14. Changes Tabby

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R ob greeted me at the door with a bottle of wine and music whispering in the background.

What’s all this? You were such a crank this morning...

“Been thinkin’ about you all day, babe,” he said, snuggling his scruffy chin against the back of my neck. Since we were the same height, he could wrap his arms around me from behind and trail kisses to my ear without trying. “I got a present for us.”

“What kind of present?”

“Something that will make both our lives easier. Come on.” Rob tugged at my hand and led me through the hall, into the bedroom, and past the closet to the bathroom. He opened his arm to display the new sink setup. “Ta-da.”

I blinked a few times, trying to figure out the riddle, when my eyes finally fell on the new toothbrush station. Instead of sharing a single handle as we’d talked about that morning, he bought a whole new set that came with two.

“See? It’s great. It’s the brand I like, and we don’t have to worry about them getting mixed up. Everybody wins.” Rob pointed out a new organizer for his meds, and a matching one for my side of the sink by the plug. It was more put-together than it had been before and still left room in the middle to keep things from crowding.

The gesture left me speechless simply because this sort of spontaneous action was so unlike Rob, I wondered if he bought a book on how to be better. I wasn’t about to pull the threads of his kindness apart. “Wow, I...Rob, this is great. Thank you.”

He turned to face me head-on. “I really want this to work for us, babe. You’re worth every little thing to me. That’s the tooth .”

I snorted. “Shame on you for that one.” It was cute but left me racking my brain to figure out what he was secretly asking for. Did I miss something?

“Now, come have dinner with me in our kitchen. I got a new recipe book. Maybe we’ll finally help you get rid of those last few pounds, eh?”

There it was. It stung. Even while trying to be sweet, he nagged. Nitpicked. Found my insecurity and went for it. I couldn’t really ask for better, could I? Not when I had such a complex mess of a psyche and body on the table.

If Rob can change some habits for me, I can bury my judgment over his control. “Can’t wait,” I said. “Let’s eat.”