Me: Fine, babe. I just don’t know which one I want. How about if I surprise you?
Sydney: Oh, I love surprises. You know that.
Yes, my girl loved her surprises, and I fucking loved to give them to her. It was the warm smile that graced her face and the hopeful look in her beautiful eyes that made it all worthwhile.
Me: Perfect. What time will you be home?
Sydney: I should be getting off here around four and then I’ll head home.
Me: I’ll plan to meet you at home then.
Sydney: Can’t wait to see you.
My girl couldn’t wait to see me. My heart swelled. It felt so fucking right to be with her. It was like God had created her just for me. I planned to give her special for the rest of her life if she’d have me.
I went back to my client. “Hey, man, sorry for the delay. Let’s get back to this dragon.”
I finished the dragon that took up my client’s left shoulder and started working on my next client. By the time I was finished, I looked at my watch and saw it was five o’clock. Shit, I was late. I’m sure Sydney was getting worried. I picked up my phone to send her a text.
Me: Hey, sweets. I’m sorry I’m running late. I have a few more things to get done here, and then I’ll be home.
Sydney: No worries. I had a last minute walk in so I just got home. I’m outside playing with the dogs. I’m so happy they get along so well. We’re very lucky.
Me: Yeah, did she have any accidents while we were at work?
Sydney: Not a one. She’s a very good girl.
Me: She is.
Sydney: I don’t even think that Zeus was this good with the potty training when I first got him.
Me: That’s because he’s a rat.
Sydney: Don’t start!
I could see her getting mad throwing out the attitude and putting her hands on her hips and popping that leg. She was fiery when you pissed her off. It was funny as hell to watch.
Me: All right, I’m just going to wrap up a few things here and I’ll be home.
Sydney: Bye!
Oh, she’s pissed all right. I chuckled to myself, set my phone down, and started cleaning up my work area. It wasn’t long before I was done. Upon finishing, I headed back to my office and fired up my desktop. I needed to figure out dinner and hotel reservations for the night.
Looking at both menus, it was easy to make my decision. Gordon Ramsey’s Steak House seemed a little too foo-foo for my taste. Gallagher’s seemed just right. I called the restaurant first and made our reservations for seven o’clock. I was fucking hungry, so we needed to eat soon. Then I had them transfer me to the hotel where I booked the best suite they had available. It was going to cost me a mint, but I didn’t care. I wanted to give my baby special.
Entering the house, both dogs came running up to me. I picked them each up giving them some good lovin’. These little fuckers were cute as shit.
“Honey, I’m home.” I love saying that. It just felt so fucking right.
I didn’t hear her respond so my guess was she was in the bedroom. Walking into the family room, I spotted Bee vegged out on the couch. “Hey, Bee, what’s up?”
“Oh, you know, just chilling and catching up on my shows. I missed all the good ones this week because I was working.” She had started working at the hospital in the pediatrics unit a few days after moving in. She was hardly ever home at night, because she was on the graveyard shift. She said it made more money and she was a night owl anyway. So I guess if that shift worked for her, then it worked for us. Plus I could be as loud as I wanted with my woman. She was a screamer, so it was good we had our privacy.
“Hey, I’ve got a favor to ask you?” I hoped like hell that she didn’t have plans tonight.
“Sure, shoot?” She was a ‘give it to me straight’ kind of girl. She was even feistier than Sydney and sort of a wild woman. I still think back to that night she dragged us to the strip club.
“Syd wants to go to dinner tonight to one of the nice steak houses at the casino. It’s a special night for us, so I booked a reservation in one of their suites for the night. I was hoping you could take care of the dogs? If not, I can call one of my siblings to see if they can help.” Please say yes. I hated owing my siblings any favors.
“Actually, Jensen is coming over tonight, and we were just going to stay in, cook some dinner, and watch a movie. So, yeah, I can do it. No problem.”
Thank fuck.
“Thanks, woman. You’re a life saver.” I’ve wanted to talk to her about Jensen. I know that Sydney had voiced her opinion about not liking him, and I felt now was my shot.
“So you really into this Jensen dude?” I walked back into the kitchen and let the dogs out the sliding glass door.