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“Just as I thought. Ha! You think I don’t want to see that sexy round booty of yours in a tiny, tight little Speedo, huh?”
That put a goofy grin on his face. I could've sworn he blushed!
“You don’t think I’m already drooling just imagining a snug fit outlining your manly attributes? Uh-huh. No board shorts formyboyfriend! Get back online and see what men’s shops are nearby. And find some tank tops and Tommy Bahama shirts for yourself, baby! We sure won’t find anything here for ourselves before we leave.”
He had that madly happy inventor look on his face as he googled it. “Got one! And here’s more!”
Our New Year was off to a good start. We’d decided to book the first singing lessons after I opened the new bakery. And my leg needed a bit more mobility before hitting the dance floor.
Looked like Amy and Alex were still with me. Opening day would be the week before Valentine’s Day. Alex was happy that I promoted him to Assistant Baker and Amy was happy to take charge of some research I kept putting off.
And Leighton’s kickboxing lessons? He was excited to start after our trip. “I’ll be your kick-ass protector, my beautiful darling!”
The vacation in Aruba was only possible because I had a passport. Davie, Jerry, and I had just spontaneously all applied for ours three or four years ago. I’d never traveled with mine, though.
We’d be spending most of a day to get to our destination. I didn’t care. I was with Leighton on an adventure!
Finally, in our suite in a hotel right on the most awe-inspiring white sand beach and turquoise sea on the western side of the island, it was real to me.
“Walk on the beach?” I proposed.
“Sure, barefoot in the sand!”
We’d brought sunscreen and sunglasses, but added wide-brimmed hats, his-and-her bikinis, and a couple of long shirts to wear if we lingered too long on the beach.
Given my redheaded sensitive skin, I was very careful of the sun and went through two bottles of sunblock all by myself.
I swam in the ocean but also in the hotel pool and felt much stronger by the end of the week. Leighton ran on the beach. We had a couples massage, private but outdoors.
We ate every meal outdoors, trying new tastes. All in all, we just relaxed into a new rhythm for a week.
Every morning and every evening was a time to linger in bed. We relaxed into each other.
It was over far too quickly.
Back in the city.
Time to focus on my new re-opening.
I was shocked at the lease I got from Genevieve and Leighton for the new bakery space rental.
“Guys? Where’s therent? What am I missing here?”
It was Genevieve who answered. “You'll see that it's a one-year lease, Samantha. Later ones can be for three or five years. We’ll talk about that later.”
Now Jerry was intrigued, too.
Genevieve went on, “And that first year’s rent is waived, yes. Zero rent due. That’s because there’s going to be ongoing construction on the rest of the upper floors of the building. That's going to be a disadvantage for you. There will be extra dust, maybe, but definitely daytime noise. Definitely coming and going from workmen. And an extra dumpster almost all the time in the back alley behind the building. So no rent is sort of our compensation for all that. You'll pay the estimated utilities. But that's it for the first year.”
I was stunned speechless.
Jerry was sitting next to me at the conference room table in Leighton’s office. He was my numbers guy and he was just as stunned as I was.
He said, “Wow. I guess we shut up and say thank you, right, Sammie?”
Everybody laughed.
It was Jerry’s and my turn to surprise the others. Jerry brought out an informal proposal for reincorporating the bakery. It gave Leighton’s holding company a 10% share of the bakery, with 12.5% each to Jerry and Davie. The rest was mine.
