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“I’ll massage them for you. If you want to walk, we’ll walk.”
So, after Kiera carefully placed the shell into the bucket I’d been carrying, we continued our journey down the long stretch of the beach, where we’d first met.
The days and weeks that followed built us both up in the best ways possible. And when we welcomed our son, Will, at the end of summer, I knew we were both amazed at just how great our lives together were going to be.
The only thing that changed was that instead of us being eager to get to the next best day in our marriage, we found a way to slow down and savor all of the precious moments we had with each other and with the family we were intent on building together.
PREVIEW OF WHAT COMES AFTER
Devyn
“Son of a bitch.”
Twisting my neck to look behind me, I made sure nobody was around to hear what I’d just said.
This was just my luck, or lack thereof.
Returning my attention to the room, I let out a huge sigh of frustration. The open drawers with clothing hanging out, the barely visible carpet, the rumpled bedding, and the overturned bowl of ice cream sitting next to the open bag of Doritos on top of the dresser indicated that the bedroom hadn’t been cleaned in a long time.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
The first thing I did when I arrived at this house nearly five hours ago was clean this bedroom.
Per the owners’ request, I came here once every two weeks to clean. But with the way they refused to make their only child responsible for anything, I wondered why I continued to work for them.
Technically, that wasn’t true. I did it because I needed the money. At six thousand square feet with five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and extra services like laundry added into the mix, this house would net me a healthy chunk of cash that I couldn’t pass up.
But I didn’t exactly like having to do the same work twice in a day.
Unfortunately, the owners of this house weren’t the kind of people who seemed to care. Their only concern was having me do the job they’d hired me to do. And while I probably could have skipped over this room, since I’d already done it once, or explained that I wouldn’t be cleaning it a second time, I would never actually do that.
Because I didn’t want to risk losing this house. Without it, I’d never be able to afford my monthly bills, let alone have any extra to set aside for special occasions.
That was probably the bigger reason why I was feeling so frustrated about the mess.
It was Friday, and I had plans for tonight. Given that my financial situation didn’t offer me a lot of opportunity for splurging regularly, to say I was looking forward to what was in store for tonight would have been an understatement.
But if I continued to stand here, staring at this awful mess with the freshly cleaned and folded laundry in my arms, my night would surely be ruined. Roy’s night would be ruined, too.
So, I took in a deep breath and let it out before I stepped farther into the room and got to work.
Keeping my mind focused on the task at hand, I managed to get the bedroom cleaned up rather quickly. When I finished, I immediately went in search of Karlee, one half of the married couple who owned the home.
After letting her know that I was finished and getting paid, I took off. Speeding home, I decided to keep my thoughts on what was ahead for tonight instead of allowing myself to pray that my car wouldn’t have any more issues than it had already had this month.
Between needing to fix the air conditioning, which quit working in the middle of the summer and needing to replace the brakes, I’d sunk enough money into this heap.
Really, I needed a new car.
But I couldn’t afford a new car.
Fortunately, I made it back to my one-bedroom apartment without incident and raced inside. Where I lived left a lot to be desired. My place was clean, relatively affordable, and gave me the very basics of what I needed for shelter. There wasn’t much beyond that.
As quickly as I could, I took a shower and got myself ready. Then I picked up my phone, went to the last call I’d had, and tapped on Roy’s name.
He picked up after two rings. “Hey, Devyn. Are you done at work?”
“Yeah, I just got home and showered. I’m leaving here in the next two minutes to get you,” I replied. “Our reservations are in twenty-five minutes, so hopefully you’re ready.”
