I smiled and with that, the difficult part was done.
I didn’t want to call Dad but once it was done I realized Mike was right. I should have done it earlier. It was good to know him and Mom were coming up just because I liked the idea of them being there. I liked it better because they were both good with the boys. But I liked it best that, after that scene with Debbie, I had more of what Mike called “firepower”.
I figured I was going to need it.
Mike and my lunchtime specials the last three days were about fast sex, fantastic orgasms, quick cuddling but not a lot of conversation. With his work, his schedule and his kids and me wanting to be with the boys in the evenings so they wouldn’t be alone with their thoughts and without their Mom, these opportunities didn’t come often. We whispered goodnights to each other over the phone but this didn’t last long either. He had to get up and hunt bad guys. I had to get up, exercise horses and make pottery. And he might have a long hall separating his room from his kids’, but I was smack next to Kirby’s room, across from Finley’s and I knew from growing up there the walls were thin.
But I had the feeling something was on his mind, something was concerning him, something he wasn’t sharing. And I’d have to give up sex to get it.
I was prepared to do this. But when I walked through his back gate and hit his backdoor the last three days, Mike was prepared for something else. I knew this when he grabbed my hand, dragged me through the house and up to his bed without delay.
I would have been okay to take the thirty seconds it took to hit his bed and use it wisely on his couch.
Mike was a bed man. I didn’t know if he paid so much for it he wanted to get as much use out of it as he could or if he didn’t want to be sitting on his couch with his kids thinking of doing me there.
I did know he was an adventurous lover. To get me off and him off in thirty minutes, he got resourceful.
Needless to say, Mike, his body, his mouth, his hands and his ingenuity, all of which ended with his smiles and his slow burn kisses, I didn’t protest and demand we chat over sandwiches instead of getting down to business.
As busy as he was, as brief as our quickies and conversations were, Mike made certain I knew he was thinking of me. And he did this yesterday afternoon when another delivery boy arrived from Janet’s Flower Shop. This time, a lush, close bunch of vibrant pink and so deep purple they were nearly blue hyacinths.
The card said,
Angel,
You didn’t mention it but I didn’t forget it. I missed Valentine’s Day.
But this day is more important, our anniversary.
Mike
At first, I didn’t understand. Then, I remembered it was Wednesday. I got home on a Wednesday. I forgave him on a Wednesday and we reconciled on that Wednesday.
Our anniversary.
Getting those flowers and note, I didn’t squeal inside. I melted.
I never knew a man who remembered stuff like that so I never had a man who remembered stuff like that. I’d had men give me flowers and I didn’t know if Janet was just super talented or Mike had fantastic taste because I might have had flowers but never any as strikingly beautiful as the ones Mike sent. Never having a man who did something like that, remembered shit that was important and made a point of letting you know it, I didn’t know it would feel so damned good.
But it did.
It was also a surprise. Mike was thoughtful, definitely, but he didn’t strike me as a flowers type of guy. So it was a surprise but a pleasant one because, as with everything he did, he did it really well.
Even with his focus on me in good ways, I still knew he was preoccupied and I needed to take his pulse and the more time that went by where I didn’t find my opportunity to do it, the more my concern grew. But with our lives the way they were, I didn’t see that opportunity opening up anytime soon.
It was going to be a long week and a day (and I was counting them down) before I got unadulterated Mike time.
There was movement at the barn doors, my head went from the vase I was making to them and I saw Rees hesitantly standing there.
A surprise.
“Hey, honey,” I called.
“Uh…hey, Dusty. Sorry,” she shifted as if to move away. “You’re busy.”
“Come in, Rees,” I invited. “If I can work and listen to rock ‘n’ roll then I can work and talk to my girl.”
“Sure?”
“Definitely. Hit the music and pull up a bale of hay.”
I focused back on what I was doing while Rees wandered around me. The music didn’t go away but she turned it down. Then she grabbed a bale of hay, tugged it close to where I was working and sat down on it. My eyes slid to her several times as she did this and continued to slide to her as she sat, watching my hands work.
I decided since she sought me out to let her set the scene.
It took her a few moments but finally, she set it.