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Glancing at the clock, she saw it was nearly ten PM at night and she was crashing, mentally and physically.
Putting the lid on her etouffee, she took several big bites of the bread pudding, and locked up the doors to the office. It would do her no good if she had a mental breakdown or made a mistake having to start over.
Climbing up the steps to her apartment, Emily plugged in her phone and fell into bed. An hour later her phone rang… and she answered it.
“M’ello?” she mumbled groggily, only to hear a softly spoken curse word in her ear, causing her to blink, trying to pull herself out of sleep.
“Were you asleep?” John asked warily. “I hope you ate something…”
“I did,” she mumbled. “John, you’re the best person ever…”
“Go to sleep, my love… I’ll call this weekend,” he urged gently, his voice full of tenderness and emotion. She wanted to say something about him calling her love, but she was soooo stinkin’ tired that she felt herself slipping back under that veil of sleep.
“M’kay…” she said faintly.
“Goodnight darling.”
“Night…” she whispered, letting the phone drop back… not even hanging it up.
* * *
John sat there listeningto her breathe, wishing there was something he could do to help, and knowing she was working herself to the bone.
The idea of sending her dinner for Valentine’s Day had been ingenious, and he’d called Krazy Cajun to see what else Emily liked to eat from there before placing the order online.
This was insane to think how much he cared for this slip of a woman, and how glad he was that time was passing quickly. He had the entire trip planned and couldn’t wait to spoil her for a little bit.
She needed someone to take care of her – and he would happily do so without her even asking. No, she didn’t need flowers or girly trinkets, she needed to know she was special to him, that he would support her, and all the romance books in the world couldn’t have prepared him for this feeling growing inside of him, as he listened to her breathe before giving a faint indelicate snore.
“Poor baby…” he whispered, smiling tenderly, knowing that she was completely unconscious.
“I love you,” he breathed softly, afraid to say the words that were bubbling inside of him, escaping before he could hold them back… and quickly hung up the phone.
CHAPTER17
EMILY
Emily feltlike someone had just tossed her a life raft and she could see the shore! She had less than a hundred sets of folders left to prepare and could have them done easily within a few weeks. These were the stragglers, the ones who’d filed for extensions, because they were missing documents or paperwork in order to file their returns.
It was the middle of April and bless John, he’d been so patient with this whole nightmarish timeframe that she’d pushed upon him. In fact, he was supposed to call tonight.
As if by magic, her phone rang.
“Hey John…” she said feeling better than ever before.
“I prefer to go by ‘The Tax Widower’,” he teased softly, laughing. “Have I told you that you have a crazy schedule when it comes to tax season? Maybe I should change my call sign?”
“Ouch,” she winced. “Is it that bad?”
“No, but I sure am glad you are coming up to breathe now. You sound good. Are you almost done or caught up on things?”
“Yes… finally.”
“Are you ready to go in a few weeks?”
“Would you hate me if I said bothyesandno?”
“Never,” he chuckled. “But I am curious to your answers.”
