“Are you okay?” Derek asked her, as they walked towards their vehicles. It was a rare and tender moment and almost started her tears right back up.
“I’m fine, it’s just a little harder than I thought it would be saying goodbye to this house. I know it’s not much but it has been home for almost nine years,” she said with a little sniffle.
“It’s a great place and you kept it beautiful,” he said a bit awkwardly.
“Thanks Derek, I appreciate it, although I know you don’t really like it,” she said with a slight role of her eyes.
“I can always have movers come and bring it to the property if you want. There’s plenty of room,” he said to her. She looked at him, with her mouth hanging open, in astonishment. She could tell he was completely serious. If she asked him, he’d actually pay the ridiculous price to have her home moved, just to make her stop crying.
She started to giggle at the thought, it was so ridiculous. They only moved houses when they were of historic value, they didn’t move a typical home, just because the person was attached. She laughed even harder when she really thought about how much money the guy spent in a single day. She was sure it was more than she spent in an entire year.
“Thank you for the laugh Derek, I’m feeling so much better now,” she said and then on complete impulse threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. She hadn’t initiated contact with him once since they’d reunited. He stiffened for a moment in shock and then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in tightly.
She needed the comfort and couldn’t pull back. Derek rubbed along her back and even though he was the reason her life was changing so drastically his comforting hands were making her feel better. She’d later think about the irony of the situation. It was kind of amusing.
His rubbing stopped being comforting and he started pulling her closer to him as his hand roamed lower with each pass. Her breathing deepened, as his touch started to send fire down her body. He brought one hand up to her chin, lifting her face up. Before she had time to blink, he brought his lips down to hers in a gentle kiss. If he’d been urgent, like he normally was, she may have been able to resist him but with this gentle side of him, she had no chance.
She threw her arms around his neck and leaned closer to him as he deepened the kiss, making her stomach quiver with need. She wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the feel of being held and the taste of his mouth, as he slipped inside. She couldn’t seem to get close enough.
“I didn’t know you were leaving,” a voice said, bringing her back to reality. Jasmine pulled back from Derek, who looked a little shaken up and turned towards the sound, to find her elderly neighbor standing a few feet from her. Either the woman was oblivious to the embrace she was just in, or didn’t care but she seemed unconcerned she’d interrupted the two of them.
“Yes Mary, it’s all happened so fast that I haven’t spoken to anyone about it,” Jasmine told her neighbor, feeling a little guilty about moving without saying goodbye.
“Well, we’ll sure miss you and precious little Jacob,” the woman murmured.
“I will miss you too and your wonderful peanut butter cookies,” Jasmine said with a little hitch in her voice. She walked over and gave her neighbor a hug and then said her goodbyes.
“You can follow me,” Derek said, as he climbed into his vehicle. She climbed in her own reliable van, which sadly didn’t hold any appeal to her anymore after driving his luxury SUV and followed him out of the driveway. She looked into her rearview mirror until her home fell out of view. She let out a deep sigh and knew her life would be forever changed.
They pulled up to the new house and Derek entered the code for the gate to open. She drove the long driveway behind him, taking in everything. She’d only been there the one time and so she looked at the place with new eyes, trying to drink it all in.
The home was certainly a show piece, with its immaculately manicured lawns. There was a surprising lack of flowers and she vowed to change that as soon as possible but the fountain in the center of the driveway added a nice showpiece, which was both comforting and homey at the same time. She could grow to love the home, that is, if she could figure out how to get from one end to the other.
She had to park in the driveway, as there were two huge moving vans backed up to the massive garage. There were several men hauling things from the back of the trucks and trudging into the house. Derek and her walked in and the place looked different with the walls all barren and the furniture gone. There were a few pieces of his furniture from the condo but his old place had been much smaller and they were going to have to buy more pieces to fill the place up.