Page 3 of Feels Like Coming Home

“Actually, I want to go home to my wife whom I love and can have incredible sex with whenever I want, and to kiss my two kids who drive me crazy but I love so much it hurts. You’ll understand one day once you find the right girl,” he tossed back, flipping me the bird as he stepped up into his truck.

“Yeah…” I said under my breath, “Once I find the right girl.”

3

HALEY | NOW

“Oh my fucking god. WHERE ARE MY KEYS?!” I yelled, running around the house looking for my goddamn car keys, again. I had gotten up early enough today to go to the gym, get home, and get ready with enough time to spare before my meeting with Piper. But since my brain came up with yet another idea for work, I spent an extra thirty minutes on the treadmill, sending voice notes to myself talking through it. When my brain caught an idea, it couldn’t let it go no matter how late it would make me.

As a serial entrepreneur, I have started and stopped—and sold, thank you very much—several businesses over the years. Some were more legitimate than others but all had started as a hair-brained idea that I needed to flesh out just to see if it would work. I’ve always been an ideas girl and always had the ambition to go after anything that got me excited. I blame my dad for this trait because he’s also an entrepreneur who has a propensity to chase new and shiny things.

Unfortunately for my mom and me, sometimes new and shiny things come in the form of a twenty-four-year-old blonde named Sarah. Once Sarah came walking by, Dad went with her and walked right out of our lives and never looked back. That was back in fourth grade, and I remember how much it crushed us both. Now at thirty-two, I couldn’t care less about where my dad is or who he’s with.

Right now, I really only care about where the fuck my car keys went.

“I'm so late right now, where are my keys?!” I semi-shouted again, picking up all the papers and random crap off the counters as I searched.

“Honey…honey…” I heard my husband gently say from the dining room where he was sitting behind his laptop. I peeked my head around the corner to find him holding my keys up by the little metal ring. He was looking at me just over his metal-framed glasses and his mouth was curved up on one side, showing me the smirk that made my heart flutter every time I saw it.

I gasped.

“My hero!” I gushed as I walked over grabbing my keys with one hand and putting the other around his neck. I smashed my face into his with a hard kiss—just how I liked—and when I pulled away, his glasses were sitting on a diagonal. I giggled just a little and set them straight for him before he adjusted them on his own so they were right back where they had originally been.

“You truly are the love of my life, how would I ever find my keys if it weren’t for you?” I asked him with my arm still around his neck. I was bending over so I was at eye-level with him, staring into his soft blue eyes. The same soft blue eyes I had loved staring at since we got married eight years ago.

“I certainly don’t know how you would find them. You’d probably be stuck at home all the time or forced to take public transportation whenever you wanted to leave the house,” he teased as he looked back at me.

“Well, we certainly couldn’t have that. I can’t turn the radio all the way up on the bus,” I joked, making light of the habit I knew drove him crazy.

“God forbid you don’t listen to music at an ear-splitting level every time you get in the car, honey.” He chuckled softly, and I felt his breath on my lips because I refused to let go or move away from him.

“It truly wouldn’t be a good day if I didn’t,” I said with a smile and stuck my tongue out at him.

“It also wouldn’t be a good day if you didn’t kiss me one more time before you go,” he hummed as he leaned in closer. Our lips touched and I felt him press a little deeper into me. I loved the way he felt and smelled and looked. I had loved him for almost twelve years now and I couldn’t get enough of him.

Connor was the first man I’d fallen in love with after high school. The first man who looked at me and instantly made me feel beautiful. The first man to hold me like he never wanted to let me go. The first man I had given myself to fully. When we shared a moment like this, I knew in my heart that I would be okay if we simply melted together and became one.

“It truly wouldn’t be a good day if I didn’t,” I agreed as I pulled away, still smiling.

I looked at him for a few more seconds before standing upright again and moving to make my way to the front door. At this point, I was way past late for my meeting with Piper and really needed to get a move on.

“Are you heading into the office today?” I asked him as I slipped on my sneakers.

I was wearing my favorite high-rise jeans and a comfy tee shirt with a blazer thrown on top. As I'm my own boss, I liked to keep things professional, yet casual whenever I had a meeting outside of the house. Usually, I worked from home, but getting out was nice every once in a while.

“Yeah, I am in a bit. I have some emails I want to get through here first and then I was planning on heading in. We have a meeting at 10:30 with the international team. I want to get in by 9:30 so I have enough time to prepare for it.”

Connor explained his morning schedule with such dedication that it made my heart swell. That was one thing I could always rely on with Connor, his dedication to the things and people he loved. Connor worked at a big corporate company doing I don’t know what, but I know he loved it and I know it made him happy. To me, that’s all that matters.

“Okay cool, and then are you going to stay at the office till the end of the day or head home after your meeting?”

Connor and I had been lucky that we both could work from anywhere. I had finally gotten to the point where my business was paying me a full-time salary and gave me the flexibility to work from wherever. His job was also semi-remote where he could work from home 95% of the time and was only required to be in the office whenever a big team meeting was happening, like today.

I loved this because it meant I got to see him more often and we could spend more time together. Other married women talk about how they wish their husbands would stay at work longer or not rush home from a business trip. Not me though—not with Connor. I always wanted him around because when he was, I felt safe and full.

“I'm going to just spend the day at the office and then come home around 5:30. I can pick us up some food if you want. It is Wednesday, ya know,” he reminded me with a smile.

Wednesdays had always been our days for takeout, even when we were two very broke postgrads scraping by to make ends meet. I had commented about wanting to make new traditions now that we were living together, so he suggested we pick a day of the week to get takeout.

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