped into Professor Sansbury, who nodded at her politely as he slipped by. She considered making conversation, and mentioning she got to know Andrew; but decided against it.

After reviewing some graduate student announcements on her laptop, she packed up and left. She had what she needed, and could catch up with the readings at home. Before returning to her apartment, she stopped at her usual grocery store. She needed food in the house. With her shopping cart strolling ahead, she perused the aisles to stock up on meat, fruits and vegetables. She couldn’t wait to settle back into her place after having been away for over two weeks. Now that she was likely to have company more often than not, she looked forward to preparing some of her favorite dishes again.

For some unknown reason, she noticed a man shopping down one of the aisles. Strange. It was Rob.

“Rob?”

“Hey Abbs,” he said when he looked around. “How’s it going?”

“I’m good. You shop all the way over here?”

“Yeah. This is the only place I do my groceries since I’ve been in Frisco. Is this where you shop too?”

“Yes. I can’t believe I’ve never bumped into you here before.”

“True. That’s kinda weird. It’s the only place that sells produce and dairy from Sparks. Gotta love it home-grown, right?” He smiled and held up a wrapped chunk of Tahoe cheese.

“So you’re all okay now?”

“Uh huh. Everything’s awesome.”

“And did you fill Becky in about our blizzard adventure?”

“Yeah!” he said excitedly. “Mom told her while we were still down at the cottage. She was pretty worried for a while. When I talked to her this morning, she blamed me for the whole thing.”

“Really? Why?”

“She said I should have known better. That I was always on top of the weather and should have seen the storm coming. Ahhh, what does she know anyway. Sisters. She’d blame me for the weather too, if she could,” he said with a smile. “Oh, by the way, she said to tell you hi.”

“That’s nice of her.”

“She’ll try to phone you over the weekend. Mom told her about your ankle.”

“Cool. I’ll look out for her call.” Abby smiled, but doubted Becky would make good on that phone call. Becky had a tendency to get wrapped up in her studies, and her new east coast friends since she moved out to D.C. She wondered whether Becky still thought of her as her best friend anymore. Maybe it was the physical distance, and their mutually busy schedules during the last year of their studies that diminished their closeness over time.

After Becky left San Francisco, the place didn’t feel the same anymore. Abby was outgoing enough, and had made quite a few friends in her nursing program—people she knew would take very similar life-long career paths as Abby over the years. None of those friendships grew past the odd study session; hellos in the hospital hallways or watercooler talk when they had the same placements; or drinks after exams. Last semester was pretty lonely. Abby had begun to get used to it. She delved into her studies and placements, and went home to Sparks for all the school breaks. Now that Andrew was in the picture, she couldn’t help thinking whether she had new options outside of San Francisco.

As her thoughts drifted to Andrew, she considered mentioning Andrew’s surprise visit, but Rob beat her to it.

“So, um, I hope you don’t mind. I gave Andrew your address.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Did he call you?”

“Yes. He’s in town.”

“Really? That’s cool. I thought he wanted to send you flowers or something.”

“Yes, that too,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t notice her blush.

“So, you think you two might like to do something with Ruth and me while he’s here? I feel like we owe the guy, you know? Maybe I can swing for dinner near my place or we can take him out for drinks or something.”

Abby thought about it. It didn’t sound like a bad idea. “I think he’d like that. Sure, I’m in. You’ve got his contact info, right? I can mention it, but it might be nice if you invite him.”

“Yeah. I’ll give him a call.”

“Great. And good for you and Ruth!”

“Oh, well, yeah. She’s nice.”

“I couldn’t say much when you gave us the big announcement in the car yesterday.”

“We’ll see how it goes.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Rob I know. Change of heart already?”

“No. Not at all. I like her. She’s nice. It’s just—things are different in the real world. That time in Lake Tahoe…well, the place felt like we were wrapped up in a little bubble. Who knows how she’ll feel as we get to know each other.”

“And what about how you feel?”

He ran a hand through his hair with his free hand. “I can’t say, really. I’m a dude. All I know is when this year’s out, I’m staying here in the city. Everything else is up in the air.”

“That’s months away. How about you try to take it day by day with Ruth? Can’t hurt to just enjoy the now, right?”

True, true. Good advice, Abbs.”

“Good. Okay I’ve got to get away from all of this dairy,” she joked, pointing up and down the aisle where they stood. “I’ll talk to you soon. Let me know what he says.”

“All right. See you, Abbs.”

She finished shopping and left the grocery soon afterward. It was early afternoon, and she was already drained. All that time napping and lazing around at the cottage has made you soft, Abbs, she scolded herself as she drove home.

Abby parked her car and carried her groceries up the walkway to her main floor apartment. She was confused. At first, she looked to make sure she didn’t take the wrong way from the parking lot. She had not. But there they were—a man in a black suit, and a woman in a pretty navy skirt suit; waiting for her at her front door.

The both wore store name tags. The woman’s tag said Marie, and Dirk was on his. When she got closer, it hit her where they were from.

“May I help you?”

“Hello Miss. Are you Miss Abby Wittfield?

“Yes.”

“We have a delivery for you.”

Abby looked at their arms. All the lady had in her hand was a tablet.

“A delivery? What is it?”

“A few things, Ma’am.”

“I don’t think I ordered anything from Carrington’s. Can you tell me who the delivery is from?”

“Ma’am, it’s from Mr. Andrew Carrington. Can you sign this?”

She held out her tablet and passed me a silver stylus that was attached to the top.

“Sure,” she answered. “So what is the delivery, exactly?”

“We’ll bring the items inside for you. Is that all right, ma’am?”

“Yes, of course.”

Abby opened the front door, and the two walked back to the black van parked in one of the visitor spots. It didn’t dawn on her they were going to bring back seven or eight rolling racks, with what she guessed was probably a couple hundred pieces of clothing. And she thought that was it, but was wrong. The man went back to the van and returned with two large leather trunks.

“Is all of this for me?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Marie answered. “Mr. Carrington wasn’t sure of your size, so we have a few more racks of the same items in the van. If you have an hour or two, we can do most of the fittings here at your place.”

“Sure. So what are in those?” Abby asked as Dirk wheeled another two chests inside.

“Shoes and accessories to go with the clothes, ma’am.”

By the time they brought everything into the living room, there was barely any space to move around. Marie offered to help her with the fitting, while Dirk prepared the pieces with their shoe and accessory options. They used her bedroom as a fitting room, and Dirk cleared off a rack so it could hold each change of clothes outside her bedroom door. The two had no problem making themselves comfortable around her apartment, and had even moved the sofa off to one side to make room for everything. Abby took the hint, and sat at the dining table to stay out of their way as they prepared.

“Where do you want me to start?”

“Come with me.” Maria held an arm out to point to the bedroom door. Two outfits were laid out on her bed, with several shoe and jewelry options beside each. There were also three bundles hanging on the freed up rack outside her door—the staging area of sorts, with more outfits to try.

Maria must have done this hundreds of times before. She made Abby strip down to her bra and panties, and off they went. Two and a half hours later, Abby had tried on and picked out about one-third of the pieces. Marie held on to seven or eight dresses that needed to be altered, and Dirk looked to be in his element all the way through.

Her closet didn’t have much closet space to begin with, so they left a few racks behind. They also left a completely stocked leather chest, neatly packed with about twenty four pairs of shoes and boots, as well as scarves, fashion jewelry, and belts. Abby flopped down on her bed when they were gone, smiling as she looked at her new, upgraded get-ups. She was certain she would never need to shop for clothes ever again, given everything that was hanging on those racks for her. From Andrew.