“When we ended things before it hurt more than I could have imagined but I know if anything happened now…” She looked away and I saw a tear trail down her cheek.
“Hey,” I said, lifting her chin. “Baby, look at me. I love you, Nell, and I always will. Whatever happens in the future we’ll be okay because we’ll work at it. You’re stubborn as fuck so as long as you’re willing to hold on and not let go we’ll be just fine.”
She let her arms drop and fell into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and leant my chin on the top of her head. “Do you trust me?” I asked.
“More than I trust myself.”
“Then believe me when I tell you I won’t let anything happen to us. You’re stuck with me for life.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded against her. “Yeah. Now have we finished this discussion and fought off your doubts?”
“Mmm hmm,” she breathed into my chest.
“Good. Let’s get to work and then.”
I dropped Nell off and headed to my office. Today had better pass quickly because I was really looking forward to spending some real time with my girl and my parents. I loved how she integrated in my family as if she’d always been there.
Nell was waiting outside her office when I picked her up that afternoon. Unlike when she worked for those last pricks she had a big smile on her face. She loved her new job, got the respect and recognition she deserved and was making good changes for the company. I loved to see her happy in all aspects of her life.
She opened the door and dropped in the seat, lobbing her bag in the back. “Hey, baby,” she said, leaning over for a kiss.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Very okay but it was a long day. We walked around the whole warehouse, offices and workshop. We’ve made great progress and both Harold and Margaret listened to my ideas so we’re definitely making progress. Oh, and I bought a new desk.”
Nell worked for a company that made, up-cycled and sold furniture and home furnishings. She spent at least 20% of her wages there and loved one-of-a-kind things. Thankfully so did a lot of people, mass produced flat packed shit was on its way out and people wanted quality. They needed to expand quickly and Nell was hired to plan and oversee that.
“We might need to look for a bigger house.”
She grinned. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Three bedrooms will do.”
There were two of us and we shared a room but of course we needed an extra two.
“Well I look forward to paying out hundreds more a month so all your new stuff can be stored.”
“There’s a retro pinball machine they’re working to restore…”
My eyes flicked to hers as I pulled up at a red light. “You’re trying to get around me with man toys?”
“Absolutely. Oh, and sex. I plan on having lots of sex with you in each of those three bedrooms.”
Who was I kidding, there was no way I was pushing for a smaller place if offers of arcade games and steamy sex was on offer.
“Fine. Start looking for bigger places then.”
Squealing, she pulled out her phone, no doubt hopping on Rightmove to start the search right away. I couldn’t care less, as long as we could comfortably afford it, the place it didn’t matter to me, where we lived or how much space we had. I’d live with her in a hostel if it meant we could be together.
Nell had come so far and she deserved everything she wanted. We deserved it.
Two hours later, we pulled up at my parents and I went to get the bags out of the boot. Nell had been organised and packed the night before so we could go straight from work since we’d be travelling at peak time.
Mum answered the door and hugged Nell first. I hadn’t realised that when I got a girlfriend I’d be bumped down on the favourite list. But I loved it.
“Hi, darling,” Mum said, crushing the life out of her.
Nell laughed and squeaked a, “Hey.”
“Will you put her down?!” I said, laughing and kissed my mum’s cheek once she’d let Nell go. We walked inside and I headed to the living room to find Dad. No doubt he’d be watching football. I rounded the corner and sure enough found him waving his hand at a footie match.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, dropping down beside him.
“Alright, son. Nell not with you?”
“Mum stole her.”
“She never had a girlie daughter. I’m surprised she’s not in there combing Nell’s hair.”
Cara was not one bit girlie. The one time Mum bought her a dress and asked her to try it on and see if she liked it Cara took it out in the garden and burned it.
“How is C getting on at Uni?” I asked.
“She’s not called asking for money in a week, so doing better I think.”
“I remember those days.” I laughed and kicked my feet up on the coffee table same as his. We’d both get told off for it but we still did it every time.
“How are things going with you anyway?” He asked.