TheBanyanTree: Instantaneously Redux

[Monique]

He has a trunk full of boxes he brought home from work for Stew. No one
asked, he found they had empty boxes and just brought them home for Stew.
For packing purposes. He's also going to be helping move things into storage
on moving day. He brought one large box up to my porch when he came home
last night.

When I told Stew he said, "But I don't have anything to give him . . . " 

As if anything we've ever done around here has ever been done on the basis
of exchanging like for like. 

"But you did, anyway," I tell him, "You took digital pictures for him
yesterday." 

We don't care about equal exchanges around here anyway.

So he asked, since he was on his way out the door to work, if it was okay if
we got the rest of the boxes out of the trunk tomorrow, if Stew would be
okay for one more day without them.

Since they're surprise boxes, I told him that was fine. 

Then he said he had to be careful when getting the boxes out of the trunk
because my anniversary present is in there too.

My anniversary present?

What the hell?

February 22nd. One year since we met. 

This is an important occasion. He's been thinking about what we should do.
He has extra time off work because of the holiday. He not only has a present
for me, but he has a present for me now, and it's still a month away.

This morning, when I woke up not yet ready to wake up because I hadn't slept
well and the dog wanted to go for her morning walk, he asked about taking
her himself, then took her for a walk, and told me to go back to sleep.
There's always presents around here these days. 

Monique