Yep, they sure did.
“Retired Road Warriors has a nice ring to it,” he said, a smile in his voice.
“I mean, at least they can’t forget to pay the power bill when they don’t have a home,” I pointed out.
“They’ve been all over,” Noah said as he flipped through their recent pics up in the western part of the country. “Wait, this is you?” He flashed the phone toward me.
I looked up and saw a pic we had taken when my parents came to visit a few months ago. It was the visit that had freaked Mom out and made her pull Lou in and beg me to make some changes. Objectively, even looking at the image now, I could see how tired I had been.
“Yeah,” I said, wondering what Noah saw.
“Babe.” His expression was soft. “You look exhausted.”
I nodded.
“Work? Writing?”
“Both.” I took a breath. “That’s why I moved. My work-life balance in Chicago was terrible. Mom and Dad visited, and Mom flipped out when they saw me, insisting I uproot my life and move down here to find some peace. The firm I worked for didn’tcare at all about what working for hours on end did to you as long as you got done what they needed you to do.”
“So you’re saying it was the opposite of working for Sue?” he said with a grin.
Sue’s belief on balance had become a running joke between Noah and me this week. When I tried to work too much from Madison, she’d sent me texts and told me to go outside and touch grass—her way of telling me to get my priorities straight. As she’d said repeatedly, she hadn’t originally planned on having an extra employee during tax season. Any hours I clocked were bonus help that they could use to ease everyone’s load, but none of it should be done at the expense of my well-being.
“Yeah. I don’t think Sue and my former boss would necessarily see eye to eye.”
“And that’s a good thing.” Noah leaned down and pressed a kiss to my mouth. “I’m so glad you moved here for whatever the reason was. And I’m glad you’ve found some balance in doing so. Looks like your mom was right.”
“Hush, you. Don’t put that out into the universe. Somehow she will hear you and come to gloat.” I shook my head as I pushed up to sit next to him, adjusting until I could sit cross-legged on the couch. O’Malley gave me a look for daring to disrupt him and took off to explore the house.
“Ivy would be proud—first you’ve adopted her belief in the goddess above, and now you’re talking about what we’re putting out into the universe?”
“I mean, she’s a wise woman,” I said with a smile.
“If you end up collecting moon water, I will know you two are spending too much time together,” he replied with amusement in his eyes.
“Moon water?” I had never heard of such a thing. Just then a rumble came from my stomach. I wanted to be mortified, but that was secondary to wanting to find some food.
“Want something to eat?”
“Well, about twenty minutes ago I would have said no, I really wanted to find your bedroom.”
He waggled his eyebrows at me as he leaned forward.
I pushed his chest back. “Uh-uh,” I said. “That time has to wait because now my body has decided it has energy once again but is famished.”
He nodded, looking a little smug. “It was the head massage that got you back on track.”
“Sure, let’s go with that. As long as I get some food, I’m good with whatever you want to claim.”
Noah stood up, held a hand out to me, and then pulled me off the couch. Before we could move toward the kitchen, he stepped up so that our chests were flush together. “Jules?”
“Hmm,” I said, mesmerized as always by his gorgeous blue eyes.
“Thanks for sharing today.”
I wanted to melt in his gaze. “You bet.”
“Also…” He looked at me like he was waiting for something.
