Cherish Me

by Farrah Rochon

  “Who knew the teenage years would be so much harder?” he asked.

  “Every person who has ever parented a teenager,” Willow said with a laugh. “Your Mom warned me a long time ago that I needed to get ready. Whenever I bragged about how sweet Lily and Athens were as children, Diane would tell me not to get lulled into this fantasy that they would stay that way once they became teenagers. Apparently, she experienced the same with her kids.”

  “Not with me! She was probably talking about Indina and her smart ass mouth. She’s always been the trouble maker. Still is.”

  “Stop talking bad about your sister.” Willow laughed and pinched him on the arm. As far as Harrison was concerned, it was a kiss directly on the lips. He’d missed this playful banter they’d always shared. He’d taken past moments like this for granted.

  He’d taken so damn much for granted. That life would always be easy. That his marriage would never have any bumps. That his children would always be healthy and trouble free. That both his parents would be around for him for years to come.

  God, how things had changed in just a year. Everything in his world had been upended within a span of a few short months.

  But it seemed as if things had started turning around. Working on plans for the foundation had finally helped to lessen some of the pain he felt whenever he thought about his mom. Athens was on the right track with his pre-diabetes. Things were still up in the air with Lily, but if they found an alternative to St. Katherine’s there was still a chance she could recover from this fighting fiasco.

  And then there was Willow.

  A week ago, the thought of her holding his hand for hours seemed as improbable as him enjoying one of those Real Housewives reality shows Lily always had playing in the family room. Yet, here they were, hand-in-hand.

  When they finally touched down at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, and he knew for certain that he would be on land for the next seven days, Harrison took his first true breath in over sixteen hours. Now all he had to do was try not to spend his entire week feeling anxious about the flight back home.

  It shouldn’t be too hard. After all, he had a week with his wife in one of the most romantic places on Earth to distract him.

  Once they picked up their bags from baggage claim, Harrison started looking around for the taxi line, but Willow wanted to take the Leonardo. She’d read up on the high-speed train that took passengers directly to Rome’s Termini train station, in the heart of the city. The train station was only a few minutes from the hotel where they would be staying, so it worked out perfectly.

  As they boarded the train, Willow took his arm and wrapped hers around it.

  “I’m having a hard time staying calm,” she admitted. “Remind me that we have an entire week here and that I need to pace myself, because right now I just want to see and do everything!”

  “We have an entire week. And the itinerary I have planned will allow you to see everything your heart desires.”

  The look he saw in her eyes when she looked up at him struck Harrison square in the chest. This woman still loved him. There was zero doubt in his mind. Whatever had been lost between them over this past year, it wasn’t love. The love was there.

  Her enthusiasm intensified with every mile the bullet train ate up on their way into the city. Once they arrived at Termini Station, they took a cab the short route to the Boscolo Exedra Roma. It wasn’t the uber luxury hotel he’d wanted to book, but Harrison knew his wife would throw a fit if he’d spent over a thousand dollars a night on a hotel. It didn’t matter how much money sat in their bank account, Willow never seemed to shake off the frugality she learned as a child, growing up with a single mother who was barely able to make ends meet when her girls were young.

  They checked into their room and Willow told him he could have first dibs on the shower. The urge to ask her to join him was so damn strong his body strained with it, but he fought it. The one thing he would not do on this trip was test the boundaries of this delicate situation they now found themselves in. Expecting Willow to jump into the shower with him would test those boundaries.

  Once he was done, she took her turn. He pulled on an undershirt and the sweat pants he’d thrown into the duffle at the last minute, then he opened the curtains to the beauty of Rome. He’d read that their hotel sat in a square called the Piazza della Repubblica, but this looked more circular than square to him. At the center stood an ornate marble fountain with naked, nymph-like women playing in the water.

  “That must be the basilica,” Harrison murmured as he looked beyond the fountain. He’d also read that directly across from their hotel stood the Basilica of Santa Maria something or another, and the ancient Baths of Diocletian. It was the first stop on the itinerary he’d put together for tomorrow’s sightseeing. Tomorrow being the operative word. Right now, it was time to crash.

  He closed the curtain and moved over to the bed. When he stretched across the cool comforter, his eyes immediately closed. They popped opened what seemed like seconds later as Willow woke him up, pushing at his shoulder.

  “No, don’t sleep,” she said. “Wake up.”

  “Why?” He looked over and found her standing next to the bed, a towel wrapped around her still damp body.

  A tidal wave of lust crashed into him. It had been months since he’d seen his wife’s bare thighs. It was yet another thing he’d taken for granted over the years. Having sex on a regular basis.

  God, how he missed sex.

  “I read that when it comes to preventing jet lag, the one thing you absolutely cannot do is go straight to sleep,” Willow continued. “We have to stay on our normal schedule.” She looked over at the clock on the bedside table. “It’s only three p.m., so we need to stay up for at least another six hours or we’re going to throw everything out of whack. We should go out and do something.”

  “I hadn’t planned much for today because I figured we’d be too tired.” Why hadn’t he researched jet lag? He should have known they’d need to prepare for that.

  “I’m not as tired as I thought I’d be,” Willow said.

  She unwrapped the towel as she searched in the suitcase for something to wear. Harrison’s reaction to her unclothed body was immediate, his dick hardening as only one thought entered his mind.

  “At the very least we should go eat,” she said, clasping on her bra. She was oblivious to the party taking place below his waist. “Although, to be honest, I’m not all that hungry just yet. Can you believe all the food they fed us on those flights? Back home you’re lucky if you get a pack of pretzels.”

  Why was she talking about pretzels at a time when his dick was trying to drill a hole in the mattress?

  He reminded himself that he wasn’t going to push for sex. Although, damn, wasn’t that what vacation without kids was supposed to be about? It was the first time they’d gone anywhere without Athens and Lily in decades. They should be having sex every minute they were in this room.

  Apparently, Willow didn’t share those sentiments. Not if the way she dressed without even throwing a casual look toward the bed was any indication.

  Accepting that sex with his wife would not be happening in the next hour, Harrison pushed himself up and changed into gray slacks and a polo shirt. Twenty minutes later, they were on the sidewalk, facing the fountain and the jam packed traffic circle that surrounded it.

  “So, what do you want to do first?” he asked.

  “I still can’t believe that you didn’t plan anything for today. You? That’s unheard of.”

  He shrugged. “Like I said, I assumed we’d be too tired. But we can still find something to do. With as many years as you’ve been wanting to come here, you must have a laundry list of landmarks you want to see.”

  “And knowing you, plans to visit all those landmarks are already set in motion.”

  His wife knew him well. “Of course they are,” he answered. “Do you want to just stroll around the neighborhood and look at the architecture?” He stopped. “Hold on
a minute.” He pulled up the web browser on his cell phone. “Yeah, I knew I’d read this. The national museum is right over there. I didn’t add it to the official itinerary because I knew it was close and figured we could dip in there if we found ourselves with some extra time.”

  She looked over at the pale yellow building, then shook her head. “As much as I love looking at art, it’s not exciting enough to keep me awake. We need something that’s going to invigorate us.”

  Tapping her finger to her chin, she turned in a slow circle, examining the area around them. Harrison watched as a smile curved up the corners of her mouth. “That.”

  He looked over his shoulder to where she was pointing. “What? The sightseeing tour bus?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “They’re for tourists.”

  “Um, hello. We are tourists! Come on, it’ll be fun.”

  She grabbed him by the wrist and tugged.

  Their Roman adventure had officially begun.

  As the double-decker bus navigated the city’s narrow streets, Willow couldn’t believe she’d ever—even for a moment—considered not joining Harrison in Rome. It was as if a long-held dream was coming to life in full Technicolor right before her very eyes. She was the one who’d insisted they sit in the bus’s uncovered upper deck, so she refused to complain as they both braved the chilly, fifty-degree temperatures. It was worth it. The view from up there was spectacular.

  She huddled against Harrison as the soothing, accented voice coming through the earpiece described the various tourists’ sites along the route. He wrapped his arm more snuggly around her, and pulled her in even closer. She’d missed the sense of comfort that came from the feel of his solid body against hers. She closed her eyes for a moment just to bask in it.

  When they hung the curve on Via del Cardello and the Coliseum came into view, Willow literally gasped at the breathtaking sight.

  “Oh, my goodness,” she whispered. “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this with my own two eyes.” She turned to Harrison. “I can’t thank you enough for putting this trip together. It’s only been a few hours, and I already know this will be an adventure of a lifetime.”

  He lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss in the center of her palm. “I did this for you. Enjoy it.”

  Warmth radiated from the spot he’d kissed, spreading throughout her entire body. She clung to it. Wanted to bathe in it. She never wanted to let go of this feeling of being wholly loved and cherished. Harrison alone could make her feel this way.

  When the bus pulled up to the Coliseum stop, Willow insisted they get off.

  “It’s on our list of places to visit tomorrow,” Harrison pointed out.

  “I don’t care.” She tugged on his wrist. “We don’t have to go inside. I just want to take a few pictures to send to the kids.”

  They took silly selfies on the short hill just outside the gates of the ancient stadium, then hopped back on the next bus to finish their circuit of the city.

  Willow settled in next to him again and tried to remember the last time she’d been so content to just relax with her husband. It felt like old times, like those days before they had five dozen obligations pulling at them from every corner of their lives. Before cheer camp and karate lessons and SAT practice sessions and dinners with high-paying clients. Before the mountain of commitments and responsibilities that required her to have a desk calendar, phone calendar and a whiteboard hanging on the back of the utility room door.

  When had life gotten in the way of…life?

  “You hungry yet?” Harrison asked.

  “Famished,” Willow said, still clutching his arm to her side. “I didn’t realize just how hungry until you mentioned it.”

  He tipped his head toward the next stop, where a line of people were waiting to get on the bus. He pulled out his phone and showed her a map. “If we get off here and grab something to eat, we can walk back to the hotel. It’s only about five blocks.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Sounds perfect.”

  Warm tingles surged through her stomach at the sight of his answering grin. How had she managed to exist all these weeks without seeing that gorgeous face every day?

  They descended the stairs, then ducked into the first restaurant they encountered. At this point, Willow didn’t care where they ate, as long as she had something to fill her belly.

  It turned out even the tiniest, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Rome had better Italian food than any she’d ever dined in back home. She and Harrison shared an appetizer of the most incredible calamari she’d ever eaten, then sipped on delicious house red wine while they watched people stroll along Via Barberini.

  “I cannot believe I’m eating Italian food, in an Italian restaurant, in Italy.” Willow reached across the table and covered his hand. “I know how hard that flight was for you. Just the fact that you were willing to take it means so much.”

  “Holding your hand the entire flight made it bearable,” he replied, turning his hand palm up and enclosing her fingers in his. They sat that way for several minutes, neither letting go of the other’s hand until the waiter arrived with their meals, carbonara for her, lasagna for Harrison. As usual, they each set aside a small portion of their food for the other to try. But, instead of setting the forkful of pasta onto Harrison’s plate, Willow made a spur-of-the-moment decision and held her fork up.

  “Open up,” she told Harrison, holding out the food for him.

  He lifted one brow, an irresistible grin gliding across his lips. He opened his mouth and Willow slid the fork inside. His eyes closed and the moan that resonated from deep in his throat hit her deep in her belly.

  “Amazing,” he said.

  Her focus centered on his mouth and the sheer perfection of it. She’d always loved that mouth, the way his lips were inexplicably soft and firm at the same time. Goodness, but the things she’d experienced courtesy of that mouth. A tremor of sensation quaked through her belly at the thought.

  He reciprocated the gesture, holding up a forkful of lasagna for her to sample. Just as the tangy, slightly sweet taste of fresh tomato burst onto her tongue, Harrison’s phone tolled with the sound of an incoming text. He looked down at it and cursed.

  “What is it?” Willow asked, her mind automatically going to the kids.

  Guilt flashed in his eyes. “I need to quickly check email. I told LaKeisha to only contact me if it’s an emergency, so the fact that she texted means it must be important.”

  Willow sat back in her chair and tried not to fall victim to the frustration clawing its way into her psyche. She’d been married to him for too long to expect Harrison to remain true to that no work promise he’d made. Though, it would have been nice to have their very first day be work-free. That didn’t seem like too much to ask.

  “Dammit,” he said.

  “Is it bad?” Willow asked.

  He looked up from his phone. “The work thing? No. But one of my surprises for you just fell through.” He clicked the phone off and set it back on the table. “I just read in an email that the lead in the opera I wanted to take you to has the flu and won’t be performing. Dammit.”

  The opera?

  “But you hate that kind of stuff,” Willow pointed out. “Especially the opera.”

  “Yeah, but you love it. This trip is all about you, remember?”

  And just like that, her heart melted. The Harrison Holmes she knew would rather peel his own skin off than sit through an opera.

  “It’s okay, Harrison.”

  “No, it’s not. We are supposed to have a science day and a culture day.”

  Willow perked up. “A science day?”

  He nodded. “And a culture day. There’s the opera, and I also set up a private tour of the Da Vinci Museum. It supposedly has all his experiments.”

  Yep. Heart melting here. Could this man be any sweeter?

  “I appreciate the fact that you were even willing to go to the opera more than I
would appreciate the actual performance.” She reached over and trailed her finger across his jaw before tacking on, “But the Da Vinci Museum is a must-do.”

  “No doubt,” he returned with a laugh as he picked up his glass of wine and took a sip. “You know what I was thinking about when I set up that private tour?” he asked, pointing the glass at her before setting it back on the table.

  “Hmm?”

  “The little science shows you used to put on for Lily and Athens when they were younger. You built those dioramas of the different ecosystems, and always talked about turning it into a TV show for kids. Didn’t Ezra talk to an old friend from the paper who’d moved into TV and now works at the local PBS station? Why didn’t you follow up with him?”

  Willow did her best to stave off the instant resentment that seeped into her bones.

  “Why didn’t I follow up?” She heard the bite in her tone. “When was I going to follow up, Harrison? Between the twenty minutes I have after dropping Athens off at school and before I go to the grocery store? Where am I supposed to find the time to develop something for TV with two kids to take care of and a household to run?”

  His head snapped back as if she’d slapped him, but now that she’d set off on this mini-tirade, Willow couldn’t stop.

  “There are PTA meetings, snack days at school, ‘volunteering’ for the spring bizarre and the library book sale and the dozen other things parents are told are volunteer-only, but that you’re made to look like a bandit if you don’t participate in. All of that stuff has to get done. When am I supposed to work on my little science show?”

  Harrison looked as if he’d been bowled over by a raging tidal wave.

  “I…I didn’t know,” he said. “I should have. I should—” He shook his head. “Damn, I’m sorry, Wills.”

  “No, I’m sorry,” she said, her voice hoarse with guilt. “I didn’t say any of that to make you feel bad. I just…I—” She glanced up at him and her heart broke at the remorse clouding his face. Her conscience prodded her into owning up to her own culpability. “Harrison, I said all of that because I’m the one who feels bad for not following up with Ezra’s friend. The opportunity was right there and I let it pass.”