Page 2 of The Homewrecker's Fate

He asked me to transfer to his office, but I honestly couldn’t do that. My mother had a stroke two years ago. Her declining health was what brought me back home to begin with. We were all the family each other had now. My mother had never left my hometown. Not once, in all the years of her life, had she ventured out of the county. It was insane to most people, but to her, it was just the way it was. She said she didn’t need to go anywhere else.

That need not to go anywhere extended to my university graduation as well. I knew if she wouldn’t show up to that, there was no way I would get her to agree to move 600 miles away. Her house was paid for, her final resting place was picked out and paid for, too. My mother was a planner. She would lie next to my father in the end.

She had been with him for thirty-six years when he passed, and Mom never took another lover and rarely even spoke to men if she could help it. Her vows remained sacred to her even though my father was no longer of this world. I even attempted to convince her that the vows themselves say ‘until death do us part’. She wouldn’t speak to me for two weeks after that. She saw it as a betrayal of my father, and even in death, she defended his honor and kept her word. I admired it in a way, but then again, I also knew she was lonely. That was why I couldn’t move away from her.

My mother needed someone to look after her now. Her left side was weak and according to her doctor she would never regain full function and strength again.

“What has your wheel spinning over there?”

I gave a startled little squeak as Rich settled down beside me and wiped up the mess he’d left between my legs. “Just thinking about possibilities.”

His eyes twinkled as they met mine. “Really?”

Damn it. I didn’t mean to get his hopes up. My sigh was enough to make his shoulders sag as the bright gleam of his eyes quickly dimmed. “Sorry, I was just thinking about my mom.”

“You know, you could always try to get her to agree to one of those retirement communities where they still have independence, but there is a staff to help care for them.”

My jaw dropped. I was appalled that he would suggest dropping my mother off at a facility to become someone else’s problem. This was the one and only point of contention in our relationship. Outside of the two of us, he didn’t seem to care about anything or anyone else. It always drove me so crazy – especially when one of those people he chose not to give a shit about was my mother – my only living relative.

“I still don’t understand why you can’t put in for a transfer here,” I argued. It was something he wouldn’t give me a real answer to. His grunt was another of his non-answers. “It’s not like you have anyone back home to worry about. You’ve said it yourself, that’s why you don’t have any issue traveling back and forth as much as you do.”

I glanced over at the frown on his face and watched as something played behind those soulful, whiskey-hued eyes of his. “It’s not that easy for me, considering my position. Jobs here are easily filled. Back home, that office would be lost without me.”

“Way to check your ego,” I mumbled. He still heard and turned to his side, so that he faced me instead of the ceiling.

“You know it’s true. No one wants to pack up and go live in a small town to take on the little fish accounts when they can be here swimming in an ocean of whales.”

“And sharks,” I reminded him. There were a couple highly competitive individuals in my office who would just as soon steal a person’s work as come up with something original on their own. I was lucky that I did a lot of pro-bono work for charities and had developed a signature style. It was hard to copy my designs and concepts since there were so many examples of it out there to compare to. It also helped that my bosses were normally on my side in the few instances where something came up. The fact was, I brought good publicity to the business. It helped when determining who to trust. That was another reason I couldn’t transfer. I didn’t think my bosses would let me go that easily.

“I’m not concerned with the sharks, my little goddess.”

“Can you be concerned with what we’re going to do once you’re no longer needed in my office after this campaign launches?”

Rich sighed so heavily that I could feel the frustration coming off him in waves as he finally released the overlong breath. “I guess I could keep traveling back and forth, but the company won’t want to keep paying those expenses.” His eyes moved to meet my own. “We could be running the office where I live, babe. We would be the top dogs there and we’d be together. That means we would make our own schedules and be able to hire the people who work for us, so that we know they’re team players.” His toothy grin was meant to enamor me, but instead, it just made me feel sad.

“I can’t. I came here to take care of my mother, Rich. I don’t know why you can’t understand that. My mom is all I have in this world.”

“You have me as well.” His indignant huff after that ruffled my feathers, but I remained silent, so he continued. “Don’t I matter at all? It’s all about your mom, but if we don’t figure this out, we’ll be doomed to keep seeing each other only one week a month, two if we’re lucky.”

I continued to lie there quietly knowing that it would do no good to disagree. There was no use pointing out that he wasn’t taking my professional position into account at all, and with the personal – he simply didn’t even think my mother warranted such staunch loyalty from me. That was truly the one flaw Rich had that bothered me and made me wonder how important I really was to him. He didn’t have family holding him back from a move. His only excuse was that he enjoyed being the biggest fish in a smaller pond. His ego wasn’t more important than spending what time I had left with my mother. I couldn’t seem to get him to understand that.

The past five months had been amazing with Rich. We started out with some harmless flirting when we were first thrown together on this job and from there it turned into a beautiful love affair. I didn’t know how in the hell I would give him up. It was looking like I might have to though, and it killed me inside to know that neither of us was willing to sacrifice our places in this world for the other. It was impossible for me because of my mother, and I couldn’t understand what was holding him back.

“Let’s not fight. Do I get some closet space with this key of yours?” He finally asked before leaning over and nipping lightly at my overly sensitive nipple.

“Ouch! You jerk,” I yelped before nodding my head. “Of course, you get a drawer, too, I might even make space for your toothbrush.” I winked and grinned as he leaned in closer and used his lips to wipe the grin off my face. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and then nipped at it before releasing and planting a cute little kiss on the tip of my nose.

“My beautiful goddess always knows how to take care of her man.”

I did. I would continue doing it too, as long as we were able. It was the future that worried me, especially since once again, he had finished inside me without protection. I couldn’t take birth control because of the reactions I had to most of it. He knew that. Sometimes, I wondered if he was trying to get me pregnant, so that I would finally be convinced to move in with him. Rich explained before that he'd inherited a four-bedroom house from his family when they passed. Them being gone already was also the reason he had nothing holding him back from a move as opposed to my family situation. I had yet to see his house because the timing hadn’t worked out, which was another issue for me. How was I supposed to just pick up and move to a town I’d never even stepped foot in?

I had planned to surprise him one weekend, and just show up, but before I could, he sent a text saying he had to go out of town to help a buddy of his move after his wife kicked him out. I was so thankful I got that text from him. It would have been awful to travel 600 miles and find him gone, then have to travel 600 more to get back home while swimming in disappointment. Between the two of our schedules, there just hadn’t been an opportunity since then.

There were still so many doubts turning over in my mind about the move that would eventually need to be made. What if I hated his town, his house, or the job there? What if I did get pregnant before then? Would he give up all his worries to come be a family with us here? For every question that battered my heart, there seemed to be no answer in sight.

Rich had to go back soon, and I didn’t want him going home feeling like we weren’t in a good place. I was woman enough to know that I was a bit jealous of his time at home. My insecurity reared its ugly head just enough to not want to push him into a bad spot before sending him back to an unfamiliar town. There were bound to be women there who would pick up where I left off in a heartbeat. Rich was a good-looking man, had a great job, and he was a monster in the sack. Yeah, I’m not too proud to admit that there’s no way I’d send him home wanting for another week.

Instead, I did what any woman would do, and I wrapped him up in my body for another round of love making without all the serious talk hanging over our heads. Our problems would still be there to worry over later.

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