Page 145 of All I Ask
“I’m so nervous I could pee,” I say to my husband as we’re waiting in the back room.
Derek kisses my temple. “You’re going to do great.”
“Easy for you to say.”
He’s not the one who will be judged today in front of hundreds of people. I had to paint an extra ten paintings for this opening. Mr. Sterling believes we’ll sell all twenty-five that are being showcased.
“It is easy because I know how talented you are. I know how hard you worked to give this gallery what they wanted, even if it meant you were in that studio while I was getting rid of the dolls, which seemed to multiply.”
There wasn’t a choice in the matter. Mr. Sterling is also a romantic and offered to still showcase my paintings, but allow me to do it remotely. Of course that came after three other galleries were posting that they were interested as well, but I felt after leaving him in the lurch, it was the least I owed him.
Plus, he came with the best offer.
Derek and I agreed to spend our family honeymoon in Palm Beach and took the very nice check the gallery offered for rights to my next ten paintings.
I smile at the man I love more than anything. “You and I both benefited from my hard work, otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to hire the contractor to put on the addition.”
While that house was perfect, it was a bedroom and bathroom short. The girls are getting along, but asking them to share a bedroom was going to put an end to all the progress they’d made. We used my first check to put an extension on the house, giving us another two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
It was the best decision we ever made, other than putting the ugliest couch in history as the centerpiece for my art room. Each day I’m inspired to not create anything that horrible, but then I remember how loved it is, like the people in my life.
“Yes, and I never thought we’d survive the construction.”
It took freaking forever to be done, but the last three months have been bliss. “But we did, and now the four of us are living under one roof.”
“Now we need to build them separate houses so they stop bickering…”
I laugh and nod. He’s not wrong, but they get along so much better, now that they’re in high school.
“Well,” I say as I wrap my arms around his middle. “I would like that for other reasons.”
Derek grins. “And what might that be, wife?”
“I think you know.”
“I could use a little help to be sure.”
“Could you?”
He brings his lips close. “I could.”
“How about I give you a hint?”
I love when we are playful like this, which is pretty much all the time. We haven’t had any big fights, not even when the girls are wearing on us. Each day that we’re together, we seem to just enjoy. After spending so many years apart, wishing we could be together, it’s impossible for us to be angry, because we’re finally a family.
“Does it have to do with my impressive and thorough skills in bed?”
I nod. “Oh, most definitely.”
“And would it have to do with the fact that you have to bite on pillows when I’m using said skills?”
“You’re rather impressed with your skills, husband.”
He brushes his lips against mine. “Are you not?”
I kiss him softly. “I’m very impressed.”
“Good.”
