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“Awesome! I’m so excited to get started. I’ll need you to send me some information for the website… any pictures of products you want posted. If you want to sell any of the items online, I'll need prices and such. Just email me when you can and call or text if you have any questions or ideas for the site.”
I jot down my phone number and email address. Lauren hands me a card with her information as well. June brings the nicely wrapped necklace and ring to the register to ring me up. My stomach does a little flip at the cost, but I shove the feeling away. I’m too excited to give them my gifts and for my new project helping Lauren get Serendipity’s website off the ground to let money sour my mood.
I’m still happy as a clam when I get back to Jude’s car. I text him to let him know I’m on my way home so he doesn’t worry. He sends me a simple ‘xo’ text, which tells me he’s probably in the middle of a meeting. When I get to Jude’s house, I put the two gifts under the Christmas tree and light the candle, carefully sitting it in the middle of the kitchen counter so it’s not a fire hazard.
I should’ve gotten a warmer but didn’t think of it. I’ll have to get one so I don’t have to worry about a fire starting because of a candle. I know that it’s unlikely to happen, but after living in multiple apartments the fear of someone being careless with a candle and burning the whole building down has put a real fear in me. Probably because it happened in a neighboring building when I was a kid. It was scary.
It's still early afternoon, and Jude won’t be back for several hours. I thought shopping would take a lot longer than it did. I decide to work on my app while waiting for Lauren to email me. I have so many ideas for the website and can’t wait to get started.
As usual, I lose complete track of time when I'm working. The front door closing snaps me back to reality.
“Honey, I’m home…” Jude calls from the other room.
I quickly save my work, then run towards the entryway. Jude had just finished taking off his coat when I jump him. He easily catches me, and I smash my lips to his. He kisses me back showing me that he missed me as much as I missed him.
“Welcome home, Daddy,” I murmur against his lips.
“I love coming home to you, babygirl.”
He kisses me again, then lowers me back to my feet. I pout because I don’t want to be separated from him.
“No pouting. It’s past dinnertime, and we don’t want our food getting cold.”
He grabs the takeout bag I didn’t notice and leads me to the kitchen. He starts taking out cartons of food while I get plates and forks. My mouth waters when I see all the deliciousness in front of me. I want to taste it all. He bought way too much for just the two of us. Probably because he knew I’d enjoy leftovers tomorrow.
We make our plates, then take them to the table. I love eating our meals together like this. It makes it feel like we’re a real family. I imagine the other chairs filled with our children laughing and eating messily. It’s something I desperately want. Which is why I don’t want to bring up my apartment. I don’t want to lose this or my new daydreams of having a real family. I could be pregnant already. We’ve been humping like a couple of horny rabbits for days. If I’m not pregnant it’s not from a lack of trying.
“How was your day?” he asks.
“Good! I found the perfect gifts for you and your mom. I just hope you guys like them.”
“I’m sure they are great, love. We’ll like anything you picked,” he says, squeezing my knee under the table.
I smile at his words. I love how he’s always reassuring me. It makes me feel valued and loved. It’s a wonderful feeling. I take a bite of orange chicken. The flavor explodes on my tongue, and I let out a very sexual-sounding moan. Holy crap, that’s good. Better than any I’ve ever tasted. I’m tempted to shovel in the food like a pig, but I want to enjoy the meal, and talking with Jude like this makes me happy.
“I also met the owner of the store where I bought the gifts. It’s a new store and she’s not good at computer stuff. I offered to do her website and show her some stuff for social media advertising to get her started.”
“That was nice of you.”
I nod. “She didn’t want to let me help at first. She doesn’t have the budget to pay anyone, not that I want her money or anything. I just want to help her out because her shop is amazing. Anyway, I decided we could do a trade. I will build her website and she gave me a candle I was going to buy.”
“That’s my girl. I’m so proud of you for helping someone and finding a way to do it that made her comfortable accepting your help.”
I preen under his praise. I like making him proud. He was in awe when I told him about my degrees and explained the app I’m working on. He asked why I’m at Lush if I have my degree. That’s when I explained about the internship and everything that happened with Lawrence Tech. He was pissed on my behalf up until I called myself stupid… then he spanked me and lectured me. After that he encouraged me to work on my app and to not give up on finding my dream job.
“How was your day?” I ask, wanting to hear about what he did even if he thinks it was boring meetings.
“It was long without you. I’ve decided that you should come to the office with me from now on.”
I giggle. “You wouldn’t get any work done.”
“I disagree. I’ll be much less distracted if I can see you instead of having to think about what you’re doing every second of the day. Besides, you can work on your app or apply for jobs while I do my boring office work. We’ll both be productive while spending all our time together.”
That sounds beyond codependent, but I like it. The only problem is Lush. On the nights I work I sleep in the next day, and he’s already gone to the office before I wake up. I suppose I could live without as much sleep. It would be worth being tired to spend the day with him.
“That does sound nice. I like being with you. You might get sick of me, though. Especially since you stay at Lush all night while I’m working.”
He scoffs. “I’ll never get tired of you, babygirl. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I want you to quit working at Lush.”
