“Tell you what?” I ask.
“You’re him,” she says and a new kind of adrenaline courses through me. “You’re the one that’s been sending me all those messages.”
Fuck. This isn’t going to be pleasant.
“I wanted to tell you,” I say. “I just didn’t know how you would react. We’ve only recently started to get back on good terms, and I wanted you to know that there’s more to me than disputes over our contract.”
“I get that,” she breathes, “but you should have told me.”
“I know,” I answer, looking up at the ceiling and holding her close against me.
“Can I just ask one question?”
“Anything,” I tell her.
“What the hell was that?” she asks.
I wheeze laughter, still far too exhausted to make much of a sound.
“I don’t know,” I tell her, “but it was incredible.”
“That,” she says, “it was.”
And with that, she pats me on the chest and sits up.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“I need some water,” she answers. “Do you want any?”
“I’ll come with you,” I tell her and sit up on the other half of the bed.
I put my pants back on, but don’t bother with anything else.
Jessica takes a bathrobe out of the closet and wraps herself inside it, pulling the flaps closed around her amazing naked body. She’s a fucking goddess.
“Are we okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says. “After what just happened, it’s pretty hard to say no to that question.”
My knee-jerk thought is to say something about how sex fixes everything, but luckily I’m nowhere near that drunk and nowhere near that stupid.
We walk from the bedroom back to the kitchen where Jessica bends down to pick up her shirt and her bra.
“I do think we should have the talk,” she says, “but let’s not do it tonight. I don’t know about you, but I could sleep for days right now.”
“All right,” I tell her. “We can talk in the morning.”
“That’s not going to work,” she says. “I’m going to sleep as long as I can, and I’m pretty sure that’s only going to leave us enough time to get showered and ready for the day.”
“All right,” I tell her, “what about lunch?”
“No, I think it might be a good team-building exercise if we all go out to lunch together: You, me and Cheryl.”
“All right,” I snicker. “Just let me know when you’re ready to talk and we’ll talk.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” she says and gives me a peck on the lips before opening her cupboard and grabbing two glasses.
She fills one and hands it to me, and I drink it down before hers is filled.
“Someone’s thirsty,” she says.
“Yeah,” I answer and take a breath, setting the empty glass in the sink.
“Did you know this was going to happen tonight?” she asks.
“No,” I tell her. “I’m glad that it did, though.”
“Good answer,” she says. “On that note, I’m going to bed. There’s a blanket on the back of the couch.”
“I can’t just sleep with you?” I ask.
“I’m not used to having someone else in the bed with me,” she says. “With the early morning, I really need my sleep if I’m going to be a receptive vessel for all of your hidden knowledge tomorrow.”
“Fair enough,” I tell her, though I am disappointed.
The feeling of her in my arms was one of the most amazing sensations of my life.
She makes her way back down the hall toward her bedroom and I decide to refill my glass before settling in on the couch.
After making a quick stop at the restroom, I go back to the living room and prepare my makeshift bed for the night.
I’m asleep before my head hits the couch cushion.
* * *
The next thing I know, I can’t breathe and I jerk my head back against an unseen force pinching my nose shut.
“Morning, sunshine,” Jessica says. “I’m sorry about the rude awakening, but it’s about the quickest way to get someone from dreamland to full awareness and we’re already running late.”
“What time is it?” I ask.
“It’s almost seven-thirty,” she answers. “I told Cheryl we’d meet her at the store by eight. Now up and at ‘em.”
Okay, I like this woman, but we’re going to have to have a talk about acceptable and unacceptable ways to wake each other up in the morning.
I sit up and stretch as Jessica makes her way toward the bathroom.
“If you want to shower,” she calls, “you’re probably going to want to make it quick. I used up most of the hot water.”
She’d mentioned that it’s been a while since she’s been in a relationship, but I had no idea…
I quickly make my way into the bathroom and turn on the water. Putting my hand under the spray, I adjust the cold water all the way down until only the hot water faucet is on and there’s precious little warmth left in it.
My shower is quick to the point of almost being superhuman, but before my feet are back on the bathroom floor, Jessica is already hurrying me up again.
“Come on,” she says, “I don’t want to set a bad example for my new manager.”
I wonder if now would be a good time to ask her whether I’m getting paid for my consultation, not to mention the less than hospitable conditions under which I’m already working.
I dry myself quickly, mostly just to get the blood running back to my extremities, and I find my clothes neatly folded on the bathroom counter.
Dressed now, I come out of the bathroom and find Jessica standing by the door.
“Would you mind driving?” she asks.
“Not a problem,” I tell her and she tosses me her keys.
At some point, I’m going to have to get back to Alec’s and pick up my truck, but that can wait.
I drive, although you wouldn’t know it by all the input I’m receiving on the way. While I do manage to get us from her place to the store with five minutes to spare, Jessica still insists on speed walking from the parking lot to the front of the store.
Cheryl’s walking up just as we are and Jessica increases her speed even further to meet her.
“Good morning,” Jessica says. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a friend to kind of help us both out today.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Cheryl answers, looking at me in a way that’s sure to make this entire experience unbelievably awkward.
“It’s nice to see you again,” I tell her and reach out to shake her hand.
She looks down at the gesture and turns back to Jessica.
“So,” Cheryl says, “you wanted me to remind you to get me a key. Did you remember?”
“Got one right here,” Jessica says and searches through her purse for a protracted amount of time. Finally finding the key, she hands it over to her employee and asks, “Why don’t you open up the store? Once we’re in, I’ll show you how to disarm the alarm.”
“Great,” Cheryl says and we’re off and running.
Once we’re inside and the alarm is safely in the off setting, Jessica turns to me, saying, “Where should we start?”
“Well,” I tell her, “I think it’s a good idea to first outline your new manager’s new role and then, if there are any questions, we can address those.”
Jessica nods and starts telling Cheryl what’s to be expected of her and it’s alternately too much and not enough. It’ll take a little bit of work to get it tweaked just right, but none of what Jessica talks about is too far in either direction.
Cheryl asks some questions, and when Jessica doesn’t have the answers herself, I help in whatever way I can to get them both on the same page.
The process is a little awkward, but I can appreciate that Jessica’s new to this and Cheryl seems to be willing to listen and learn.
It takes a few hours to go over everything on Jessica’s agenda. Once that’s over, she turns to me and asks if I have any further suggestions.
“It might not be a bad idea to do some roleplaying,” I tell her. “Before I took over the company, I used to work in retail, and acting out some likely scenarios was a really great help when I became a manager.”
“Great,” Jessica says, clapping her hands together, and I want to tell her to relax a bit, but I’m not going to do that in front of her employee.