At least, that was what she was hoping.
"Well, I should probably head back before lunch starts," Aaron said.
Relief flooded Julie's entire being, and she smiled brightly. "Okay. Well, thank you for the crackers and the picture frame."
"Yep," he said with a slight nod. "I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see you later," Julie said as she turned around to busy herself, letting him leave. It seemed that he poked around in the kitchen a little longer, and she looked down at her phone again, reading the time and wondering how long she would have to wait for him to be gone before she could leave.
While she waited, she took the ultrasound picture and put it in the frame he bought her, smiling at it as she sat it on the dresser. She hoped leaving it on the dresser was okay. It was in his room; she didn't know if he would mind that or not. He insisted that he didn't mind anything, so to her way of thinking she would be able to tell if it bothered him.
After what she hoped was a sufficient amount of time, Julie left the apartment and headed toward Little Italy.
When she finally showed up, it was six minutes after and she walked quickly to the little restaurant that Matt told her he would be waiting outside of.
As she approached Matt, she noticed that the figure next to him seemed to be with him. From afar, she just thought it was someone else on the street, but she could tell the way Matt would turn his head to speak he was talking to the person in glasses next to him.
"There you are," Matt said, rubbing his hands together as he moved forward to greet her, lightly touching her on the back as he said, "Julie, this is Doug. Doug, this Julie."
"Pleased to meet you," Doug responded, his expression pleased even though his nose was red from the cold.
"I'm sorry I'm late," she said uncertainly, looking from Matt to the middle-aged man named Doug.
"Well, are you ready?" Doug asked, smiling as he withdrew a key from his pocket and turned around.
"Ready for what?" she murmured toward Matt.
"Well, it was a surprise," he told her, half-smiling. "Doug's my realtor; he's with me because I wanted to take you through this cute little condo I found. It's two bedrooms, I've already been inside, I think you'll like it."
Feeling more confused than she had in a while, she just reiterated, "Condo?"
Nodding, Matt took her by the arm and led her up the stairs behind Doug. "It's really cute, and we're just a couple minutes away from campus, so the location will be really convenient if you like it. There's even a fireplace for Santa," he said, his eyes twinkling at her as he nodded at her stomach.
Her confusion doubled and she knew it was showing on her face, but she didn't care.
He didn't seem to either. He certainly didn't acknowledge it, just led her into the little condo.
The realtor was unlocking the first door in the hallway, then he stepped back and allowed Matt and Julie to walk inside.
"These wood floors are lovely," the realtor told her. "And the condo is relatively new—it's about five years old, so everything is still nice. Little fireplace in the corner," he pointed out with a smile. "You could curl up with a book and some hot cocoa during the winter months."
All she could do was frown, and finally she said quietly, "Matt, why am I here?"
"To look at the condo," he responded sensibly.
Feeling a little embarrassed, she lowered her voice even more to tell him, "I am really not in a place right now where I can financially afford a condo."
"I know that," he said, rolling his eyes as if common sense guaranteed as much. "I told you that once things got settled down I would help you find a place."
Sparing the realtor a glance, Julie wondered what he thought of their situation.
He discreetly averted his gaze, and then he wandered into the next room, murmuring that he was just going to take a look.
Grimacing, Julie looked up at Matt and demanded, "What are you doing?"
"Showing you the condo."
"What are you doing?" she repeated, not looking away from his eyes.