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Gabriella has her head down, rifling through her purse to try to find her keys. When she finally looks up, she’s reached the door to Troy’s apartment—their apartment, she corrects herself. It’s still something she’s getting used to. She’s practically been living here since Troy moved in a couple months ago, but it’s different now with her name on the lease. They just resigned the paperwork a couple days ago now that Gabriella received her new license and new everything declaring her Gabriella Bolton, a name that she’s still getting used to.
She wouldn’t change anything, though. She can confidently say it’s the craziest thing she’s ever done, but it just feels right. Troy worried she’d regret it, but she just felt happy.
There’s a large package on the floor at her feet, and she looks at it curiously as she unlocks the door. She steps around it for a moment just to set her things inside, and then she turns around to grab it and bring it inside. It’s awkwardly sized and a little heavy, but she manages to grab it by herself and then kicks the front door shut behind herself.
“Troy?” she calls out as she reads the label. She walks further inside with it and hoists it onto the kitchen counter, as Troy turns away from the stove to look at it.
“Yeah?” he asks, then he does a double take as he sees the package. “What’s that?”
Gabriella shrugs. “I don’t know,” she says, “but it’s from your parents.”
Troy looks surprised and sets the spoon he’s holding down on the counter. “My parents?” he asks as he comes over. “Why would they send us something?” he asks quietly, more to himself than to her.
She shrugs again, not sure herself. “Early birthday present?” she wonders. Then she reconsiders. “You’d think they would wait ‘til they get here and give it to you then.”
“Yeah,” he says as he looks at the label for himself. He opens a drawer for a knife and cuts it open. “You don’t think it’s booby trapped, do you?” he jokes with a lopsided smile.
She laughs. “Just open it.”
He opens the box, and Gabriella peers in and helps push the packing away. There’s a million packing peanuts insulating a slightly smaller box, which is wrapped in an off-white gift wrap. Troy cracks a joke about them using up all of FedEx’s supplies to get it shipped here in one piece, and Gabriella chuckles.
There’s a lilac envelope with both of their names written on it taped to the box, which Gabriella gingerly peels off. “It’s addressed to both of us,” she says with a bemused smile on her face. “Wh…” A thought crosses her mind, but she finishes asking her question anyway. “Why did they send a present to both of us?” Troy doesn’t answer, looking at it intently, so she redirects her attention back to the envelope and turns it over in her hands. “Should I open it?”
“Yeah,” Troy says, shrugging. His face looks like he knows about as much about all this as Gabriella does, which is not much at all—maybe only the slightest suspicion.
The envelope is sealed with an elegant silver sticker, and Gabriella takes care to open it without tearing it in half. From inside, she pulls out an off-white card with “Congratulations” spelled out in a graceful font. She casts Troy a glance, but he’s staring at the card with a small smile on his face. She angles it so they both can read it as she opens it.
It’s a handwritten note inside, in what she assumes is Lucille’s writing.
Troy and Gabriella,
Congratulations! We’re so proud of you two taking this step together, and we’re wishing for many years of happiness.
We also wanted to apologize for our reaction on the phone—it caught us off guard, but we couldn’t be happier for you. We hope you like the gift—we wanted to give it to you in person but didn’t want to wait. We’ll see you for your/Troy’s birthday in August and then we can give you our congratulations in person!
Love, Mom and Dad
P.S. – The receipt is taped to the bottom of the box. Hope this is the right one, but you should be able to return it to any Walmart. Love you guys!
Gabriella finishes reading it and looks at Troy, who softly takes the card from her without taking his eyes off of it. He has a hint of a smile around his eyes as he finishes reading the letter. He looks at her and stammers in surprise. “They… They’re congratulating us.” He breathes out a laugh. “They’re not mad.” A smile crosses his face.
Gabriella smiles because Troy is smiling, and she puts her hand on his back and steps closer. “I told you they couldn’t stay mad at you.”
He nods. “I know. I just figured it’d take more than a couple weeks to get over it.”
“Come on,” she says, smiling impishly at him. “Let’s see what they got us.”
Troy laughs. “Shouldn’t that be my line? When did you become the materialistic one?” he teases.
She rolls her eyes. “I mean,” she mutters jokingly, “I’m not going to say no to a free gift.”
He laughs again and agrees. He sets the envelope down on the other side of the counter and then reaches into the package to pull out their gift. “It’s heavy,” he comments, though it’s clearly not a struggle for him.
Gabriella pushes the larger shipping box out of the way so Troy has somewhere to set the gift-wrapped box, and she bounces on her feet as he places it down.
“Excited?” he teases. “Here, let’s open it together.”
She grins and tucks her finger under the paper on one side as Troy gets the other, and they both pull. She doesn’t even really care what it is—the card alone was enough for her. Gabriella was just happy to know Troy’s parents were happy for them. From what Troy had told her, while their phone call could have gone worse, it could have gone better. Forced happiness and some stilted small talk—she knows how close Troy is with his parents, so she knows how much it bothered him, even if he knew what their reaction would be going into it.
Still, it’s a present, so of course she’s excited to see what’s inside even if it’s not her main concern. Working together, they peel the paper off in no time. Gabriella gasps as she realizes what it is. “Troy…” She looks at him with wide eyes, and he’s grinning as he looks at her. “It’s… It’s an InstaPot. Why did your parents get us an InstaPot?
“I…” He chuckles. “I mean, I might have mentioned you wanted to get one, but…”
“I didn’t want to spend the money,” Gabriella finishes. She smiles. “Troy…”
“I can’t believe they bought this.”
“These aren’t cheap, Troy.”
“I mean, I didn’t tell them to buy it.”
She runs her hand over the box, turning it around so she can skim the words on the box as they talk. “How did it even come up that I wanted one?”
Troy seems to trip over his words. “My mom, she just… We were just making small talk. It was after I told them we got married, and I thought she was just trying to change the subject. She was asking if we were getting settled in and all, and if… I guess she asked if there was anything we needed, but… I didn’t say it like we needed it.” He smiles in wonder. “I just said you wanted one but… We didn’t want to spend the money when we already have…”
Gabriella giggles. “She was plotting this. She was way ahead of you.”
Troy laughs. “I guess.”
He has a look on his face that Gabriella can’t quite put her finger on. He still has that lopsided grin, but it’s half as wide, and he seems lost in thought. “Troy?” she tentatively asks.
“Yeah?” he asks.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I just…” His lopsided grin turns more genuine. “I guess they got over it quicker than I thought they would.”
She rubs his arm and nods, smiling softly at him.
“I know I said they’d get over it, but…” His voice trails off.
“It’s nice to know they’re still in your corner?”
He nods and kisses the top of her head. “I love you.”
She smiles back at him. “I love you, too.” She looks back at the box. “You don’t think we have time to break this out tonight, do you?” she asks hopefully.
His eyes go wide and he turns around quickly. “Shit. Dinner.”
“Oh,” Gabriella says, looking at the food burning on the stove.
“Well,” he says, chuckling as he turns off the stove, “so much for my turn making dinner. You think it’s a sign to try it out?”
Gabriella grins and she starts to open the box. “It’s as good of an excuse as any.”