"Used GPS in your phone to find where you were."
Silence.
"Baby?"
"Hmm…"
"You asleep?"
"Tryin'."
"I'm not sleepy. Think I slept too much earlier."
"Pills?"
"What? No, I 'm not in pain or anything."
"Wanna fuck?"
"What?!"
"Babe."
"Well, now that you mention it…"
*.*.*.*.*
It had been the three days that the doctor had ordered and I was ready to be able to move around more than just going to the bathroom and back. Or to the small sofa in the bedroom and back if Jake wasn't around.
I had discovered that my big, strong bad-ass was a complete and total worry-wart as well as a stickler for following medical advice. We had had many words about this over the course of the last three days, not all of them pleasant. I even think at one point my loving man had muttered 'mule-headed' my way which I found highly offensive at the time.
So on this, the fourth day, I had showered and dressed and played with my hair a bit before I slowly made my way downstairs. My leg, though painful when I put too much pressure on it, was so much better that I was anxious to go down there. Even though downstairs wasn't all that much different than upstairs, it was still a welcome change. A very welcome change.
Jake had called just a few minutes earlier to advise he was on his way back home from Sam's office and should be home in twenty or so.
Home.
Such a simple word filled with so much meaning. I looked around the space of the downstairs with a critical eye.
It was almost a home.
I had been busy even though I was confined to Jake's humongous bed. I made time to download the pictures from our phones to the laptop and had Marianne make a stealth mission for photographic paper and frames. I spent time choosing just the best snapshots of the two of us together and printed them out whenever Jake was out. Marianne would pull them off the printer in the upstairs office when she came by each evening and bring them to me. Gotta love that Wi-Fi. Last night was when she moved all the framed pictures downstairs and put the bag in the bottom of the pantry, behind the dog food. Since Jake seemed to be a quick two-scoops of kibble kind of guy, I was thinking the pictures would be safe there, away from his prying eyes.
I wanted this to be a surprise.
I carefully dragged out the dog food bag which, thankfully, was only half full before snagging the bag of framed pictures from their hiding place. The extra time upstairs, bored out of my mind, had actually been put to good use as I carefully planned what pictures were to go where. I dragged out the one on top, the 3 x 5 of us at Enrique's on our first date. Jake was laughing, his head back and I was laughing, my head tilted up towards his face, his arm around my shoulders. I remember that he had asked the waitress to take the picture just before our meal had been interrupted by Hank and Fiona.
This I put on the ledge of the kitchen window.
The next was the 8 x 10 of us leaning against the bike just before we left Smithfield. That time I had asked that big biker dude he wouldn't mind taking the picture. Don't remember if we even traded names, but whoever he was, he took beautiful pictures.
There were three of them on my phone, all of them showing me standing in front of but within the circle of Jake's arms, helmets hanging from the straps in our hands. In one, Jake is laughing with his head back and I'm smiling widely at the camera. In another, we're both smiling at the camera and in the third we are turned towards each other, our foreheads touching but each of us laughing. It was the second picture that made the cut and I placed it on the sofa table behind the longest part of Jake's huge couch.
The next frame in the bag held the picture that I wasn't aware had been taken but was on my cell phone. It showed me and Jake sleeping in that small hospital bed, my back to his front, his face partially visible around my hair. This one was a 5 x 7 landscape and I put it on the mantle, just beneath the flat screen.
The last picture was one of Jake with Mrs. Baxter that I had taken at the Nursing Home. This I had printed as a 5x7 portrait and placed in on the other side of the mantle.
I was sitting on the ottoman on the wall by the door, which provided me with the only vantage point that allowed me to see all four of the pictures without having to move. I heard Jake's keys in the door and heard him begin to call, "Home, Darlin'" before he saw me sitting next to the door. He smiled at me as he used the heel-toe action to get out of his boots before making his way to me.
"Hey, baby," I greeted him softly turning my face up for my kiss.
"How you doin', pretty girl?" I heard him say softly against my lips. He moved on stocking feet towards the kitchen and I knew the exact moment he saw the picture on the window ledge because he went completely still before moving slowly towards it. He stared at it a while before turning back to me, a soft warm smile lighting his face.
"Your work?"
I nodded. "There's more, baby."
He came towards me and veered off into the living room. I could only see his back from where I was sitting but I could still see when he caught the frame on the sofa table then moved to the picture of him and his Ms. Lilly before making it to picture of the two of us in the hospital bed that I had placed on the other end of the mantle.
This one Jake actually touched by taking it down and staring at it for quite a while.
"I don't know who took it or when, but I'm glad they did, Jake."
"Me too, pretty girl." He continued to stare at the picture, rubbing the frame with his thumb. "A treasure, yeah?"
I knew he was talking about more than just the picture but what it represented, that in our unconscious moment that the picture had captured, we were safely together after hours of not being either together or safe. That we were, in that hard hospital bed, an inseparable unit. I swallowed back the lump in my throat at the soft look on Jake's face.
I watched as he put the picture back on the mantle and moved back to me. He picked me up and sat down himself, settling me into his lap gently. He glanced around the room and smiled when I saw that he got it--got why I was sitting there--as his eyes moved from picture to picture to picture. I snuggled against him laying my head on his shoulder glad that he liked the little changes I had made.
"Darlin'?"
"Mmm-hmm?"
"Been thinkin'. Was wondering how important it is for you to live in your apartment?" I felt the hand that had been softly, slowly stroking my back begin to pick up speed.
"I don't know what you mean, Baby."
"Want you here all the time, Cait."
I pulled back so I could see his face. "You want me to move in?"
He nodded and leaned his forehead to mine. "Askin' too much, too soon?"
I closed my eyes and went back in my head to think about it. Was it too soon? Well, sort of if you were the kind of person that measured the amount of love you had by how many days you had spent together. I wasn't and I didn't think Jake was either.
Was it too much? Being with Jake in one place all the time? Not having to co-ordinate our schedules and move from place to place in order to be together? That was a no brainer for me.
"Loved to, Baby," I said softly moving my chin so I could kiss him. He, as usual, took full advantage taking the soft kiss I'd intended and moved it deeper until we were rubbing against each other and one of his hands was up under my sweatshirt, kneading my breast. I called a temporary halt to our impromptu, make out session by levering myself up on to my good leg and steadying myself against his shoulder.
"I've been thinking, too," I announced still kind of breathless from his kisses. Jake raised his eyebrow and motioned for me to continue.
"I'm spread way too thin with too many classes and too many jobs. And while I'd love to get my degree in four years, there's no reason I can't get it in six. And I should be able to work just part time someplace in an industry that I can, fingers crossed, get a full time job after
I get that degree." I was leaning, my hand against the wall but the position was starting to get uncomfortable. Jake must have seen me wince because he stood up and draped my arm around his waist as he slowly walked with me to the bar stools. After he got me settled, he made his way to the kitchen side of the bar and captured my hands.
"Got something in mind for that?"
"Marianne mentioned that the receptionist they have now is going on maternity leave in two weeks and doesn't know if she'll be back. She said that the office manager might consider a part-timer to fill in especially during the late afternoons and early evenings since tax time is almost here."
"Sounds good if it's what you want, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Don't know if you know it, pretty girl, but Sam is drawing up the paperwork and Dale is buying my portion of the club."
"Your selling your part of the club? Why?"
"Told you before, Darlin'. I'm not the same man I was. Don't wanna be that man anymore, not with you."
"You're not selling because of me, are you Jake?"
"No, pretty girl. Selling because if we keep going like we're going then things will move forward, yeah? There might be some kids that we get from our wild, monkey sex."
"Wild monkey sex?" I couldn't help my giggle as my mind conjured up a couple of the positions we'd really enjoyed and could totally see why my man would call it 'wild monkey sex'.
"Whatever. We may have kids someday and I don't want to bring any kid, 'specially not my kid, anywhere near that world. Got it?"
"Got it, Jake."
There was silence but our eyes and hands remained on each other.
"Baby?"
"Right here, Darlin'."
"We have another big decision to make before we move forward."
"What's that?"
"Should we have wild, monkey sex before we eat dinner or after?"
I watched another slow grin light up his face before he answered, "Your choice, pretty girl'."
Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
We were both just getting our breaths back after a vigorous and resoundingly successful round two when I ventured to ask, "Baby, you think we got enough food?"
There was a small, sharp chuckle from Jake's side of the bed where he'd collapsed. "Babe."
"No, really, do you think we have enough food? I mean, everyone we invited said they were coming. Didn't we hedge our bets and order ten percent less in case people didn't show?" I felt a sharpness in my voice but felt I was entitled as this was the first party I'd ever planned.
I felt Jake's arm snake around my waist before he turned onto his back, dragging me with him to press me against his side.
"Settle, Darlin', yeah?" I heard him rumble against the ear that was pressed against his chest. "There'll be enough. Your girls said they were bringin' shit, too, right?"
I nodded because it was true. My girls were bringing stuff. Marianne and I had been on the phone constantly, going over the menu again and again. My mind drifted off thinking about how she and I had become so close after my brush with the worst of Fiona.
I was happy to have Marianne so close.
I was grateful to have her so close.
Shit, I was damn lucky to have her as close as she was.
She was in charge of coordinating with others that had been invited which had been everyone at Fuego's, the Grantham Police Department, the girls from Arminster Arms and a few of Jake's friends. She and I often laughed about this mix of characters and she even reminded me the last time she was over, throwing up her arms and yelling loudly, "There's gonna be drama, Cait, and we get a front row seat!"
"Gonna be good, Cait, yeah?" I heard the man of my dreams growl softly while he tightened his arms around me. While I was still learning 'Jake-speak', I found I was getting better at it daily. Either that or he just was verbalizing more for me.
"Wish we could've had Ms. Lilly, though," I said on a sigh. My favorite patient and Jake's surrogate mother had died the previous Tuesday. Per her instructions, she was cremated and Jake took me way up the mountain, about two hours beyond Smithfield to a hidden meadow that she had specified in her will, that Jake seemed to know about without consulting a map. It was a beautiful day, the sunshine had a promise of Spring in its rays as it twined around us when we parked the bike and set out on our half-mile trek to the meadow before Jake up-ended the wooden box that held her ashes.
"Be at peace, my love," he murmured as he released her ashes into the wind that was blowing softly through the meadow. We caught a bit of the ash as it blew back on us and closed our eyes quickly.
"Think she was giving us her blessing, Cait," Jake said softly, almost reverently as he fitted the lid of the box back on its container.
The lump in my throat prevented me from answering, but I was touched by the thought as well as the memory of the hour that Jake had spent alone in our bedroom after receiving the call from Shady Acres. I had pressed my ear to the bedroom door about fifteen minutes after he had sequestered himself in there and all I could hear were his mostly muffled, heart-wrenching sobs coming through the closed door.
I had left my man, my Jake, to his grief knowing he would seek me out when he needed me.
"Amazing what she left behind, though. For you, her Jacob," I whispered against his chest, my fingers painting aimless designs on his chest.
"Never thought she had that much, to tell the truth," my man said. "The director of the home never gave me a clue when I asked who was paying for her care there. Just kind of rumbled at me, and said it was already taken care of."
I smiled at the 'rumbled at me' remark. I knew that particular sound a little too well.
"Dunno know much about her or her 'dear Albert', as she called her husband who had passed on before she came into our lives. Which is kinda sad when I think about it. She knew everythin' about Frank and me and, yet, we knew nothin' about her," I felt Jake shift as he spoke. "Don't feel worthy with what she left me."
I remembered when Jake came back from Sam's after the reading of her will. Ms. Lilly had left Jake her house and the contents of her safe deposit box that held different titles, bonds and savings bonds which was, all told, worth $1.5 million dollars.
I raised my head and my blue-green gaze captured his golden one. "She knew what she was doing, Jake. Was done a long time ago."
"Guess you're right, " he conceded, his eyes to mine, before pulling me close once again.
"Plans?" he asked softly.
"Shower and get dressed before going downstairs to start arranging things," I muttered as I brought the list of 'things yet to be done' that was first and foremost blazing in the front of my mind. I disentangled myself from Jake and slid my booty to the side of the bed.
"Pretty girl?" I heard him call and glanced over my shoulder and caught my breath.
My Jake, my gorgeous man was on his elbow, head in hand, with the sheet draped low around his hips.
"Mmm-hmm?" I responded, my eyes roaming and delighting over the view presented to me.
"Care to share a shower?" I heard him say over the heavy heartbeat that was making all my pink bits swell in anticipation.
"Loved to, Baby," I said instantly knowing it was going to extend my shower by a good fifteen minutes.
It was time well spent and worth adding to the schedule, I thought turning my back on him and walking softly, slowly away from him as I smiled.
I wasn't wrong in either 'cause my man, my Jake was at my side, as fast as he could move.
*.*.*.*.*
I was getting dressed when it hit me, I mean really hit me, how much my life had changed in two weeks. I slid on my new navy blue satin thong with the cute rose detail in the front, with its matching bra as I remembered asking Marianne to become the apartment manager at Arminster Arms.
She had been so excited. She had taken Jake's advice and ran every application by Rich Harding, the Private Investigator that Fuego's had on staff and finally settled on Sara Davidson--the one that had
been so cold after seeing me with Jake--renting Apartment Three and Julie Bell, Tim's younger sister and a fellow student at State U, who had rented Apartment One after I moved in with Jake. Jake had suggested, and I had agreed, to give Marianne a discount on rent since she was now the apartment manager and Floyd's official mom.
I had dropped Biology 202, kind of because I didn't like being there without Renee and kind of because I wasn't able to do all the labs by myself. Rather than fail, I dropped the class. Go ahead and call me chicken. I have enough times. But I just couldn't do it.
The job at D & J Accounting services panned out and Aaron, the office manager there, hired me on the spot at $10 per hour which, combined with what I was earning with the increases in rent since Julie was renting my place furnished for $600 per month which Detective Tim Bell, her brother, called 'a steal'.
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