Page 44 of Tempting Tessa

“Yes, I called her to mention it. She was going to have Luke check his schedule. She said she would wait to see if it was a go on your end before she talks to her mom about keeping the boys. I was doing the same with my parents. No sense in bothering them with it if we can’t go.”

“Well, I would say we are a go, so start making all the plans you want, beautiful,” he tells me as he wraps me in a hug, pulling me tight against him. I tuck my face in his neck and just relax into him. I love how he is all hard and ripped muscles, yet a big teddy bear when I am in his arms.

I text Caroline that things are on and to let me know what her mom says. I take the time to call my mom to see if they can keep Ty. She, of course, says they can and things are already coming together for the weekend away.

The next 10 days pass by pretty quickly. Jake has been swamped at work but his dad is going to come and help out so that he can go away. I’m so thankful for that as I’ve been looking forward to it since I came up with the idea. We leave tomorrow so I have been packing everything up today. Having been there last fall, I know what to expect and don’t feel as stressed about packing. We plan to just take Jake’s truck since we all fit comfortably in it and there is no sense in wasting the gas in two cars.

Our weekend at the cabin is amazing and so refreshing. I hope we can come up here more often over the summer. We both love it here and come home so refreshed. Amazing what a little time away from the city will do for you. I also love how smooth life is going these days. Jake is doing really well and has been able to decrease some of his meds. His therapists are really happy with his response to the therapy and medications. He will not stop either for a while, as they don’t want everything to start again.

With our anniversary coming up in a few days, I have been trying to plan something special for Jake. He has been such an amazing addition to my life the past year. I can’t imagine my life without him and can’t believe how much life has changed since I met him a little over a year ago.

Jake

One year, 365 days. That’s how long Tessa and I have been together. She has been such an amazing ray of sunshine in my life. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. She is fucking beautiful both on the inside and outside. She is the most caring, compassionate, loving woman I have ever met. Her presence in a room makes it feel better. She is my home and most definitely makes me a better man.

Since our anniversary also coincides with her birthday, I want to make sure she feels like both are being celebrated. We went to the cabin last weekend for her birthday and had an amazing time. I have flowers being sent to her at work. Tonight, I’m taking her out to celebrate and I plan on asking her if we can officially move in together. I can’t tell you the last time I actually slept at my house. I’m at her house every night as it is. Once I move all my shit out of my house I’m not sure if I want to rent it or sell it, but that’s something we can figure out later.

Tessa: Thank you for the flowers, they’re beautiful. I love you.

Jake: You’re welcome, beautiful. I love you! Hope you have a great day at work. I’ll see you when you get off work. Be ready to be swept off your feet tonight. ;)

I go about my day, finishing around 5 and heading home to shower and get changed. After I’m done getting ready and once she is changed we can head to dinner. Her mom is keeping Ty for us tonight. He finished school last week and is enjoying his summer vacation. Dinner was fantastic. We went to her favorite restaurant where we had her birthday at last year. We always enjoy it there. Since she had to work today, I know she’s going to be tired, so we head home after dinner. We make it home and head inside.

“Want a glass of wine?” I ask her.

“Yes, please,” she answers as I lean down to give her a kiss.

I go into the kitchen to grab her one and a beer for me and meet her back out in the living room.

“Thanks,” she says as I hand her the glass. “I so need this tonight after the long day at work.”

“Sorry work has been so stressful lately. Do you think they will hire any new nurses to help out with how busy you guys have been lately?” I sink down onto the couch next to her, pulling her closer to me.

“Probably not, this is kind of normal. Baby booms are pretty normal. Ten months after any major holiday, storm, professional sports team winning a championship etc. we see a baby boom. It’s kind of funny with some of them but otherwise is pretty normal for my department.”

“That’s pretty funny that you can trace booms back to things like that.” I chuckle and think of all the random shit that makes people celebrate and thus leads to the baby booms.

“How’s the big job coming along?”

“It’s good, we are moving along quite nicely. This building is going to have medical offices in it, so once we get the structure built the insides will be different than the strip mall we built for the development company last year. I’m pretty sure they already have commitments for all the space since it is such a desired location.”

“That’s amazing. I’m glad that it’s going smoothly and staying on track.” She lays her head on my shoulder and melts into me.

“So, I have something I wanted to discuss with you,” I tell her as I take a drink of my beer.

“Ok, what’s up?” She sits up so she can look at me.

“What do you think of me moving all my stuff here and putting my house up for sale or rent? I’m already here every night. Hell, I can’t even tell you the last time I slept at my house. I just don’t see the need to keep it when I’m already living here.”

She doesn’t answer right away, just taking in what I’ve just said as she takes a drink of her wine.

“I think that sounds like a great idea. No reason for us to be paying utilities on two houses and your mortgage if we don’t need to be. Are you leaning more toward renting it out or selling it?”

“I’m not sure yet. I was thinking of talking to a realtor and seeing what they think I could sell it for or what I could rent it for. Since I haven’t owned it for very long I don’t want to lose money on it trying to sell it already.”

“That’s a good point. Maybe holding on to it and renting it would be the best thing for now. Have you thought about calling a rental management company?”

“No, but that’s a good idea. I don’t really want to have to deal with tenants, so having a management company would probably be the way to go. But first I need to get everything packed up and moved out. That means that we either need to have a huge garage sale or take a huge load to the goodwill. No reason to keep all my dishes and stuff like that. None of it was expensive stuff since it was just me in the house.”

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