One day after work, Dad was walking me on the paths of the condo complex where we had been living for almost four years. Karina was up on the first floor of the building looking at a condo for sale. As she was walking back to her car, we were coming down the path towards her. We walked right past her. After a few steps, Karina felt the need to turn around and ask Dad if the condo had a good reserve fund and if he liked living in the complex. Dad grumbled about this and that, giving her his honest opinion.
After Karina left, Dad hoped she would move in, and thought to himself that maybe he shouldn’t have complained about the place. Despite Dad’s grumblings, Karina bought the condo and moved into Unit 129 at the end of May, to find Dad living in the apartment two doors down at Unit 127.
Weeks later in August, while Karina was sanding the walls in her spare bedroom, she cracked open a window and overheard Dad talking to some neighbours in the parking garage below. She tried not to eavesdrop, but she heard him say, “My neighbour in the corner is really pretty. Trust me. Like, really pretty.” Karina wondered how many corners there were in the building and if Dad had been referring to her.
Later that month, we were out taking a walk again when Karina stumbled out of the building with large cardboard boxes. She smiled and waved hello to us. Dad mumbled hi back. We stood on the spot and watched her walk to the far end of the complex to throw out the boxes. She noticed that we were still there looking at her while she crossed the lane to check her mail. By the time we turned around and moved on, Karina was starting to wonder if maybe Dad liked her.
After months of bumping into each other in the stairwell and the garage numerous times, Karina considered asking Dad if he could help her put back some closet doors. Karina was contemplating how to ask Dad. By the time she drove in from work and parked her car she had decided that it was a terrible idea to knock on his door. I knew that Karina was downstairs and, even if I had just done my business, I asked Dad to take me out again. We got to the bottom of the stairs at the same moment that Karina walked in with a smile. While she asked Dad for help, we simply looked at her and neither of us said much, which made Karina think that maybe Dad didn’t like her after all. Well, he did like her and he did help her that weekend. Afterwards, they went across the street to BarBurrito to have dinner. They talked and talked until they were told four hours later that the restaurant was closed.
Dad and Karina immediately started spending time together every weekend. One Saturday evening, they watched a movie at Karina’s place. As he was about to walk out the door and take the few steps back to our unit, Dad bent down and kissed her. Dad said he should have done that a long time ago. One weeknight when it was just the two of us, Dad said out loud to himself, “Gosh, I really love that girl!”
Dad decided it was time to buy a table and chairs. As soon as he did, they started seeing each other several times a week, taking turns cooking dinner for each other. Whenever Karina would come over, I would go berserk and bark a special bark that I had only for her. At Christmas time, Dad took me to Karina’s place. I loved her Christmas tree and would fall asleep looking at the sparkly lights. Soon after that, COVID hit and they found themselves at home all the time, so they began enjoying weekday lunch dates with each other. I really enjoyed their food dates because I was treated to delicious home-cooked meals all the time.
After Christmas, I thought it was unfair that Dad got all the Karina snuggles, so every once in a while I would climb past Dad and get some snuggles on the couch too. One night, Dad and I looked at each other and agreed that Karina is the best. In October, Dad walked into a jeweller’s shop and spotted the ring he knew he would propose to Karina with.
The night before Christmas Eve, Dad invited Karina over to his place for dinner, as he regularly did. But this was a special dinner with candles and music. And Dad was wearing the jeans that he only wore for going out. While he was quietly waiting for her to finish licking the wrapper of her ice cream bar as she blabbered on and giggled about something or other, he went down on one knee.
Before he could ask her to marry him, she said yes!
