to its former glory, including all the parquet inserts as well as the gorgeous compass rose in the foyer.
In terms of repair and redecoration, things were ahead of schedule. But back at the office?
Business-wise things had gone from bad to worse.
There were simply not enough jobs, and too little to do. I started skipping days, which only pissed Dawn off, and we fought more often than we actually talked. I thought about taking my pieces and leaving; maybe starting my own place, doing my own thing. Focusing more on the reno side of things than the staging and decorating she loved so much. But I didn’t want to let her down. I didn’t want to give up on what we’d built together, especially if this was only a rough patch.
Ryan worked a lot, so when he came home it was always wonderful to see him. We ate, drank, laughed, went out… but most of the time, we just stayed home.
We’d exhausted the full gamut of places to screw in the old house, christening just about every room along the way. I’d been fucked hard against wood-paneled walls. Bent over the 200-year old loveseat in the trophy room. We’d screwed on every ottoman and cushioned tuffet, and I’d ridden my broad-chested boyfriend up and down, on chair after vintage chair.
It became sort of a game for us. A challenge as to who could come up with the most creative place to get our rocks off. Some ideas were good ones, like the time we fucked in the great bay window, looking out over the snowdrifts, my breath frosting the glass. But there were bad ones too, such as the night Ryan nearly had an asthma attack from all the dust we stirred up in the attic.
Things even got rough at times, and I loved those sessions most of all. We’d rocked headboards hard enough to make holes in the plaster. Teamed up and shattered an old chair in the library. And the more we had sex? The more we seemed to actually need it. Our libidos were crazy, almost like we were making up for the others not being there. Or at least I was, and Ryan was quite happily reaping the benefits by going along.
Everything was going great… until the one day Ryan came home not smiling. My heart sank. Right away I thought something was wrong.
“What is it?” I said worriedly.
“It’s not that bad,” he said, holding his hands up. He forced a smile to ease my fears. “But I have to go away for a little while.”
I was wearing lingerie and an apron, holding my favorite wooden spoon. I’d wanted to give him a sexy surprise, but now red sauce was dripping onto the kitchen floor.
“How long is a little while?”
“At least a month. Maybe two, tops.”
Two months…
It was a lot. Then again, it wasn’t a deployment. It was an assignment, with an end date, an end goal. He’d be back soon. Just not too soon.
“It’s cool,” I smiled, trying to look braver than I felt. “Two months is nothing.”
He cocked his head, trying to gauge my true reaction. “But you’ll be alone…”
“So?”
“And you’re okay with that?”
I licked the spoon and winked. “I’ve been alone before. It’s no big deal.”
“Yeah, but in this house…” He motioned around. “This place is big, and old, and—”
“It’s just a house,” I said, although I didn’t mean that statement at all. Just a house! That was like saying the Superbowl was ‘just’ a football game.
“Really,” I assured him. “I’ll be fine.” He looked at me skeptically. “And I’ll be here when you get back, Ryan. Waiting for you.” I smiled. “All of you.”
We had dinner, which was delicious I might add, and even splurged for dessert. He wasn’t leaving for a week, but I still wanted every day, every detail to be special. Honestly, I already knew what he was thinking. That in being here alone, I might change my mind. It was the reason they’d created the ad in the first place; to find a shared girlfriend. One who would never have to be alone, because at least one or more of them would always be home.
And now this.
“Go,” I said, as we lay in bed our last night together. “Do your thing Ryan, and don’t worry at all about me.”
We were wrapped in each other — a tangle of arms and legs and of course, my hair. Always my hair. Still, he was silent. More so than normal.
“I’m serious. Everything’s going to be great.”
He left the next morning, after yet another spectacular sendoff. I watched the car roll away — the same one that had taken Kyle and Dakota away — all the way to the end of the driveway. Then it turned past the hedge, and I was left staring at an empty expanse of road.