On Wednesday, David arrived at the St. James house shortly before 11:00. Jesse answered the door and invited him inside. Rachel had mentioned that David was coming over and wanted to talk about something but hadn't given specific. Rachel had also mentioned to Maya that he wanted her help with whatever it was too, and she had been able to stop by also. Clementine was at soccer practice, but her friend's mother would be dropping her off shortly.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" Jesse asked, as he and David went into the living room.
"I'm good, but thank you," David smiled, and sat down. He discreetly patted his pocket to make sure the item he had placed in it was still there.
First, the group made small talk, but David soon got down to business.
By the time Clementine had arrived home, she found her parents, half-sister, and other sister's boyfriend all crying and hugging.
"What's going on?" Clementine asked concernedly.
Rachel turned to her youngest.
"Okay, Clementine - what I'm about to tell you you can't tell Olive, okay?"
Olive, meanwhile, was none the wiser to any of this as she sang through the piece her voice teacher Mary had recently selected for her. It was an Italian operatic piece called "Mio Marito" (My Husband).
After his meeting with Olive's family, David stopped back at the apartment and put the item he had shown her parents and sisters back in his safe. He wasn't going to be taking it out again for a couple months - in addition to talking to Rachel, Jesse, Maya, and Clementine, he had to talk to Dominic but wasn't sure how he could do that without Olive being around. He did have time to figure it out - and he was sure Rachel and Naomi would be willing to help.
After the quick stop, he got back in his car and headed for the cafe that he was going to be meeting Olive at. Shoot, he was running late. He checked his text messages and saw he had one from her.
I got us a table! See you soon
David quickly typed back a message
On my way! Sorry, I'm running a little late - had to check something at the apartment
All Olive responded with was "Hurry!" And then the hot/thirsty emoji.
David chuckled.
He arrived at the cafe shortly thereafter and quickly spotted Olive's table. She waved him over and stood up to give him a hug.
"Hey, babe - sorry I'm late," David gave Olive a kiss and they both sat down.
"That's fine - is everything okay at the apartment?" Olive asked.
"Yes indeed. Elphaba and Glinda said they miss you," David said.
Olive laughed and shook her head. Elphaba and Glinda were the couple's beta fish.
"How was your voice lesson?" David asked.
"Amazing! Mary picked the most beautiful Italian opera piece for me to sing. It's called 'Mio Marito' which means 'My Husband," Olive took a sip of her strawberry lemonade.
"Oh, I ordered you one of these too," she said, setting her drink down.
"Excellent," David said.
"When she brings it she'll take our food orders," Olive explained.
After lunch, it was back home to the apartment where the couple ran lines before having a quick dinner and heading off to rehearsal.