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Kiera’s head dropped back onto the armrest of the couch as she let out a moan. I laughed, because I thought she was adorable.
“You did it, though,” I reasoned. “Everyone was happy, and it all turned out okay in the end, right?”
“That feels so good,” she groaned. “And yes, it all turned out fine. I would never have allowed it not to be, but it was too much. I’m so exhausted. Honestly, I have no idea how I even made it into the shower when I got home.”
Smiling, remembering precisely how it happened, I reminded her, “I spent a few minutes kissing you when you first got home, and then I led you upstairs to the bathroom, so you could hop right in. Don’t you remember I promised you that dinner would be ready as soon as you got out?”
Lifting her head up to look at me, she offered a lazy smile and answered, “That’s right. It was the promise of food I didn’t have to cook that made it happen. And the time with you, of course. I’ve really missed you so much these last few weeks.”
I knew she wasn’t exaggerating, because I’d felt the exact same way.
It was now late Sunday evening, and Kiera had gotten home roughly an hour ago. For the last several weeks, she’d been working incredibly hard. Not only had she had at least one event each weekend leading up to this, but she’d been doing what she could to prepare for this weekend as well. Technically, it had all started prior to the weekend, too.
As it turned out, Kiera had been hired to plan a wedding. This particular wedding involved a family that had several traditions, which meant that they had not only the wedding reception on Saturday evening, but they also had a party the night before the wedding. In addition, there was the rehearsal dinner, which took place on Thursday, and a post-wedding brunch that happened this morning.
Kiera’s business had been doing exceptionally well, so it was no surprise that she’d had parts of her schedule booked in advance.
Prior to booking this wedding, Kiera had already had a baby shower scheduled for later this afternoon. Normally, she’d never put two events in her calendar on the same day, but since the wedding was for Saturday, she didn’t think twice. It wasn’t until after the contract for the wedding had been signed that the bride and groom had requested her to plan the other events. Since it was months in advance, and nothing was technically going to overlap for her time between the brunch and the baby shower, she figured it would be okay and made an exception. Plus, she had plenty of time to plan everything and get it all ready.
She did.
And everything had gone well.
But there was no question how much it had taken out of her over the last few weeks.
I was beyond proud of her for all that she’d achieved with her event planning business. It had been continuing to grow steadily, and she had earned every bit of that success through hard work and dedication.
As I started to move my hands away from her feet and up her legs, I said, “I’ve missed you so much, too.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not going to do that again,” she replied.
“What do you mean? What are you apologizing for?” I questioned her.
Shooting a look of disbelief my way, Kiera explained, “You’re important to me, Johnny. Our relationship is important, and there’s no question I’ve neglected us the past few weeks. I don’t want to do that again.”
I could feel the tension move out of my features as warmth flooded me. “You were working,” I reasoned. “It wasn’t intentional.”
“No, it wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean I want to get into the habit of doing that. Yes, I need to make a living, but I don’t want to do that at the expense of our relationship,” she argued.
Shifting my hands to her opposite calf, I began kneading her tired muscles with my fingers and promised, “I’m not going anywhere.”
There was nothing I could imagine happening that would ever make me walk away from her. I loved her far too much. She made too much of my life better just by being in it. Nothing would be nearly as enjoyable in my life if she wasn’t there to experience it with me.
She smiled. “Thank you for being so patient and understanding these last few weeks.”
“You mean the world to me, Kiera. Why wouldn’t I do anything I could to support you?” I retorted.
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” she asked.
My lips twitched. “You make it sound like you’re the lucky one.”
With her head resting on the arm of the couch again, her eyes drifted shut, but the smile never left her face. “I am.”
“I’ll agree to disagree on that.”
With her eyes still closed, Kiera’s grin grew. “The mark of a good man. One who is willing to compromise.”
I didn’t respond, because I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I didn’t think there was anything I was doing that was remarkable. Kiera made it seem as though I was going above and beyond for her in ways that she’d never do for me, which simply wasn’t the case.
