Page 84 of Wild Dreams

"I could get used to this," I said as I played with the hair on this chest.

"That's the idea," he murmured.

My body was warm, my heart full. I fell asleep in his arms, hope for the future alive again.

The next morning, I woke to an empty bed. My neck and back ached. When I saw water and more pills on the nightstand, I eased myself to a sitting position and took the pills. There was a heating pad on the pillow next to me that was already plugged in.

I placed it on my pillow and turned it on. Between the pills and the heating pad, my muscles slowly loosened, and I was able to relax.

There were a few books on the nightstand, ones I'd recommended at one time or another. The one on top was dogeared and worn as if he'd read it multiple times. I hadn't read it, so I opened it to the first page.

A few minutes later, Chance appeared with a tray. "You're awake."

I set aside the book. "Thank you for the heating pad and the pills."

"Are they helping?" he asked as he placed the tray over my lap. There was an omelet filled with veggies and wheat toast slathered with butter.

I nodded as my stomach rumbled.

"You need to eat."

I dug in while he sat on the bed by my hip.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better." I was sure it had something to do with the bath last night and the heating pad this morning. Chance was taking care of me. And there was no mention of needing to go to work.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm going to delegate more at work. I don't have to be physically present at every emergency. I'm going to let my employees take more of the load, and I told Carol not to send me those updates on my phone."

"Was she okay with that?" I wondered if his employees would push back on the changes.

"She thinks I need to take more time off. She's the one who suspected I'd met someone a few weeks ago. She said I was working less and coming into work refreshed. I was happy. I just didn't realize that the change was because of you."

"That's sweet."

"But it's true. I never would have considered making any changes had you not shown me another way. I'm so grateful to you."

"What do you want?" He'd always described his future surrounding his job and responsibilities.

"I want to spend more time with you. I want us to be a couple."

I liked the idea of that.

"When you're ready, I want to build a future with you. I don't want to be married to my job. I want balance. Always."

He was saying all the right things. The question was, would he follow through?

When I was finished eating, he set the tray aside.

Oakley jumped onto the bed and curled into a ball, promptly closing his eyes.

Chance slipped into the bed, and pulled me into his arms. “Do you want to go to the performances today? Then we can get a tree tomorrow?”

"That sounds perfect."

The next day, I felt better. After breakfast in bed and a rejuvenating shower, Chance drove me to my house to grab new clothes. Then we drove to a nearby Christmas tree farm. We hiked to the field while holding hands.

Along the way, we ran into people who knew us. Chance continued to hold my hand, referring to me as his girlfriend.

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