Page 16 of Forgotten Pieces

She pulls away and looks into my eyes. “I missed this. We haven’t felt like an us in a while, but we do now.”

I give her a quick kiss as my hands explore her back. “Then what’s wrong?”

She sighs and sits back more, her weight on my knees. “Well you let me sleep in for starters!”

“You needed it,” I say as I squeeze her sides.

“I did. But I missed a few calls for work.”

“It’s a Saturday. You shouldn’t be taking calls.”

Her hand cups my face. “I know. But we have a new account and we need to make some major movement with it or we might lose it before we can ever make the client any money.”

I sigh as I lean back into the chair. “Does that mean you need to go home to Atlanta?”

She nods. “Just for a few days, Ryd. I can’t do the work I need to from here. But trust me, it will all be worth it. The more clients we can bring to the firm over the next year, the easier it will be for us to live at our new home more. Once I get them established, I can do so much more work from home.”

Shelley is a major player in a huge PR firm in Atlanta. She is on her way to be a partner in the firm. And once she gets there she can work from anywhere. She is incredible at what she does and is an extremely hard worker. When I am overseas, she puts everything into her work and it’s paid off. And I can’t get mad at her for leaving for a few days, I leave her for months at a time.

“When are you leaving?” I’m hoping she doesn’t have to go until Monday. My mood has made mass improvements in the last twelve hours and I want to spend as much time with her as I can.

“Michelle is leaving in a few hours. She said I can ride with them. That way you don’t have to drive me.”

We only have one car here right now since we usually drive up here together. “Okay, babe. Do you have more work to do before then?” I ask as I slide her closer to my hips.

“I’m sure I could get away from my phone for the few hours I have before I leave,” she says with a grin.

“Good.” I pick her up, my mouth fused back to hers as I walk us to the bedroom.

* * *

Shelley’s been gone for almost a week and my mental state has started to fade quickly. I’m bored. There isn’t much to do around here except exercise and I have been doing that for at least four hours every day. I don’t know anyone around except Mac. I’ve spent the last few days watching the food channel and recreating recipes I’ve seen. Now I just have a bunch of leftovers in the fridge and no one to share them with.

I get out of bed and throw on shorts and gym shoes. I grab my headphones and head out for yet another run. I’m only a mile in when my phone starts ringing. I look at the screen and see it’s Mac. “What’s up, cuz?”

“Is Shelley back yet?”

“Not yet. She’s hoping to come home tomorrow, but she said she might need to stay through the weekend.”

“Have you lost your mind yet?”

I stop running. “Huh?”

“Dude, you’ve been home alone in that rental for like a week. Have you even talked to anyone?”

He has a point. “Ugh, no.”

“What have you been doing?”

I am not about to tell him I've been cooking up a storm or about the cinnamon rolls I attempted to make. “Pretty much just exercising.”

“You need to get a hobby. You already have enough muscles.”

I grin into the phone. “Jealous?”

Mac laughs as he answers, “Have you seen me? I look just fine without bulkin’ on an extra fifty pounds of muscle.”

“Whatever dude.”

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