I think I finally found the perfect present to give to Sarah. It was really hard. I have to get her something, to protect our cover if nothing else. Ellie and Awesome were both asking what I had gotten her. I think Ellie wanted to make sure I got her something appropriate while Awesome almost seemed to be fishing for ideas.
I thought a long time about getting her something that we could talk about and share together – a good set of novels or a handful of my favorite movies or even a bunch of songs to add to her iPod. But she's already been so wonderful about borrowing books I recommend or watching what movies I want to watch. I try to get her to pick, sometimes, on cover dates, but she usually just picks the one I would want to see. I don't know if that's because she enjoys those, too, or if she just knows me well enough to know which I'd like to see.
Plus, it's pretty nerdy and not very romantic to give books or music. I am sure Sarah would act appreciative and might even enjoy getting a present that would help her better understand me. But Ellie would have a hissy fit if I did something like that. So that idea failed.
Next, I thought about trying to get something Sarah very appropriate for her job – her real job, not her cover at the Orange Orange. But what would I know about silencers or knives or holsters? Or even about work-out equipment. I do know quite a bit about electronic surveillance stuff, but I know that the government stuff is almost always superior to stuff I can find at the Buy More. Plus, she has easy access to as much of that kind of stuff as she could possibly want. Any gift of this nature also has the problem of failing the Ellie test.
So I went to Ellie and asked her advice. She told me I should get a diamond ring. She may have been joking, but she may not have been. That would be weird. I mean, it's already weird enough just trying to have a cover romantic relationship. It has its definite perks, because Sarah is so awesome, but being in a cover marriage would be even weirder. I wonder how far that would go – cover kids, cover home? At what point would it cease to become a cover and just become part of life? I wonder how married people feel about their relationship – is it something they think about all the time or is it just part of life?
Anyway, that went nowhere, but the idea of jewelry stuck. Jewelry is good, because it's generally considered romantic. The problem is that it's expensive. When I asked Ellie about giving Sarah mom's charm bracelet, though, she thought the idea was fantastic. Even if I never get it back, at least I'll have given Sarah something real.