She continues flipping through pages. Glossary, Prologue, Chapter One. She continues to thumb through every single page one at a time. Not reading but seeing them. Finally, she reaches the end, and not a word has been spoken between us.
“How?” It’s all she can say. So many emotions are warring for dominance on her face. My favorites are awe and love.
“You read it to me. A single chapter at a time, you told me your story. You went back and filled in the gaps that I missed when I had questions. You did it. Every word in that book came from your head. All I did was put it together and get the right people for editing, interior and cover design, and of course...publishing.”
“Infinity? You got Infinity to publish our book? How?”
“Your book, and that was definitely the easy part. I brought them a complete book. I didn’t realize they’d handle the design and all that until later. Their editor read seven chapters and said, “we’re in”. From there it was just a few phone calls and some shipping things back and forth. It won’t actually hit shelves for another month, but it’s done. You did it.”
She’s still naked. We both are. We stay still. Looking at each other from across the room.
She closes the book in her lap, coming to me and wrapping her arms around me.
“Thank you.”
“I’m just the middleman. You did this. This is your book.”
She’s laughs quietly, and her shoulders shake with it.
“I never got so much as a chapter out on paper.”
“That’s it, though. That’s all you were missing. You had that entire book, start to finish, all in your head, waiting to be put on paper. That was my only job. Get home, get the next chapter typed out. That’s it.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know who got the thing published then. Thank that guy for me.”
“Just doing my job as your husband. If your dream doesn’t come true, who do you think has to answer for that?”
Her captivating smile lights up everything inside me.My rainbow.
“You’re beautiful, little Devil. To the depths of your soul, you are beautiful.”
Somewhere between where we’re standing and the bed, we manage to get tangled up in each other again, and we’re not able to emerge from the bedroom until midafternoon.
“So...beach?”
“Definitely. I just want to read some of the book first.”
“Sure. Pack it. We’ll take it with us.”
She looks shocked and mildly horrified.
“We can’t take this to the beach! Look at it. It’s beautiful. There are monkeys down there. I read about them. Nosy little bastards. No way am I taking my book down there to get stolen by Rafiki.”
My laughter carries to her, and the dimples soften her outrage a bit.
“Okay. No problem. We’ll wait.”
“No. Don’t wait on me. Go down. See the beach. I won’t be long.”
“I’m not going to the beach without you. There’s a huge stone staircase you have to walk down to get there.”
“And?”
“Aaaand you could fall. Or someone could take you between here and the stairs.”
“First of all, I’m the most skilled walker you know. I could descend those stairs in six-inch heels and still beat you to the bottom. Second, take me? Who? You killed everybody who would try. Plus, I’m a badass now. Heaven help anyone who takes me on.”
She’s the reason I smile all the time. I’ve always had a permanent grin affixed to my face, but now it reaches my soul.Just like she does.
