“No, our new bed. You’re getting us a new bed, right?”
“New house, new bed. That sounds fair. I was thinking right there.” I pointed to the opposite wall. “Then when we wake up, we can see the bay. The light in the morning will be fantastic.”
“We might even be able to see the city,” he mused, resting his head on my shoulder.
“When it’s not foggy, for sure.” I sighed, finally feeling the weight of the day beginning to fall away.
“Did I tell you I had the cleaning crew pay extra-special attention to the claw-foot tub?” he asked.
The one thing he’d managed to do right that day was get a cleaning crew in to scour the place top to bottom as soon as the key was officially in his hands. We might be tearing half the stuff out of this house, but by God, it’d be clean stuff.
“Shut up.”
“If I did, you wouldn’t hear the best part,” he teased.
“Hit me, Wallbanger.”
“When I went out to get the bed? I also bought you some Mr. Bubble.”
“Shut up.”
“If I did, you’ll never hear the bestest part.”
“Bestest?”
“Yes. The bestest part is that I’m going to take a bubble bath with you. And not because I’m planning on seducing you, which I’ll try. And not because you’ll need help washing your back, which I’ll offer to do. But for a very specific reason,” he said, getting up and pulling me toward the bathroom.
“To see me naked?”
“That’s just a bonus. The real reason is that the lightbulbs are burned out in here too, and I know you’d get totally spooked if you had to stay here by yourself in the dark.” He grinned as we entered the bathroom.
“You do know me well,” I agreed.
From a bag in the corner, he pulled out a package of tea lights and a box of matches. “Practical bathing with a side of romance.”
I laughed out loud. And took a bath with Mr. Bubble and Mr. Parker in that very tub. Heaven. And I thought I was the practical romantic.
An hour later, I was camping on the floor of my new living room on a blow-up bed with my new roomie. I was relaxed; my limbs were limp and noodley. And when Simon slid into me to christen this first of many rooms, I allowed myself to be swept away.
Except I wasn’t. He tried everything he could to sweep me away, but there was no sweeping.
But it was still wonderful and warm and delicious, and the perfect way to end such an up-and-down day.
“No?” Simon asked as he panted into my ear, his body slick on top of me.
I stroked his back as I shook my head, feeling him finally relax into me. “I love you, Simon,” I whispered. “So much.”
He rolled us so I could lie in his nook, where the rise and fall of his chest lulled me. “Love you too, babe,” he whispered back, holding me close.
And as I slipped toward sleep, listening to all the unfamiliar sounds of our new home, I took a quick inventory. O was still in there, just a little skittish tonight.
All was good in the new neighborhood.
chapter eighteen
I sat in my office, rearranging the piles of paper on my desk once more. Lining up the edges, positioning the folders so that they were at perfect right angles with the side of the desk. I inspected and removed three petals from the roses in the vase, goldenrod shot through with the palest of pink.
Jillian was due in any moment.
As Simon and I spent our first weekend in our new home, she and Benjamin spent it readjusting in theirs after their lengthy absence. She’d texted me to let me know they were home, and we agreed to meet at work on Monday. I was handing back the keys to the kingdom.
I’d loved playing Jillian for a few months. It’d been longer than I’d planned, but I’d gotten a taste of what life might be like a few years down the road. I had always seen myself as part of a larger team, and my normal role was exactly what I wanted. I’d handled the additional responsibility well, but was I at heart a manager? No. Did I want to run a business, or just create beautiful and enchanting places that a business or family might want to inhabit?
I was a designer. And I wanted to keep on being a designer. So the keys would be given back, she’d tell me what a brilliant job I’d done, she wouldn’t be able to resist busting my balls about the third-floor carpet no matter that she knew it wasn’t my fault, and then everything would go back to normal.
Yes? Yes.
I heard her before I saw her. That voice that could make you quake or dance. I was hoping for dancing.
“Where is that girl? Where’s that Caroline?” I heard as she came closer to my office door. I grinned, moving out from behind my desk and approaching the door.
She breezed in, suntanned, healthy, and radiant. She literally glowed.
“What’s up, boss lady?” I asked, and she pulled me into a tight hug.
“Good to you see you, kiddo.” She moved me back out to arm’s length and looked me over. “You look tired. And I have just the cure.” She handed me a huge bag.