Waiting For You

“We’re leaving. See you guys later,” I called.

Reba giggled, waving. “Bye!”

I set her on her feet at the door of my BMW. My SUV was already parked at the Wellston. Reba would be driving it for the foreseeable future—unless she wanted a different vehicle.

“Are you okay to drive?” she asked, growing serious. She cupped my face, peering up at me, her eyes filled with adoration.

“Yeah. I don’t think I even drank half a beer.”

“Okay.” She climbed in while I held open the door.

“Excited to see our new place?”

She nodded. “I still can’t believe I’m moving in with you.”

I grabbed her hand, squeezing it. “Believe it. I’m not letting you go.”

“Good thing, I have no desire to go anywhere. Though if I don’t find a new job soon, I might not have a choice.”

“You don’t need a job,” I grumbled as I navigated down Main Street to the Wellston building that was less than three miles from Bare and Pet’s.

“I’m not going to sponge off you.”

“Reba,” I sighed. “If you never worked another day in your life, you wouldn’t be sponging off me. You give me everything I need. You’re like food for my soul. There’s more chance of me sucking you dry.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“See, we understand each other.” I pulled into the lot and parked next to our SUV. I pulled her hand to my lips. “Welcome home.”

There was still work happening at the eight floor building, but it was all lit up and a security man met us at the door. “Mr. Kennedy,” he said. “We’ve been expecting you. Welcome home.” He smiled at Reba. “Welcome home, Ms. Cramer. I’m Jeremy, the head of the hospitality staff. “Please let me know if either of you ever need anything.”

“Thank you, Jeremy, we will.” Reba reached out her hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

I shook his hand too then he led us to the elevator where he keyed in a code and swiped a keycard. “Your things were delivered earlier today,” he said as the doors swooshed open. “Your refrigerator is stocked, as well.”

We thanked him and stepped inside. Reba leaned into my side, my arm around her, as the lift made the trip to the seventh floor. The top two floors only have two condos each. Flip and Bare were on the top, with Ian and I on the one below.

The elevator opened into a small foyer. There were four doors and I guided Reba over to the second one on the left.

“Ready?”

She laughed. “Yes. I’ve been ready.”

Frankly, I couldn’t wait to view it either. I hadn’t seen all the finishing touches. We entered another small alcove but five steps took us to an open area, the living room to our right.

“Living room.” I pointed. “This big open spot is the dining room and over here, the family room.”

“There are four bedrooms and five bathrooms. And here’s the kitchen.” I led her through the door at the end. It led to a covered balcony and then into another room. “This is supposed to be the servant’s room,” I said, and that’s one of the five baths. The door there leads into the outer hall.”

“So this is my room?”

“Ha-ha, no.” I wiggled my face into her neck and gave it a nip. “I’m planning to turn it into a gym.”

“Good idea.”

“All the bedrooms have balconies.”

“I only want to see ours.”

“That’s good,” I swept her up over my shoulder and carried her back to the main part of the house. “It’s the only one with furniture. Everything else is just piles of boxes. We have a bed and boxes, which means we need to go shopping for everything.”

I marched into the master bedroom and crawled right onto the bed, positioning Reba under me. Her legs bracketed my hips and she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“I don’t know…” she said. “I have everything I need right here.”

Leaning in, I brushed my lips over hers. “Same. You’re all I need.”