the subtle clues (the proposal, through Jennifer's eyes)

I remember the day well. Keith and I talked at lunch, and he said he wanted to call my parents that night. He said he wouldn't chicken out, but I told him that he could if he needed to. Pardon me for not believing him, but I told a few people that I was not about to turn blue holding my breath. (I really did know that the phone calls were hard, so I was okay with him deciding to wait at the last minute.)

We were up late the night before, so I was tired when I got home. I took a nap, and woke up to some guy banging on my door selling steak. No thanks! When I couldn't get back to sleep, I called Virginia to catch up with her. Meanwhile, Keith left a message on my voicemail.

Clue #1:
In his voicemail, Keith said he got off work late because it rained the day before, so the crews had a lot of work to do. He went on to explain more, and I remember that his explanation seemed a little more upbeat than usual about his late work schedule.

Keith came to my house, and he announced that he needed to get home in time to catch up on sleep from the previous day. We agreed that he would leave at 10:15. I offered to buy ice cream after the phone calls, and we left to do that at 9:30.

Clue #2 (or #3, depending on whether you count the request for leaving early or not):
Keith asked that we take my car for ice cream. It's not that I never drive when we go somewhere, but I don't think he's ever asked me to do that. I usually offer.

We got home at 10:30, and Keith left by 10:40.

Clue #3:
Keith confirmed that we'd talk on the phone as he drove home. Sometimes I call and talk to him while he drives, but sometimes I don't.

I agreed to call. We have never called while the other person is in the driveway, so I decided to talk to Lynne for a few minutes to catch up on her stories about Harvey. About 25 minutes later, Lynne and I were done talking, and I called Keith. He asked if I was already in bed, and I said I was sitting on my love seat. I told him the Harvey story, and he seemed interested.

Clue #4:
I heard a door slam in the phone and outside my house about a quarter of a second apart.

Keith said, "Well, you should go outside because I left something for you."

I argued, "You're here!" And, that's when I knew.

I must say that I am clueLESS sometimes, and it's pretty easy to surprise me if you think a little bit.

Keith had to explain things to me later. I noticed clue #1, but the real work that took so long was making the brownies. He did get off work later than usual, but not that late. I was pleased to know that Keith could let me believe something without having to actually lie to me to get me to think I knew what was happening. I just dismissed his eagerness to describe his late evening.

Clue #2 was a result of the brownies in Keith's car. He thought I'd smell them and ask about it. So, he opted to play it safe.

Clue #3 was hard for me to pick up on since we talk most of the days that we drive. But, he probably was a little eager about it that night. He had to make sure that he would know when he should come back. And, since I'd had a strange guy come to the door already that day, he thought it'd scare me really bad if a knock came to the door at 11pm. He was right.

I did finally know something was up with Clue #4! It turns out that Keith knows I hear those things outside my house, but he didn't think about closing the door quietly. It was okay, though, because the rest of the proposal happened fast.

I said, "uh huh!" three times in response to Keith's comments.

"I brought you brownies."
"Uh huh...!"
"There's a white box on the plate, too."
"Uh huh...!"
"Will you be my wife and spend the rest of your life with me?"
"Uh huh...!"