Chapter 6: Becoming a Routine
711 Words
Lee stopped feeling like “a guy from the store” quicker than Becca wanted to admit.
He began appearing in the pockets of her life.
Quietly.
Casually.
Just… suddenly there.
She’d walked out of the bakery after a late shift one night to find him sitting on the hood of his car.
Becca stopped. “You’re parked in my spot.”
Lee looked up from his phone. “It’s a parking lot.”
“That’s my spot,” she repeated.
He nodded. “Copying.”
She crossed her arms. “Why are you waiting here?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you.”
Becca narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t know what time I got done.”
“I guessed.”
“That’s creepy,” she said.
He smiled slightly. “You keep telling me.”
Small Things That Turned into Everything
He began bringing her coffee without being asked.
Black. No sugar.
She asked one morning, surprised.
Lee shrugged. “You said you liked it once.”
“I say weird things once.”
“I remember.”
That made her quiet for a moment.
Then she muttered, “You’re dangerous.”
He laughed. “For whom?”
“For me.”
---
Becca caught herself at work watching the entrance more than she needed to.
And when he didn’t show up, she noticed.
She hated that about herself, too.
Her coworker nudged her that night.
“You’re smiling at nothing,” she commented.
Becca blinked. “I am not.”
“You are,” the coworker insisted.
Becca wiped the counter harder. “I’m tired.”
“Oh-huh,” the coworker said. “Right.”
The First Time He Met Her Real Life
Lee met her kids bit by bit.
Not altogether.
Not forced together.
It happened over the course of the afternoon when Becca was leaving work, and her youngest approached her.
“Mom!”
Becca grinned immediately. “Hey, baby—
She cut off when she noticed Lee standing next to her.
Her son looked up at him, brow furrowed. “Who’s that?”
Becca hesitated. “Oh… just a friend.”
Lee leaned down slightly. “Hey, buddy.”
The boy studied him. “You work with my mom?”
Lee shook his head. “No. I just know her.”
His son nodded like that made perfect sense.
Kids accepted what adults tended to overthink.
---
Later, Becca said conversationally in the car, “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Meet him like that.”
Lee glanced over at her. “Your son talked to me first.”
She smiled slightly despite herself. “He does that.”
“I like him,” Lee said.
Becca raised an eyebrow. “You just met him.”
“I’ll still like him,” he replied patiently.
Silence.
The First Time She Let Herself Relax
Lee came to her place one evening instead of the store.
Becca opened the door warily. “You’re early.”
He held up a small grocery bag. “I made dinner.”
She blinked. “You made dinner?”
Lee nodded. “Don’t want to eat alone anymore.”
Becca stepped back slowly. “Are you kidding me? That’s not a reason to invade someone’s space.”
“It’s not invading if you let me in,” he reminded her.
“That still doesn’t make it okay.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Open the door.”
She sighed but unlocked it.
---
They ate dinner at her kitchen table.
Basic stuff. Nothing extravagant.
Becca stared at him more than she ate.
“What?” Lee asked after a long stretch of silence.
“You just… are here.” She gestured around her apartment.
He smiled faintly. “Yeah.”
“That’s weird,” Becca replied.
“I know.”
She leaned back against the table behind her. “You don’t feel like you belong yet.”
Lee nodded. “I don’t.”
“Then why are you here?”
He looked at her for a long moment before answering.
“Because I think that I will.”
---
Becca didn’t think about that line for weeks after he said it.
- Writer
