AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And why not?”
I expected her to say something about money running out or obligations, but she didn’t. “Because then it wouldn’t be special. We need to have a normal, everyday life so that, every once in a while, we get to go on an adventure. It gives us something to look forward to.”
In finally taking a vacation after working non-stop for my entire adult life, I was frustrated with what I’d missed all of these years. In truth, the life of restraint and self-discipline had left me with plenty of money to be a bit extravagant as I got older, but I forgot sometimes that Sloane was younger than me. She was very early in her career, and I didn’t want to deny her the chance to move up through the rankings of Dynasty.
So, I relented, and we returned home, back to the house that we’d bought. Mila had been watching it while we were gone and, when we arrived back in Los Angeles, she picked us up from Burbank. I grabbed the bags from the carousel and put them in the trunk while Sloane jumped into the passenger seat. I hopped in the back.
“How was your trip?” Mila asked us. “I hope you took lots of pictures!”
“So many,” Sloane said. “I’ll share them with you once I go through them.”
“I was hoping it would never end,” I said. “We’ll need to go back.”
“Honestly, I was hoping you’d stay a little longer,” Mila told us.
I bit my tongue and stopped myself from saying, “Me too.”
“The house is a dream,” she said. “I loved staying there. It was great to have so much space to myself. And have a good trail to run on every morning. I’m not looking forward to having to go back home to my cramped apartment.”
“You don’t need to leave now that we’re home,” I told her, realizing after the words came out that I probably should have consulted Sloane about it first. “There’s plenty of room. Stick around.”
And I meant it. In the weeks leading up to my proposing to Sloane, I’d gotten to know Mila and we hit it off spectacularly. It helped that we had a common interest: we both loved Sloane.
“Yeah,” Sloane said enthusiastically, giving me a sense of relief in my offer. “We’d love to have you. And it’s the least I can do after all the times you let me stay at your place.”
“Oh, I couldn’t,” Mila said, though her expression suggested she was genuinely considering it. “You two lovebirds should have the house to yourself. I’d just be in your way.”
I saw her point, but, as part of the renovation, we put in thicker walls that would effectively soundproof the rooms. We would have had plenty of privacy, especially if Mila stayed in the bedroom furthest from ours.
“Well, you’re welcome to visit any time you want, regardless,” I said. “It just seems to be a waste to have those four extra bedrooms and nobody using them.”
“Three,” Sloane corrected me. “We’ll only have three extra bedrooms.”
Three? I thought. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that at first, but then I remembered.
“Oh, right,” I said, “we’re going to turn one of them in a home office so I don’t need to go into work five days a week. Put a nice desk in there with a comfortable chair and plenty of lighting for video conferencing.”
“That’s a good idea,” Mila said.
“I didn’t realize that you wanted to go forward with the office,” Sloane said.
That was a confusing thing to say. Didn’t she just mention that one of the extra rooms would be taken.
“Yes, of course, it was a wonderful idea,” I told her. It was, in fact, her idea, and perhaps I should have given her credit for it.
“I guess that leaves only two bedrooms for Mila.”
I thought for a second. We’d talked so much about plans for the house while we were away that I wasn’t sure what she was referring to.
“So, you want to go forward with the gym?” I asked. “Was the gym the other room we talked about?”
Sloane had taken the running shoes that Mila gave her and was running on the treadmills on the cruise ships. She’d also taken some of the yoga classes they offered and thought it would be nice to have a home gym, too.
“Shit, I forgot about that!” Sloane said, adding her adorable swear flair as usual. “Yes, I absolutely want the gym. That means we only have one room for Mila.”
I racked my brain for what she might have been referring to and couldn’t come up with anything. What could I have been forgetting?
The answer was that I wasn’t forgetting anything. Instead, I was just slow to catch on.
