Three weeks

West took a job in Northern California. Which isn't a HUGE deal, being as he frames houses so taking a job in North Cal doesn't mean a life switch, it just means disappearing for three weeks. This was actually a really good opportunity for West, as his next house wasn't for another three weeks or so anyway. With the economy being what it is, this was actually a blessing. Work. So West made sure his kids were taken care of and left. As luck would have it, the area he was building this house in was small, and had no cell phone reception. Which meant no texting or phone calls, which I was banking on to get me through him being so far away. Every night, when he wasn't too exhausted from putting in a 12 hour day, West would have to drive a half hour down the road to call me.
I had plans to go to West's to steal his carpet cleaner while my girls were out of town with their dad. West's sister, Lindee, was staying at his house off and on while he was gone to help take care of the dogs, and while she was moving her stuff into a new apartment. West sent me a text Thursday saying Lindee would be at his house after 6:30 if I wanted to head down and get the carpet cleaner. He also said Lindee had a surprise for the girls. We had swim lessons until 6, and I had big plans to make some new recipes for dinner and dessert, and I didn't have kids this weekend so I shot him text asking if I couldn't just grab it on the weekend. I didn't need Lindee there to let me in, West had already entrusted me with the garage code. He said sure that was fine. Right here I'm starting to wonder... is he home? Could he be? It's only been two weeks, I shouldn't get my hopes up that he's home a week earlier than planned. And it does make sense that Lindee would have a surprise for the girls. They fell in love with each other at Disneyland... but it's kind of weird that he's texting me so early in the evening. So I ask how he's able to text me right now. He says he's at the store getting some stuff. Shoot. He's done this before. Gone to the store and called me. Not enough to prove it either way. I so want to believe he's home, but in the name of saving my feelings I decided to play it safe and not let my hopes get high. Ok, if Lindee is there wanting to see the girls, let's head down after lessons. The new recipes will have to wait for another day. I did a really good job at keeping my hopes at bay, but that still didn't keep me from missing him so badly as I turned into his neighborhood. By the time I turned onto his street I was straining to see the end of it, was his truck there? YES! We met in the yard and I couldn't hold him tight enough. Come to find out the turkey had been home for a day and a half, talked to me TWICE while being there and pretending not to be, so he could build a swing set for the kids across his tree in the backyard. He wanted it all to be a surprise.