Page 56 of Beyond our Forever

Click, click, click.

Photos of the room, a balcony with an ocean view, the king-size bed, I could almost smell the sea, the breeze. This sounded like manna from heaven, our first solo vacation in over thirteen years.

Wonderful.

The only thing left to do was to convince my husband, which was easier said than done. I might be married to the best man in the world, but it was still difficult to find time for us in the whirlwind of a household with three young children, especially when his job was so demanding. But since Bruce never usually denied me anything, I just had to hope this wouldn’t prove to be the exception to the rule.

“What are you doing?” A voice from behind startled me. Well, it seemed the time had come.

“I didn’t hear you arrive, it’s still early!” I evaded his question, slamming my computer shut.

Chicken. Yes, I admit it.

“Are you hungry?” I asked as he reached down to kiss me on the lips. “I made the meatloaf that you love so much.”

“Listen, Thia,” he cut me off, pacing in front of me, his hands tucked into his pants pockets. “Something happened in the office today, so we should talk.”

Shit, they fired him. That was my first thought, and I immediately started worrying about the mortgage, paying for the children’s classes, the car, our debts. What were we going to do, how would we manage? We’d have to sell the house and find a cheaper neighborhood. With the renovations we made a while ago, we’d make good money, enough to survive, at least for a while.

“What happened?” I asked quietly, praying it wasn’t as serious as I imagined.

“Easy, gorgeous girl,” he murmured, approaching me. “This is supposed to be good news.”

“It is?” I looked up, searching his dark eyes for the truth.

He closed them briefly before answering, “It is, at least I think it is.”

He smiled and it was impossible not to copy him as a weight lifted from my shoulders. It wasn’t that I was afraid of starting again, but no one likes to think that their family’s well-being is at risk.

“Listen.” Taking my hand in his, he guided me over to the sofa by the window. “You know that we’ve been working on this hotel project for more than two months. Now that we’re about to present the proposal for the tender, my boss wants me to lead the team.”

I immediately understood his nervousness, although he had no reason to be. My husband was one of the best, he was dedicated, responsible, and creative. It was going to be a success, I was sure of that.

“And did you agree to do it?”

Bruce looked me in the eye again.

“I did,” he admitted, letting out a sigh. “Although now I’m not so sure it was the right thing.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked cautiously, afraid that he was about to tell me we had to pack up and go to the other side of the world immediately.

“It won’t be long until we finish finalizing details,” he said. “Then the client wants the final meeting to be outside the country, and it’s up to them to select the location.”

Here comes the blow.

“Are you going to be gone for a long time?”

He didn’t say anything immediately, he just looked out the window, like he was lost in thought.

Tell me something, tell me now.

“Bruce…”

“Do you want to come with me?” And he said it with such seriousness that he might as well have been asking me to go to Afghanistan to the middle of a war zone.

“I’d go to the end of the world with you,” I answered without hesitation, because it was true. I didn’t care about anything as long as we were together. I was supposed to be planning a trip for us, now I’d been presented with this opportunity instead, so I wasn’t not going to miss it.

Even if I had to wear a bulletproof vest strapped to my body.

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