She was silent for the rest of the drive, so much so that I thought she had fallen asleep by the time I pulled in. When I shut down the engine, I saw that Tabby was looking at me with a look I had seen before in her eyes. "Why do you keep doing this, Sophie?"
"What's that, Tabs?" I said, hitting the button for the automatic garage door. I waited for the door to close and the extra locks to engage. Yes, the door was solid, and was technically rated against an F-5 tornado, although our city hadn't had a tornado recorded in the past century. Just another Marcus Smiley quirk that conveniently doubled as a good security feature.
"Why do you keep looking out for me? You win the lottery of all lotteries in life, finding a wonderful guy who loves you for who you are, is totally loaded in addition to being a hottie and good in bed, and you could have run away with him anywhere on the planet. But you came back, have saved me twice now, and have set me up for career success. Why?"
"Because I love you," I said simply. "What other reason do I need?"
I got out of the car and waited for Tabby to get out. I could see the questions in her eyes, and I took her hand. "Tabs, you're a wonderful woman, I've said that so often I feel like it's running on repeat in my head sometimes. I pray every day that there is someone out there for you like Mark is for me. I'm sure there is, I have no doubt. Until you find him, I'm here for you."
Tabby swallowed and nodded, smiling at me with a bittersweetness that broke my heart. "I know. Trust me, I know. Thank you.”
I decided to deflect the situation with some levity. I could tell that she needed to relax and have some fun. "Good. Then let's get some sweats on, get a bit of cheesecake, and Brandon Lee on the big screen. Did you know Mark outfitted one of the rooms in here with super sized two person bean bag chairs, a HD projector and surround sound?"
"Oooooh. You know just how to speak my language," Tabby said, her smile more relaxed and natural.
"Excellent. One more thing," I said as we went inside the main portion of Mount Zion. "We're giving you back your natural red, or at least something approximating it."
"Why? If you get to go purple, why can't I go black?"
"Because our friendship demands at least one redhead, and if I do it, it's going to be fire engine red."
"Good point."
* * *
Around midnight, the closing credits of the movie were rolling. Tabby was asleep next to me, her left leg thrown over my thigh and her head pillowed on my breast when Mark came in. "Shhh," I said quietly after he had done his double take and realized who it was. The movie was a big hint, I think. "We have a visitor."
"I see," he whispered, carefully taking the quarter of a cheesecake from me and taking a bite. "Thanks for leaving me some dessert."
"She needed it," I said, stroking her hair. "She was pretty messed up, but she'll get better."
"Okay," Mark replied, not needing any other commentary. He trusted me, which is spoke deeply to me. "Should I just bring you two a blanket?"
"That'd be nice," I said, smiling. "Thanks. How was your work?"
"I'm prepped as much as I can," he said. "Need a few little tools, but we can discuss that in the morning. I'll help you with yours tomorrow."
"Okay. I love you," I whispered. Mark smiled, blew me a kiss and stood up, taking the rest of the cheesecake with him. I turned and pulled Tabby a little bit tighter, wrapping both arms around her before dropping off to sleep myself, barely feeling it when Mark draped the blanket over us.
Chapter 44
Mark
Both Sophie and Tabby were pleasantly surprised when I brought them breakfast the next morning, about the only breakfast I knew how to make well, Southern style biscuits and sausage gravy. I found them spooned together on the large bean bag, both of them looking tiny in the middle of the immense sack, which I had ordered to be more than large enough for me and Sophie. Setting the two plates on the low coffee table in front of them, I went and got my own plate and set it down before waking them up. "Good morning ladies," I said, sitting cross legged on the far side of the table.
Tabby groaned, while Sophie rolled and stretched before blinking and looking at me. Tabby sat up, giving Sophie a chance to finish rolling and start rubbing circulation back into her left arm. I could understand, she and I had fallen asleep on the bean bag before, and it was tricky. The surface was shifting and soft enough that you could stay that way all night, but you still woke up with a pretty wicked case of pins and needles in your forearm. "Wow, breakfast in bed," Tabby said sleepily. "He is perfect."
"Not quite, but I'll keep him," Sophie said, running her fingers through her hair. "Hold that thought though, I need to use the potty."