by Lynn Galli
“Stop it, young lady, and go surprise my daughter. She’s going to be thrilled to see you this early in the day.” He hustled me around the side of the house onto the pathway to the office. When I stepped inside, I was almost run down by Zina, my partner’s employee, as she whisked from her office toward Joslyn’s.
She stopped dead in her tracks, a wide grin splitting her face. “Thank heavens, you’re here. She’s been nonstop since she got off the plane. Apparently she thinks if she works our fingers to the bone, she won’t have to work all weekend. Make her stop, please!”
Her drama mixed with amused ire got us all laughing.
No sooner had our laughter started then my beautiful spouse appeared at her office door, surprise and elation battling her usual work-mode expression.
“Raven,” she whispered and rushed into my arms.
“You’re supposed to be at work still.”
“Surprise!” I clutched her to me. Relief washed over me at the feel of her close again.
“I don’t even care that you’ve ruined the surprise I had planned back at home. It’s so good to see you.” She leaned back and pressed her lips to mine.
I couldn’t hold in the moan at the start of her kiss. God I’d missed her, always missed her so much when she was out of town pulling businesses back from the brink of disaster. Her mouth caressed mine with the same care as if it were our first kiss. She never denied me this pleasure after we’d been separated for any length of time, nor did she mind when I couldn’t stop touching her for a few hours just to make sure she was really standing in front of me. Joslyn wasn’t the touchy-feely type with anyone but me. In fact, she reserved so much of herself just for me. I’d never felt as special to anyone as she always made me feel.
“I always love this part,” I heard Michael mutter behind me.
“It’d be sickening if I didn’t know how in love they were.” Zina’s sarcastic reply made us break apart with a laugh.
I glanced over at the two onlookers who’d become part of my family over the past few years. Michael, because he was my father-in-law and Zina because she was a crucial part of Joslyn’s business. Without her, Joslyn would probably be gone four out of every four weeks, instead of one or two out of every four. That was bad enough, but I knew what I’d signed on for when I fell in love with this oh-so-rare woman. “I was just telling Michael outside that Mom knows several available women. Perhaps, we should start looking for available men for you, Zina? Hmm, maybe one of my unattached cousins?”
“No!” both Joslyn and Zina screeched, prompting a belly laugh from me. They both had issues with some of my cousins, not that I could blame them.
“I’ll drop it for now, Z, but know that I’m keeping my eyes open.”
“Have at it, sister. Someone deserves my beautiful black self.” She squeezed my arm. “Take her away, please! Let me do my work.”
“Our work,” Jos grumbled, but the sharp glance dissipated when I swung back around to look at her. She still had a private smile just for me. I never grew tired of looking at it.
“Aren’t you forgetting something, best girl?” Michael prompted.
“Oh, uh.” She glanced back at her office for a second then looked guiltily at me. “It’s probably just temporary.”
“What?” Curiosity compelled me to follow her into her office. What I saw there made me stop in the doorway.
“What’s that?”
Jos bent to a knee and reached out a tentative hand to what looked like a young Welsh corgi, tan and white, but definitely a mutt with floppier ears and longer legs than the breed usually had. “Now, lovely,” she began as I started inching backward. I didn’t get too far since I melted every time she called me that and because Michael had blocked my escape. “Zina and I found her limping on the side of the road on our way back from the airport.” My hand was already up. “Oh, no. No, you don’t.” But my beautiful partner wasn’t listening. “She didn’t have a tag, so we took her to the vet, and no ID chip either. We’re posting flyers, right, Zina?”
“Already done,” her coconspirator added.
“Someone will call.” My dog whispering spouse blinked her stunning grey eyes at me in the most endearing fashion.
“She’s too cute and well behaved not to be someone’s dog.”
“And if no one calls?” I posed, already knowing the answer. My hardly innocent, so far away from being angelic, but still irresistible partner smiled tentatively. The question of permission so prominent in her eyes. “We’ve already got five dogs, sweetheart. We’ll probably have to get a special license to keep another.”
“Not until eight. I looked it up.”
If she wasn’t someone who rarely showed emotions except in my presence and around animals, dogs in particular, I’d want to shake her silly. I sighed, already knowing I’d lost this fight. When she stood and hugged me gratefully, I couldn’t help but smile. We had ten acres of land, two horses, and five other dogs. What would one more hurt?
“I love you,” she whispered.
“You better,” I warned playfully, reaching down to pet what would surely become the newest addition to our family. “Come on, you’re done for the day. I want some time alone with you before we head to Elise’s party tonight. Load up the pup.”
“She’s staying with Dad for the weekend. She needs some medication and can’t walk too much on her hind leg. I don’t want her trying to get used to the others when we won’t be there tonight.”
I glanced back at Michael, nodding my thanks. It was probably a good idea the dog stay segregated until we knew if she’d be claimed by an owner. “Sounds good. Now say goodbye and you’re not bringing any work home with you this weekend.”
She grinned, flashing the smile that always made me weak. “Bye, Dad, thanks for taking care of Machi this weekend.”
“Not a problem,” he assured.
I turned back to face Joslyn, disbelief slackening my expression. “You did not name her Machiavelli.” That grin flared again and I felt the shock of it all the way through my system. “You can name her something else, lovely, but I knew she’d be the one to help me move you off the no more animals stand you had.”
“You’re both evil little things.”
“But you love me and you’ll love her,” she stated then turned and tapped Zina on the shoulder. “See you Monday morning.”
“Bye, boss. Have a great weekend. See ya, Rave.” I said my goodbyes to them as I herded Joslyn out the door in front of me. Sometimes it was difficult to pull her away from work, but the best thing that ever happened in our relationship was when she’d moved into my—our house but left her office at her old property. That made it difficult for her to work weekends or evenings because she couldn’t just stride across the driveway and be in her office.
My hand reached for hers and I was immediately rewarded with her fingers lacing through mine. Her head tilted to look at me as soon as our hands connected, a furtive smile playing on her lips. God, those smiles, she could take my breath with any of them.
As we cleared Michael’s house, my car came into view.
“Ah, your T-bird, shoulda known you’d take every chance you could before winter officially sets in to drive this thing.”
“I was in the Vette yesterday, sweetheart.”
“My Vette,” she joked, shooting a mock glare at me.
“Our Vette, my love. I’ve got papers to prove it.” I referred to her insistence that we put both names on everything we owned as soon as we went through our commitment ceremony. She’d also taken care of every other detail like living trusts, health care proxies, life insurance and everything else that goes with a legal joining of two lives. Sometimes it was so wonderful having an all too practical spouse.
We slipped into the car and I got us headed back out onto the road to our house about ten minutes away. I was looking forward to the few hours we’d have together before we needed to fight through Friday night traffic on the bridge to attend Elise’s going away party.
As we drove, I’d glance over at Joslyn as she asked me about my day. The early December sunshine highlighted the lighter streaks in her thick, wavy hair, making it appear more blond than brown today. Like her hazel eyes, her honey brown hair shifted shades depending on sun exposure. She still took my breath away with her beauty, but it was her kindness and consideration that held me captive. Like today, she was in the middle of a three-week onsite consulting project, but she’d broken it up to fly back for Elise’s party. She usually spent every moment of out of town consulting jobs completing her contract, evenings and weekends included. But she’d decided to take this weekend off and come home for the party. She liked my friend Elise, but I knew she’d flown home so that I wouldn’t have to attend this party alone.
Stepping out of the car in front of our house, we barely made it a step before her dogs burst through the doggie door off the back room and bombarded us. Could I really handle another one of these mutts? Yes, absolutely, especially when I saw how elated they made Joslyn.
After wrangling them into submission, we got everyone moving toward the front door. I spotted two boxes on the wide wraparound porch of our house. This was only one of the features I loved so much about our two-year-old home.
Michael was so talented as a house designer and my brother-in-law, Marco, could work wonders with timber beams. Finally, my once disjointed property now had a house, detached garage, connecting carport, and barn that looked harmonious and stunning enough to be featured in Architectural Digest.
“Are you expecting a delivery?” I asked of the packages.
The dogs were circling her legs as she stepped up beside me on the porch. She reached down and grabbed the biggest box, swinging a secretive look up at me. Her eyebrows fluttered as she opened the door and went inside. I grabbed the other box and followed her.
“Don’t open it yet,” she warned while sliding hers onto the console table and reaching for mine. “Stay here a sec.” She disappeared into the family room at the end of the hallway leaving me feeling like I was missing something but enjoying the sway of her hips as she moved. Damn, she was sexy. I shook my head before I was tempted to ignore her instruction and decided to be productive, too. Heading back outside, I went to get her suitcase from the car. By the time I came back, she called out, “Okay, come on back.” I strode down the hallway with the dogs in tow and stopped as I reached the wide open space of our living room. Candles were lit around the room, an open bottle of wine stood next to two filled goblets, and soft music was playing in the background. The smaller box sat open on the coffee table. “What’s all this?”
“I told you that you’d ruined the surprise I had for you by showing up at the office. I’d hoped to stop off and get you some flowers before I got home, then arrange more candles here and in the bedroom where those new massage oils would come into play.” She pointed to the smaller box.
“I wanted to make sure you got to relax a bit before the party tonight.”
“Oh, sweetheart, this is so thoughtful of you. How’d you know I needed this?”
“I know you, lovely. Now, sit, relax, have a glass of wine, and I’m going to grab your next surprise.”
“What brought all this on?” I called out to her as she disappeared back toward the front door. The dogs’ toenails clicked on the hardwood floors as they followed her on her quest. Usually the two little ones stayed with me and the others would follow her everywhere, but even they were too curious to see what she was up to.
“Open it,” I heard from behind me as she reentered the room carrying the larger box.
“What did you do this time?” I wanted to be perturbed with her annoying yet amazing habit of bringing back gifts from her trips. Most of the time it was little things because she knew I liked little things best.
“Got you a little something while I was away.”
“Doesn’t look too little to me.”
“Little enough. Stop stalling.” She dropped onto the couch next to me, pointing at the box she’d placed in my lap.
My fingers worked at the tape and ripped a strip free opening one flap. I tugged on the other until it gave way and peered inside. Oh, God, this woman! I was looking at my dream saddle, the one I’d had my eye on for years ever since I got my first horse. How did she always do this to me.
“Joslyn!” I managed in an excited whisper.
“It’s the one, right?” She looked a little worried that I hadn’t immediately reached in to bring it out.
“I can’t believe you did this. I thought we agreed no more presents?” I tried to sound stern, but oh, how I wanted this saddle.
She shook her head, a blissful smile gracing her delectable mouth. Reaching a hand out, she tucked some of my hair behind the ear closest to her. She liked running her fingers through my hair. I liked it, too, but mostly I liked that she never knew she would like something so simple. So much of the wonder of our relationship together was of her discovering how intimacy between two people could come in almost any form. She was a newcomer to serious relationships, and I relished showing her how much closer we grew with each new discovery.
Fingering the rim of my now exposed ear, she ignored my stern tone and responded brightly, “You might have said something about that, lovely, but since you’ve actually made me stick to my promise of no birthday presents until your birthday rolls around again in two years, I’m taking some gift-giving liberties. Plus, I like your current saddle better than mine, so now you get the one you always wanted, and I get the same.”
I laughed at her logical reasoning. That logic was what first attracted me to her. There’s nothing like watching a woman who wasn’t used to emotional outbursts struggle with the ever tilting sway of feelings that comes with being in love. On the rare occasions when we disagreed or even argued, I almost always gave in because she looked so lost not knowing how to deal with all the feelings that bombarded her during those charged times. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“It is the right one, isn’t it? You’ve been showing it to me every time we stop off at the tack store.”
“It’s the right one, Jos, thank you. I love it.” I leaned forward over the box and captured her lips, pouring all of my gratitude into this kiss.
“Good,” she breathed roughly when our kiss left us both trembling.
“You’re not buttering me up for something, are you?” I pulled the saddle out of the box, running my fingers over the supple leather. I got distracted by the intricate stitching for a moment. Then a thought hit me. “You’ve got another dog hiding somewhere, maybe two? Are we now a licensed kennel, sweetheart?”
“Not another dog,” she insisted with a laugh, but the fact that the denial came immediately got my dander up. I wiggled my fingers back toward my palm, my own version of insistence.
“I knew you’d be a little sad tonight. I wanted to do something special for you.”
“Oh, honey, I love that you knew that and all the special I needed was you for the weekend. Thank you for flying back for the party.”
“Of course, I didn’t want to miss the chance to say goodbye to them. I know how much you’ll miss them, Elise especially.”
I nodded, feeling tears start to sting my eyes. I was thrilled for Elise’s promotion but I didn’t want her to leave.
She’d been a constant in my life since grad school, and while we didn’t see each other every week, we caught up at least twice a month and called each other all the time. “Wish you didn’t have to go back to Houston on Monday, but I’m so glad you’re home for the weekend. What time does your plane leave? Early enough for me to drive you to the airport before I have to get to work?”
“I’m sending Zina back.”
“What?” I choked on the surprised breath that leapt from my lungs.
She moved the saddle onto the floor and scooted closer to me, lifting her lower legs to flip over my thigh and knee and tucking them between mine. I fell into her as soon as her arms came around me. “I knew this would be
a really tough week for you, lovely. I didn’t want to compound that by leaving for another two weeks.”
The tears that had threatened before started to fall. I could feel myself start to tremble as Joslyn rocked me slowly. “You’re staying?”
“I’m staying. In fact,” she started then leaned back to wipe my cheeks, “I wanted to talk to you about a change I was thinking about making.”
“What kind of change?” I gripped her hands to hold on to something. She had a way of going from point A to point Z and working out all the details of something before bringing whatever it was she was planning to me. I wasn’t sure I was up for any changes right now, not with my closest friend outside my family leaving for good tomorrow.
“I’ve been thinking about hiring two more people for the business.”
I tilted my head, not quite sure how this would change things other than more business for her. “Sounds like a good idea. You could always use more help.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking, but really, it’s so I can focus on the analysis and presentation end of the job rather than the time consuming data gathering that I’ve been doing from the start.”
Now my head tilted back the other way. This couldn’t mean what I thought it meant. No, that was wishful thinking, unrealistic wishful thinking.
She interrupted my fantastical musings. “I thought an office manager to take all the administrative tasks away from Zina so she could be my senior consultant and hire someone else to train in Zina’s position. That way, I’d only have to travel for client meetings and the final presentations to the board or CEO. Zina and the new person could do all the onsite data gathering for me. What do you think?”
“Jos?” I couldn’t manage anything more through my surprise. This was exactly what I’d been thinking and hoping and wishing.
“Do you think you could handle me being around a lot more? I’d probably only be gone for a few days each month instead of what we’ve been used to for the past couple of years.”
“You wouldn’t be gone as much?” This was so out of left field I could hardly comprehend what she was saying. I hadn’t allowed myself to hope that she would ever adjust her schedule more than what she’d already done by seeking out more clients in western Washington instead of taking on all consulting jobs that interested her from around the country. I’d been happy with her centralized marketing effort, but this was beyond even my most unattainable hopes.