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but got voicemail.
     
    I went on my iPhone and weather.com’d our location. It was showing green precipitation heading through the area for the next few hours. I looked behind at an old lady, peering out, wondering what we were doing standing in her front yard, under a tree.
     
    Ashley said, “This tree is too small and it’s dripping. What do you say we run to that big one, two houses up?”
     
    “You can run in those shoes?” I asked.
     
    “I can sure try; let’s go for it.”
     
    Now we were standing by another family’s front lawn. Only this time there was a dog by the glass front door. It wasn’t barking, but was definitely eyeing us as if we were intruders on his land.
     
    Then Ashley sprinted to another tree, calling to me, “Come here, this one’s better.” I hugged her close beside that tree, not caring how potentially ridiculous we looked. “We might be here for a while,” she said, “and those people in their spiffy cars can’t appreciate this.”
     
    “Appreciate what?” I asked.
     
    “The rain. I’m not saying I like it, but we’re bonding with caveman peeps. I’m sure this happened to them all the time. Granted we don’t have saber tooth tigers hiding behind some rock, but it’s kind of fun, isn’t it?”
     
    “I hear you,” I said and gave her a kiss.
     
    The rain let up briefly and we ran two houses farther. When that tree didn’t work, we ran to the next house.
     
    I was no longer thinking of calling my parents or trying to explain to a cab company, how we were under a tree in some family’s front yard. We continued sprinting to different trees until we were in my parents’ driveway.
     
    “Wow,” Ashley said, “I’m so going to need to use your parents’ dryer.”
     
    “You got it,” I said.
     
    “But it was kind of cool, you know. It made me think of trees in a whole new way. When you’re a kid, they’re things to climb and when you’re an adult, they’re pretty things to look at. But them trees were gangster today. They had our backs. They were our friends—we gave them purpose. I’ll always think of this walk to your parents now, based on the best trees to hide under.”
     
    “Something new for Google maps” I said, “you know, the ‘in case you’re in the pouring rain and hoofing it’ feature.”
     
****
     
    “No worries, it was an adventure,” Ashley said as my mom asked why we didn’t call for a ride.
     
    We sat with my parents in the kitchen, drinking coffee, as the rain began to really pour.
     
    “You know,” my mom said, “that house on Greenleaf has been lowered in price and would make a charming starter home.”
     
    Ashley gave me a look, like “you’re gonna field this one champ, right?”
     
    I just smiled at my mom and said, “We’re enjoying city life for now.”
     
    We had talked to my parents about moving to suburbia before we were married. There had been an original two-year plan when we bought our Manhattan apartment. Or more appropriately, when my dad made the down payment. Starting a family was the plan. But we didn’t feel rushed. Ashley had just turned thirty last spring, and I wouldn’t be thirty-five until January.
     
    Ashley had expressed concerns about moving to the suburbs too soon. She liked having her circle of friends nearby. As it was, we could both walk home from work. Plus, we had city conveniences as soon as we walked out the door.
     
    My dad shuffled Ashley into the living room after coffee. “We just got the piano tuned,” he said, gesturing her toward it.
     
    “Mmm, sounds tempting, but I don’t want to be anti-social.”
     
    “Oh please, go ahead,” my mom said, “we would love to hear you.”
     
    “Well, if you insist.”
     
    Ashley started with some classical numbers. Beethoven was one I recognized. Her hands danced around the keys in a fury. Then she asked for requests. My parents had her playing “Moon River” and some Beatles songs. Her performance had me reminiscing