“I only work three nights a week and two nights on call. It’s fine,” he promises.
Her frown deepens. “I don’t know. If it were for a week or two…but it’s for five whole weeks. She still has that dance camp at the end of summer. Let’s talk about it later,” Carly says.
“OK,” he replies, but I can tell by his face that this is a finished conversation. “We’ll figure it out,” he reassures her.
I nudge him. “The rest of us can help too.”
He nods.
“Really?” Carly asks.
Everyone nods. She smiles. “I don’t know what I’d do without you all. Oh, that reminds me,” she says as she reaches in her pocket and pulls out a ring. “Does this belong to anyone?”
This time, everyone shakes their heads.
“Here, let me take a look,” Al says and Carly hands him the ring.
He holds it up to the light. “No idea. Another mystery here at one-eleven Hearts Lane. I’ll take it to a friend to see if it’s worth anything,” he adds.
“Sure. Thanks, Al,” she says.
“Oh, hey, we got you guys a gift for the cottage,” Drew says as he walks over, pulling everyone’s attention to him. He’s here for one more week, and then he goes back to Italy to stay with his boyfriend again. They’ve decided to split their time between countries until one of them can get residency, which might be Drew because he just got a job offer in Rome.
He pulls out a box, and together, we open it.
“What in the…” Jocelyn’s voice trails off as I pull out a fully taxidermied raccoon.
“Please tell me…” I stop because I don’t even want to think what this could be.
Drew gives us a look of disgust. “Ewww. No. It’s not Cliff. Besides, you two were just out there with her last night. It’s from an antique store. You need a Cliff at the cottage.”
“Uh, thanks,” I manage as I place the offending stuffed creature back in its box.
“Yeah, uh, it’s great,” Jocelyn says.
“I knew you’d love it,” Drew says proudly as he grabs another drink and walks over to Cam.
“We aren’t putting that out, right?” Jocelyn whispers.
“Fuck no. It’s going in a closet,” I state.
“Good, because I don’t think I could sleep somewhere with that thing looking at us,” she whispers.
I kiss her and she grins. “See, we’re perfect together. No dead animal decorations. Our house decor philosophies are completely simpatico.”
“I love it when you talk big words to me,” she teases.
“Oh yeah, what other big things do you like?” I taunt as I grab her thigh. She giggles, and I smile into her neck. I never thought I’d have the perfect woman, but here she is, and she’s all mine.
Jocelyn
The crickets are loud. We’re down feeding Cliff. It’s our nightly ritual except when we go to the cottage for the weekend. Then, we put out the automatic birdfeeder.
Somehow, we’ve found the perfect routine. Everything is a million times better than it was nine months ago. I’m still working at the bookstore until I figure out my next career move, but I’ve been thinking lately, and it’s time to run my idea by my man.
“I have an idea,” I say as I lean my head on his shoulder.
“You want to do it in the shower?” he asks.
