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The oven clock and hissing bus breaks nearby informed me it was a quarter to six. Opening the fridge, I realized the half-empty carryout boxes and bottle of wine wouldn’t be enough for breakfast. I wondered if my new position at work would pay enough for me to stock my fridge more than twice a month, or if I would even take the promotion.
I wanted nothing more than to crawl back in bed with Rowan, but, as I stood in just his shirt in my dingy kitchen, I remembered how he’d gone out to get me coffee and a cinnamon roll when I slept on his couch.
Grabbing some pants and a bra from my laundry basket in the bathroom, I dressed in the dark and snuck out into the early morning drizzle and headed down the block to a diner. There was actually a line ahead of me, but it was no surprise as the place made the best waffles. I was giggling to myself, smiling like a fool, because none of the people moving in and out of the diner around me had Rowan Ellis asleep in their bed.
When I left the diner with a bag of food, the rain picked up and splashed my legs as fat drops slammed from the sky. Even as the train came to a stop, it sprayed the sidewalk, so I ran home.
Rowan was coming out of the bathroom when I walked inside, rubbing his eyes and yawning. It was ridiculous how handsome he looked no matter his mood, and I stood in the doorway gaping and dripping with rain.
“Coffee,” he told me, pointing behind him to the kitchen. His sleepy arms reached out for me as I got closer to him, melting beneath his warm body and almost falling asleep listening to the soft rhythm of his heartbeat.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” I explained, moving to carry the bag into the kitchen, “but my fridge is empty, so I ran down the block and got waffles.”
Rowan kissed the top of my head, squeezing me tightly before spinning us around so he was closer to the coffeemaker. He’d already started it when I left, and the comforting aroma swirled around us. As he took two mugs from the cupboard, I went to the table.
“I guess this is our first real date,” Rowan mused, joining me and helping sort through the boxes of carryout. “Speaking of dates…”
I stopped pouring syrup on my waffle, rolling my eyes up to meet his. “Yes?”
“You’ll be mine at Aubrey and Ethan’s wedding?”
“Of course,” I laughed, smiling at how innocent he looked with his hopeful blue eyes and sleepy face. “What else? I can tell by that smile there’s more.”
“The parade downtown next week goes right by your office.”
“I can’t flash you from the window, Rowan.”
His laugh did something to me, the low chuckle rumbling straight into my chest. Swallowing his bite of waffle, he let out a low moan. “That’s all I’m going to be thinking about now. Thanks, Meredith.”
It was like we’d spent every morning for the last ten years at that table, happy in each other’s company. The stress and worry left and we could simply be together. We sat at the table for hours that morning, with Rowan wrapped in a blanket, and I changed into his shirt from earlier. It was the weekend, cold and rainy, and staying in together only felt right.
When we talked about his last game in the World Series, Rowan lit up with excitement. He described every play, how his stomach still hurt from being slammed into, and how much it meant to him we’d gone to support him at his games. There was still a lot left for him to do as part of a winning team, and discussing it brought us back to reality a little.
“I don’t want to go. I feel like this is still so perfect, so new. It’s like I really have you now and I don’t want to let go,” he confessed, his boyish grin toying with my heart. “I’m going to the White House in a week,” he told me. “And then some more press tours, but then I’m all yours.”
“You’re mine during all of that, you know.”
“You won’t let me forget,” he winked, “and it’s all I’ll think about. Do you want to come with me?”
I thought about my work. “I need to tell you something. I can’t take off to join you, as great as it would be to see a bunch of baseball players. You know they’re my weakness.” Rowan coughed, glaring at me. “You’re my weakness.”
Rowan stirred some cream into his coffee cup before he refilled my cup, remembering I preferred mine dark. “Tell me your something.”
Thanking him for the refill, I took a sip and told him about the promotion at work and how I hadn’t decided on what to do.
“You’d be working with my team?” His grin spread so wide it almost broke his beautiful face. “I’d see you all the time? I’d get to sneak you off to the all the secret nooks and crannies in the stadium.”
“Or I could focus on making a professional name for myself separate from my famous boyfriend.”
“I support that,” he agreed, smiling at me, “but I still vote for taking off your clothes somewhere nobody will find us.”
“I wouldn’t be working there or with you. Harrison just wants to make me the bridge, the one in charge. You don’t think it’s because of you, do you?” My heart sank a little, only bubbling again when Rowan took my hands and pressed his lips against my knuckles.
“You did this all on your own. Even if I had a part of it, you sold your image and restored mine. That was all you, Meredith. We should celebrate this!”
“I told you I haven’t decided if I’m going to take it.”
“How much time do you need?” Rowan questioned, standing at the table. He waved the blanket out to straighten it before folding it over the chair and checked the clock on my stove. “Because it’s after noon and I have to rescue my cat from Heather.”
