Chapter Ninety-Nine

Setting the edge of the packing tape over the side of the box, she pulled it across the top of the box and down the other side, grimacing at the loud rip of the tape. It was the middle of the night and she didn't want to wake Richie.  Hunting for the scissors she cut the tape and smoothed her hand across the box, sealing it shut. She sat back and looked around. That was it. The last box was packed. Turning on to all fours, she rounded her back and dropped her head into a cat stretch and tried to work out the aches and pains. The movers would be there in a few hours and everything would change once again. Maybe once she got settled at Richie’s she’d be able to get a straight eight hours of sleep again.

Rolling to her feet she grabbed the tape and scissors, dropping them into the bag that was on the table. She took a long pull from the bottle of water that was waiting and closed her eyes. She hoped she lasted longer at Richie’s than she had here. She tossed her bottle into the garbage bag as she heard his heavy footfalls on the stairs. She took another look around and met him in the hallway. “Hey” she said quietly. “I didn’t wake you did I”? She had tried to be quiet. No sense in both of them being up all night. Just because she was a crazy insomniac didn’t mean he needed to be one too.

“Indirectly” he murmured. He had rolled over and searched for her, finding only empty, cold sheets. “What’s got you so worked up you can’t sleep?” He reached for her hand in the dim light of the hallway and brought her fingers to his lips, kissing each one lightly.

She shivered at the light kisses and stepped closer, curling right into him.  “Just trying to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow.”

She had worked relentlessly through the day, wrapping and packing and bringing up boxes from the basement.  He didn’t know where she got her energy from.  He had gotten tired just watching her all day.  “You need some sleep, sweetheart.  Tomorrow is going to be another long day.”

She shrugged and winced at the motion.  Her shoulders were beyond tight.  “I’ll be fine.”  She just needed to feel settled again.  Needed to have her things out where she where she could see them again.  All this upheaval was taking its toll.

“Let’s go upstairs and see if we can’t work out the tension in those shoulders so you can get some sleep.”  He took her hand and headed toward the stairs.

She had no choice but to follow. 

Once they were back in her room he led her to the side of the bed.  “I’ll be right back.”

She watched him disappear into the bathroom, heard the water run and then he was back in front of her.  “Here, take these.”  He held out his hand with two Aleve tablets resting in his palm.  She took the pills and popped them into her mouth, washing them down with the water he held in his other hand.  He fingered the sleeve of the oversized t-shirt she had pulled on.  “Take this off and lay on the bed.”

One slim, dark brow raised and the corner of her mouth lifted in a knowing smirk.

“No, sweetheart,” he chuckled, “not for that.  Not that I’m not willing and able, but you need a back rub more than you need some Sambora lovin’.”

She laughed and pulled the shirt off, “nice.  I’ll take a raincheck on the lovin’, but am totally down with the back rub.”  She dropped the balled up shirt and crawled to the middle of the bed and dropped to the mattress. 

He set the water glass on the night table and picked up the small bottle of lotion she had there.  Popping the top, the scent of coconut and limes assaulted his senses.  He was immediately reminded of the morning he found her washing her car.  The day he found himself slowly starting to fall for this amazing woman.  Straddling her hips, he squirted a dollop of lotion into his hands and rubbed them together.  “Ready?”

She nodded and closed her eyes.  “Oh yeah.”

He started at her shoulders, gently rubbing and kneading her tight, overworked muscles.  Her groan of contentment told him he had made the right decision in offering the massage and putting sex on the back burner.  He worked his way down her arms and back, pushing her hair to the side he worked on her neck, easing the long days’ work from her body. 

The longer he worked, the quieter she got.  When he got to the small of her back, he just couldn’t help himself.  He leaned down and pressed his lips to the inviting dip.  He didn’t try to hide his smile when she shifted restlessly under his hands and goose bumps rose on her flesh.  She was so responsive to him, even when she was nearly unconscious.

He skimmed his hands back up to her shoulders, “sweetheart?” he asked in a low whisper.

Her eyes blinked open slowly and she turned over even slower.  “That felt fabulous.”  She raise her weary arms to draw him down to her.  She pressed her lips to his, “thank you.”  Her arms slid, bonelessly down to the mattress.  She felt like she could sleep for days now.  “Sleep now, babe.”  She rolled to her side, looking to curl into him.

He snuffled out a laugh and tugged the covers up even as he cozied in next to her.  Reaching for the light he spared a glance at the clock and winced.  Morning was going to come all too soon.

~

Taking a last walk through the house, Stephanie set her keys on the kitchen counter.  This was it.  The movers were loading the last of her things onto the truck.  In mere minutes she would head on to yet another new start. 

She glanced around.  She was moving on but she was still going to miss this place.  It had been exactly what she had needed when she left New York.  A place to regroup, catch her breath, find herself again.  And it had done all that.  Her eyes landed on Richie.  And so much more.  But ultimately, she had finally realized, it had just been a slight layover on the way to her final destination. 

Richie set the spare key he had been holding onto next to hers on the counter.  “You ready?”

She nodded and took his hand.  “Let’s go.”

With Richie driving her pick-up truck and her in the Camaro, they followed the moving van, slowly, through the streets of Burbank and out to Calabasas.  They only managed to get stuck in a back-up of traffic once, much to her surprise.

Pulling around the driveway in front of his house, even knowing it was her house now too, it still caught her off guard to see him park her truck in one of the open garage bays.  This was going to take some getting used to.

She parked behind him and stepped out of the car.  “So, where are we going to put all my stuff?”

He opened the tailgate of the truck and carefully dragged one of her pots of flowers toward him.  “We can start with these going by the front door.”

Together they emptied the bed of the truck and the trunk of the car while the movers went back and forth between the moving van and the house. 

She wandered inside and found boxes in the kitchen, in one of the living rooms.  She made the trek up the stairs and found her clothes and toiletries in his-their-bedroom.  She started there, adding her shampoo to the shower, hanging her clothes in the closet.  Settling her things, seeing them there amongst his, helped to settle her.

She made her way through the house, adding her things here and there.  And when she found her way to the room he had designated as her library, she did a little happy dance in the doorway.  The movers had left her couch, computer desk and boxes upon boxes of books in the center of the room.  She glanced around.  It was a beautiful room.  Three of the four walls were painted a rich burgundy and were lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves that were stained a deep, dark mahogany.  The fourth wall was all windows with a set of French doors that led out to a small patio that overlooked the pool.  She might never leave this space after today.

Dropping to her knees, she opened the first box of books and got to work.

Hours later she had placed the last of her books on the shelves and was collapsing the last of the boxes when her phone buzzed in her pocket. 

<Hey Sweetheart.  Take a break and meet me out on the patio.>

Looking up she noticed that the day had gotten away from her.  Evening was settling in outside the windows.  She looked down at the text and then at herself before replying.

<Give me a few to clean up?>

She was heading up the stairs when her phone buzzed again. 

<20 min. ;)>

She jogged the rest of the way up the stairs and hurried through her shower.  Nineteen minutes later she stepped out onto the patio and her breath caught in her throat.  Candlelight flickered everywhere she looked.  He had been doing his best to help her today too.  He had found candles, hers? His? She didn’t know, but he had found all her candle holders and put them to use. 

She turned, the fire pit simmered with a low flame and the table was set for two.  His table, her dishes.  Everything was his and hers, together.  Theirs now.  “Rich?”  She hadn’t seen him since he checked up on her earlier that afternoon.  Now she knew why. 

“Hey.”

She turned and found him standing the doorway, a glass of wine in one hand and the bottle in the other.  His hair was still damp at the ends from his own shower and two buttons held the bottom of his black dress shirt closed.  Summer-weight khaki covered his legs and his bare feet were near silent as he crossed the slate tiles toward her.

She met him at the little table.  “Thank you.”  Before her emotions could get the better of her, she took the glass from his hand and sipped.  “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

He took the glass from her hand and set it on the table, drawing her in to him.  “It’s your home now too, Sweetheart.  I want you to be comfortable here.”  He dropped a light kiss on the tip of her nose.  “Besides, you’ve been busting your ass all day, I thought you could use a break.”  Holding her hand he directed her to one of the chairs and pulled it out for her, “have a seat.”  He kissed the back of her hand.  “I’ll be right back.”

He disappeared back into the house and she sat and sipped her wine.  Setting her glass down on the table, she rolled her neck from one side to the other before standing again.  She wandered the patio, stopping to stroke the long leaves of the plants that surrounded the pool.  He had a mini oasis right here in his-her-their backyard.  She closed her eyes.  Would it ever become natural to call this, call him, her home? 

He watched her from the doorway.  She looked like a fairy or a wood nymph standing there in the candlelight in her frothy summer dress with her dark hair spilling in waves and curls around her shoulders and down her back.  He could see the unease on her face.  It would take a little time, he knew, for her to call this her home.  But she would.  And he made a silent vow to make the transition as easy for her as he could.  Setting the tray he held on the small side table he crossed the patio to her.  His fingers lightly brushed her shoulder, pushing her hair back.  “Talk to me.  What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

She turned to face him fully and he noticed the sheen of tears on her cheeks.  He wicked away the wet with the pad of his thumb.  “What’s wrong?”

“I’m a little overwhelmed” she told him.  The emotions roiling around inside her filled her to nearly bursting.  She took his hand and led them back to the table.  “It’s a lot of change in not a very long period of time.”

He reached for her hand, stroking the back of it with his fingers.  “I know, but it’s done now.”  He brought her hand to his lips, “you’re home now.”

She smiled at him with watery eyes.  This man, one she could never have imagined finding, had changed her life in so many ways.  He had helped get her past her grief and in him she had found love again.  How did that song go?  Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end…* 


She squeezed his hand, reassuringly.  “Thank you.”


*Closing Time ~ Semisonic